Think less of my friend for reporting somebody for benefit fraud

[JimJams91]

My new-ish friend told me yesterday that she has reported her ex husbands new girlfriend for benefit fraud.

She doesn't know for certain that she's even committing benefit fraud but is feeling resentful about the small amount of CMS she receives from XH and doesn't like the thought of him spending money on another family (the girlfriend has children of her own that don't belong to the XH - children's father is deceased so the XH is likely spending a fair bit of time with/around them)

I felt quite uncomfortable when she told me about it and said I don't think it was the right thing to do because 1) there's no proof it's even happening and 2) if it is happening it'll impact her children more than it will her XH as he won't be the one in legal trouble or unable to feed his kids if his benefits are stopped.

Overall I don't like the idea of being spiteful to a woman who has done you no wrong just because you have a grudge against an ex. The ex seems like a complete waste of space but the girlfriend is a total stranger to her and has never done her any harm (and wasn't an OW)

I know benefit fraud is completely unacceptable but there's nothing to say it's even happening. Even if it was she has reported for the wrong reasons.

Do you think I'm being unreasonable for being against what she's done? If your friend told you this what would your reaction be?

There can only be one explanation. Those defending it so vehemently are at it themselves.

Your reductive reasoning skills need work.

It's amazing how some people just don't want to listen to actual facts.

Meanwhile in the real world, we don't even know if she is in receipt of benefits. Never mind claiming them fraudulently.

I'd feel the same way OP. She sounds petty and spiteful.

The amount of people who think it's okay to steal OUR MONEY by maliciously reporting anyone they happen to dislike for benefit fraud is astonishing.

Do you have any idea how much money is lost every year investigating the 89% of benefit fraud allegations that are found to be false/malicious?

The benefits reporting system is not your plaything.

So your adult child looses their job, struggles with money and debt, you find out they’ve been committing benefit fraud, working a bit cash in hand and claiming, so they could pay the rent, you’d report them? Your husband, your mum, your brother? You’d report them all? Would you tell them? Or do it on the sly?

I'm always horrified by the number of people who are perfectly willing to abandon 'innocent until proven guilty' when it comes to benefits. We now know, straight from the horse's mouth, that benefits can be stopped while an investigation is ongoing, causing hardship, poverty and stress to someone who may well have done absolutely nothing wrong.

Come on, folks. Locate the 'on' switch for your conscience.

I couldn't be friends with somebody who did that to someone. I would be anxious they might do it to me if I got on their wrong side, and would find it a generally repulsive way to behave and not in line with my values. It's a really shitty thing to do to somebody.

That's not true at all

@AllAnusMorisette you are wrong. The evidence, straight from the government's own website, is a few posts back from yours.

So many ignorant people on this thread.

Fair enough if she had facts saying the woman was a benefit cheat but making a malicious claim is just spiteful.

I wouldn't want to have anything to do with a shit stirrer/trouble making and jealous fool.

Read your own quote, your benefits MAY be stopped, not they WILL be stopped

Much like all the other threads on this subject, there is so much misinformation spread on here purporting to be fact

Read it again. It's MAY be stopped, not will.

And I think I'm better placed than most in this thread to offer my opinion.

Yes, that's exactly my point: the government themselves admit that benefits are sometimes stopped during an investigation.

Which proves that all the posters screaming about how benefits are never ever stopped during investigations, if your benefits are stopped it's because you've been proven to be claiming fraudulently, are making shit up?

It's actually very hard to suspend someone's benefit if there is no evidence of actual fraud, it is not stopped while the investigation takes place as that can take ages so would leave people in hardship.

People who are investigated and found to be doing nothing wrong will never know they are under investigation, unless they have had a Compliance interview where they get to put across their side.

Correct, they are never stopped during investigations, they are only stopped if someone is found to be doing something fraudulent.

You don't think it's maybe a warning to give the worst case scenario as a deterrent to stop people committing fraud maybe?

There's also this, from the Citizens' Advice Bureau, specifically regarding PIP, which states:

"If you’ve been accused of benefit fraud: The DWP will stop your PIP while they investigate. If your condition gets worse or you have a new condition, you should make a new claim - check how to make a new PIP claim. If not, you have to wait until the DWP finish investigating. If the DWP decide you didn’t commit benefit fraud, they’ll pay you the money you would have got if it hadn’t stopped."

Not may. WILL. And if the investigation proves that you didn't commit fraud, at that point you get all the money for the time period covering the investigation. (Which isn't useful if you've already been evicted for failure to pay rent during that time period, or lost your job because you had no way to pay transport fees).

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/pip-changes-and-reviews/if-your-pip-is-stopped-or-reduced/

It's shocking how many posters push lies intended to demonise benefits recipients.

Yeah someone reported me once, I hadn’t done anything wrong but had to provide bank statements and show that the person they said was living with me wasn’t by proving he paid rent elsewhere ect.. they didn’t stop my benefit while it was investigated. That was years ago though

Please stop lying.

Your claim directly contradicts both the official government website and the Citizens' Advice bureau.

You are wrong. Mine were stopped. They had no prove as I hadn't done anything wrong. Had to do mandatory reconsideration which went in my favour. Even when this decision was made it took another 3 weeks for them to reopen and calculate everything.
It was absolute hell.

I work in benefit fraud, and have done for the past 3 years, and have NEVER known someones claim to be stopped while an investigation has been ongoing.

Even on cases Ive worked where its clear they are guilty, without proper evidence Ive not been able to get the money stopped, the money has continued to be paid and then if found guilty, added to the amount of overpayment there is

It's astounding how people seem to think if they just repeat lies over and over again with their fingers in their ears going "lalalalala can't hear you!!" it will somehow make people not realise that their claims have been conclusively proven to be false.

I wonder if they are actually Conservative politicians?

So you're stating that both the government and CAB are lying.

And why should people believe a random anonymous Mumsnetter over the actual official Government website, AND the Citizens Advice Bureau?

I dont particularly care if you believe me, take my posts with the biggest pinch of salt of all if you choose, but if i was going to lie on the internet, i would definitely come up with something better than that

Hmmm. Every single time I've seen a thread about disability benefits, it's been overtaken by a poster who claims to be a benefits assessor, claiming that all the information online on official websites is fake, that they and they alone speak the truth, and pushing all kinds of things about how awful disabled people are and how they constantly see disability fraud and disabled people get away with fraud all the time.

On the last thread, it devolved into the poster claiming that 90% of disabled people who claim benefits are obviously lying, which is pretty shocking considering that even the Conservative government (who are hardly fans of disabled people or benefits recipients) state that benefit fraud varies between .3% and something like 4%, depending on the benefit.

Was that poster you?

Seems very odd to have more than one poster who sets themselves up as the One True Authority on benefits fraud, claims that the government and all other official websites and wrong and lying (but not them! You can trust them and only them!) and rants about how awful benefits recipients are.