Should I report benefit fraud?

[Greeksummer]

Firstly, this isn’t a benefit bashing thread. It’s something I feel hugely conflicted about.

A couple I know is committing benefit fraud and have been for quite a few years. They live together with their school aged child however, the dad is not actually down as being at the address so their rent is paid for as the mum works part time, as well as single persons council tax discount. The dad earns a very good salary (not 6 figures but for where we live in the UK it’s a lot of money) so there’s absolutely no excuse for it. I know the mum better than the dad and she’s quite open about it all and money in general. Both of their parents’ help them out as well - regularly buying their weekly food shop, covering the costs of their child’s school uniform every year, school trips etc (no issue with parent’s helping out if they’re able to, I’m just highlighting that they’re in no way struggling financially).

It just makes me so cross as I know a disabled person who’s benefits were stopped as they were deemed not disabled enough and had a horrendous ordeal trying to get them back. I think it’s so wrong that they’re taking money they’re not entitled to and don’t need when so many people are struggling. However, I’m also aware that it’s a drop in the ocean compared to what millionaires and billionaires get away with hence why I’m conflicted as to whether I should report it or not.

YABU - keep your nose out, people get away with much worse

YANBU - it’s wrong and you should report it

Yes, but shop lifting is also a drop in the ocean compared to the Hatton Garden heist, but its the principle we prosecute, not just the value. If we let this criminality slide then we are letting down those legitimate claimants who deserve more, and the hard working people keeping their social contract of paying a fair chunk of their wages in the understanding it helps people who need it.

It frustrates me how people who claim to be on the side of the people who need benefits to survive seem the happiest to let fraudulent claims go because of 'tories' or 'Starbucks'. No one would be happy that the charity box was stolen by Mr Bloggs and he bought a new tv with it because, well, Madoff and Stanford stole more.

@Everanewbie I loathe Starbucks and the current government but I also have no time for comfortably off people totally playing the system. Look at it this way- one single working mum on here , struggling but just about coping may well be seeing all her monthly tax take go to a couple of chancers like this . If we were all making direct payments to others in that way I think folks would soon get very pissed off and start reporting . And I'm not with this 'well they are a couple for all intents and purposes and yes he's the kids dad' but we register him somewhere else so we can get a nice bit of xtra- that way lies madness. If someone is staying over multiple nights a week and not just popping in and particularly if they have children or have previously been claiming as a couple - then it needs investigating- you are either fully separated and have a separate home or you aren't.

I have noticed this and don't understand it. They are literally stealing from us, and many hardworking people probably less fortunate than them! Total scum.

It's called whataboutism.

Standard misdirection tactic to divert attention from the real issue onto something else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

An example might be, I go into the street and kill someone.

Someone else says, you shouldn't kill someone, it's bad.

I say in response, well what about Hitler, he killed 30 million people ?

It always absolutely fascinates me how people are so open telling everybody about their financial affairs when they are supposedly committing fraud. I read it all the time on here about how the neighbour brags they are getting benefits they’re not entitled to, or the mum at the school gates.

It doesn’t ring quite true, really.

Absolutely report them. A family member used to be a benefit fraud investigator who saved the taxpayer millions. He found it very satisfying work.

benefit fraud boils my piss! I'd report it all day long. There are people who need that money, then there are the shitheads who game the system, commit fraud and give everyone on benefits a bad rep

As I said upthread it’s endemic. People with questionable morals for sure but when I’ve ever heard of anyone threatening to report them they’re are usually the ones who are struggling financially and come across as jealous, rightly or wrongly. Being on benefits isn’t much of a life is it BUT if someone is earning a good wage PLUS claiming; well that’s an utter piss take

YANBU ! It makes my stomach boiled hearing our hard working income tax (£2800 last month) is spent on scams like that.

I suspected this, too. Keep your distance OP. I sympathise with your feelings of injustice but it’s still only hearsay.

😂😂😂😂😂😂 no love some of us just realise that there’s a gap between perceived reality of someone determined to find something to complain about and what actually happens behind closed doors.

I’m perfectly happy to let my neighbours think I’m an unemployed benefit cheat, oh and a drug dealer apparently as I always have a new car. It amuses me. As every time I get reported it goes nowhere. Why? Because I’m not actually claiming UC or child benefit, and I work full time from home and it’s a company car / car allowance. And it’s perfectly legal to work whilst being disabled - in fact it’s encouraged.

me working doesn’t change the fact I can’t walk and that I won’t live to see retirement.

it also amuses me that these holier than thou types are also the most likely to commit other types of fraud / dishonesty and not think anything of it. Such as getting a blue badge that they feel entitled to for their age yet go hill walking regularly, and opting in to every tax saving loophole they can find including avoiding inheritance tax etc.

m still fraud just posh people fraud, which in this country seems to be actively encouraged

@Greeksummer Please see @LakieLady post above - if he has everything registered at and pays bills at his parents address then prosecution is unlikely.

