To think this “crackdown” on benefit fraud is absolutely pathetic

[MissLou0]

We lose hundreds of billions from tax avoidance compared to 1 billion on benefit fraud and nothing is done about it, because those are the Tory donors. Michelle Mone just stole £28 million from taxpayers for her PPE scam, she’s not in trouble, and she of course also hides her hundreds of millions offshore.

We lose a small amount from benefit fraud, and as a result everyone who claims any sort of benefit including disability benefits banks are going to be monitored.

The graph below doesn’t even scratch the surface of how much is lost to tax avoidance. For example Rupert Murdoch is worth £17 billion and he hasn’t paid tax in years, personal tax or on his businesses. And he’s ONE person. These people are not targeted yet the most desperate and vulnerable are.

This is completely ignored by the media as the majority of newspaper owners are hiding their money offshore.

I’m in a situation where I don’t need to claim any benefits but I have family who are disabled who have had to fight for even the tiniest amount to live on, and they are now having to deal with this invasion of privacy which will make not even 0.000001% of what cracking down on tax avoidance would.

However, if someone is suspected of benefits fraud, yes of course their accounts should be monitored

How does that work? Go on.

Many ordinary people use tax avoidance, I have ISAs and DH gifted me shares so we can both take advantage of the dividend tax allowance which has been cut this year and being cut even further next year or is it just very rich people you want to stop.

The poor or benefit frauds aren't the problem in this country but the rich are but of course as usual, the fascist newspapers and our corrupted gov and those in power will have you believe that our ship is sinking because of this thus diverting the attention away from the main cause. But time and time again, even with the most recent events on the news, people are still jumping on the bandwagon with the narrative they are pulling out from their asses to justify their horrific contribution. I guess the gov and media are good at feeding the majorities inner prejudices.

Fraud is fraud, but what about the innocent disabled people who genuinely can't support themselves, who will no doubt be caught up?

@MissLou0 It's because the Government's real worry isn't the money itself but a shrinking workforce. Once you understand that the purpose of the Government is to make the lives of the older generations nice and comfy and that they don't give a shit about anyone else earning less than £200k it all begins to make sense.

The Government has developed the UK into a place that is a bit rubbish to live in and they are petrified that the result will be ever worsening labour shortages which means that the grey army have to pay move for goods and services and get unhappy about it. So, to counteract this the Government has ensured that even the genuinely disabled struggle to get benefits in order that they do some kind of work; they've made it harder to leave by ending free movement with the EU (although this backfired when EU workers left), they've made university increasingly unattractive in the hope that people go to work in crappy service jobs at 18 instead, they've extended the retirement age (for us, not for the grey army) and they've increased taxes on working people to make it harder to save for early retirement or to fund single income households.

They already do data matches with bank accounts. I've been through that myself and in my case they've got it wrong and claimed I've got double the amount of savings I do have.

This.

This is what happens and will continue to happen.

Banging the benefits fraud drum works a treat though

One of the new powers being considered is collecting information about where and how benefit claimants spend their money. It’s not difficult to see how they would use this information in relation to disability benefits. These benefits are to support claimants with the cost of disability and they can be spent however the claimant likes - in theory. The reality will probably involve some way to remove benefits from those deemed not to be spending enough on disability related things. So if you’re disabled and have Sky TV for example, they can see how much you spend on it - sod the fact that you may have it because you find it too difficult to go out socially. The Tories would have all disabled people who can’t work bundled up in a corner quietly waiting to die if they thought they could get away with it.

@echt - yes very tough. The key thing is AI is cheap. You will not have a human being to engage with on this. And you can't manipulate AI or ask for specific circumstances to be taken into account. It's just no, money off, account debited if it seems overpayment.

The other issue is that the AI is going to know more and more about you and your spending compared to thousands of accounts, with millions of data points. Good luck arguing against it. I think it will be nearly impossible because it's actually designed to eliminate the idea of exceptions.

Unless it's actively discriminatory then good luck challenging it legally. You would need a judge to pick through the claim, and that's going to be hard to do to even challenge this policy more broadly.

They already do it. Where fraud is suspected DWP can request data on the claimants’ bank account to build their case, and they carry out data matching. The new powers would just allow them access sooner, so the theory goes that they can detect fraud sooner.

I think eventually dla and pip will have to be accounted for much like my pack authority local offer for dc getting Middle rate or higher dla and a personal budget- each year you have to submit a form and all receipts for monitoring of every penny . I think soon we will have to prove what dla is spent on too 😢 just another job for exhausted parents of disabled dc

pack - local

What happens though for things like birthday or Xmas gifts of money ? Wil that be seen as undeclared income ? Will it trigger a stop in benefits ?

Please say these cunts will be voted out next year..

Yes.

This is coming by the end of the year! I don't think it's a question of it not happening

Exactly.

If you don't crack down on benefit fraud, more people will do it as well.

BTW @MissLou0 what's the source of your bar chart?

That’s awful so there will be families where for example a grandparent transfers xmas money for the dc and that will then stop benefits whilst it’s investigated which we all know takes ages to even get a response about anything from UC 🤦‍♀️ it’s going to end up causing people real problems

They are really going for it aren’t they . Trying to ruin everything and make people suffer while they still have the power ! Like a bad relationship where it’s ‘I don’t want you but I don’t want anyone else to have you’ they are just doing their equivalent of ‘it’s obvious you have seen through us so we will make you all suffer ‘

Then they should target them not a blanket policy that will effect everyone 🙄

I think they should crack down for on tax avoidance AND benefit fraud. Why should I & other be paying for this to go.

I think it’s unmanageable , my daughters dla isn’t spent on therapy or specifically disability related costs which are covered in ehcp. It’s instead spent on additional food costs to accommodate her restrictive earring , fuel bills , accommodation costs if we stay anywhere because she needs more space , Uber rather than public transport , additional costs on hygeine products because she can’t gauge how much of a product should be used etc.

i think this is open to significant legal challenge .

@MissLou0 YABVVVVVU didn't you know that being on benefits is a lifestyle choice?

while people like Michelle can't help but need millions because they have the debilitating condition known as being soulless twats. last I checked, that's incurable.... you should have more sympathy.

I have to say, all I feel these days when I see the news is complete rage. the tent thing pushed me over the edge.... I just don't get how the tories are still in power