How long have they been together, is the child his?

Honestly, report of you are sure of your facts.

Don't kid yourself that money saved will go to those in need though, it doesn't and it won't.

A lot of my work time is spent with those in need trying to make sure they get what they are entitled to....and it often isn't much.

Wrong. I'm from a low income area and get benefits myself.

A freind has just been caught scamming the benefits system. Been claiming full disabilities for years incl motobility scheme vehicle, council tax, rent etc whilst running a lucrative business requiring daily hard physical work.The dwp rang & said it will now be passed to the fraud team. This was a few weeks back so maybe it's been dropped but seems pretty likely it was their ex partner who was also on benefits & helping to run the business for ££ cash, things went very sour in the relationship & the report was made.

Thing with benefit fraud in certain places is that people do just come out with it because they presume everyone else on their network and locality is doing the same. It's like a conversation back in 2015 when a quite elderly relative was discussing Brexit and presumed, as everyone there was 50 plus , that we would all think/feel like he did.

@OnNaturesCourse it is for benefit cheats. It's not for people claiming benefits genuinely.

Not always.

I understand it is wrong but people can't always just get more hours. In a ideal world they would be able to but its not click of the fingers like that in the real world.

@OnNaturesCourse have you read OP's posts?
This woman works part time because she can afford to, even without the benefits they're claiming.

I have read the post. Yes.

I do not refer to the woman in the OPs post but to your broad comment about getting more hours and making it sound pretty easy to do.

I know people who work part time and despite their best efforts can not get more hours.

Regarding the female in the original post - yes I agree she could look for more hours but it's unlikely to be instant, or able to work around her family commitments.

I have previously said I would likely report the female especially as she is being so brass necked about it. I just wouldn't assume it would be easy for her to make more money through more hours.

I'd love to know how these people manage it.

Eligibility for all disability/ill health benefits for working age people is now determined by assessments by health professionals. I've done literally hundreds of these applications over the years. Around 50% of them are turned down by the DWP, and have to be appealed at a tribunal. So far, I have won every single appeal I have submitted. This isn't in any way exceptional, the success rate for the whole team is over 99%, and the outcomes for the previous project I worked on were very similar.

If it's so hard for people to get the benefits they're entitled to, even with strong supporting evidence from medical professionals, how on earth do so many people manage to scam the system?

If only I knew how they do it, I could maybe save myself a lot of work by not having to do so many damn appeals.

One problem is that within lower paid occupations there is an absolute ton of part time, casual and zero hours work. As others have said it isn't always as easy as just getting more hours. If you get 2 jobs, often they can clash hours wise or one will want you to do evenings or early mornings and if you have no local help or a partner on shift work- and have kids- that can be hard to work around too. Nor is it as easy as 'just get a WFH job' most of these will want some experience in that sector , a lot need you to have your own high end equipment and there is often a fair bit of competition- especially if it doesn't require a heavyweight skillset. once you have kids at school age nor do you have the option of 6.15 pick ups at nursery, 8am drop offs etc- and many people too have shiftworking partners. Obviously all these things are bigger issues if you have children. But there are also a fair few women (and somehow it mainly falls on the women) who due to lack of social care provision have some caring duties (or feel responsible) for elderly parents and are having to nip by daily. It's a totally different market out there for valuable , but lower paid work to what many on here are used to and that's why pushing people into work very much has to be a case by case situation- not an overarching policy. It's also why social housing is so important , so that ludicrous sums aren't having to be paid out to cover off private rents- particularly in higher priced /higher demand areas of the country

It's also why social housing is so important , so that ludicrous sums aren't having to be paid out to cover off private rents- particularly in higher priced /higher demand areas of the country

I agree. Nearly everyone I know socially who gets benefits gets them solely because of unaffordable rents. I can only think of three friends/family where this doesn't apply - one is a pensioner on pension credit, one has severe mental health problems and the third is a f/t carer for a disabled child. The rest are working people on low-average incomes, but paying rents that are unaffordable.

@LakieLady I do wonder too. They've been claiming for many many years & have 2 very well controlled health conditions & in receipt of full severe disability payments & never have a review/medical. They were coached by another actual convicted fraudster who knows how to play the system in what to say, act like, dress, to use mobility aids & this person filled the application forms out also. Any system is open to abuse, it just doesn't seem right when I have 2 other disabled friends who really cannot work, put through hell on pip reviews

You'd be surprised. They talk about it, as they know that people are like all the MNers saying "Mind your own business".

It's hilarious that people think this is made up, that it can't be true. I think its middle class types with no real world experience....those of us who grew up on council estates amongst the benefit cheats know better!!