Is it ever OK to report anyone?

[PassingStranger]

Following on from the TV licence thread is it ever OK to report for benefit fraud, car tax, TV licence, etc or does it always come back and bit you on the bum?

Would you be scared to do it?

You can know about benefits if it's someone close

It’s not that straightforward- claims can be suspended whilst investigations are ongoing which can cause families serious issues

No, we don’t report people. We would speak to them if we had an issue with the behaviour. And people who report seldom own it and don’t wish the person to know it was them. People dress it up, but it is nearly always spiteful or malicious.

we have been reported. For planning breach. A very old and minor one.nothing signficant and it was approved retrospectively, planning were a bit hacked off as they knew it was malicious. Basically said let’s get it retro approved then there is nothing more they can do to you.

we told everyone they did it. And we have never reported them. So they look like absolute cunts. Which they are. So that’s fair. Most folks understand a fall out. But when you move to reporting, you go too far; in my view.

I claim UC. Nobody close to me knows the ins and outs, they do know I claim it but they don't know what I'm claiming for or how much I get. Do you tell everyone you are close to exactly how much you get paid and how much you have in your bank account?

Other than a safeguarding issue, no I wouldn’t ‘report’ someone. It’s a very mean minded thing to do. Mind your own business.

Am I referring to myself? Yes people have told me they have been claiming things they are not entitled to.

I wouldn’t report someone if they didn’t have a TV license or anything like that. I also wouldn’t report anyone who did benefit or social housing fraud.

I’m not bothered that Sharon next door is getting an extra £400 a month due to LCWRA but is working cash in hand jobs here and there. I don’t really see what I’d get out of reporting things like that tbh

Yeah. It's funny how often that seems to happen to MNers, people seem terribly keen to admit they are committing fraud! Meanwhile I struggle to believe that personally.

I don’t see why it’s so wrong to report someone who is claiming benefits fraudulently, or paying hardly any tax. The bill for that falls to all tax payers so I can understand why people get frustrated when they get home from work knackered from a 12hr shift where they might have been verbally abused by patients etc and their neighbour is sitting in the garden drinking wine or off on another holiday as they are claiming benefits as a single person and have a partner living there. Or are paying no tax at all so have much more spare money. I probably wouldn’t personally do it, but who knows. I’ve been there as a teenage mum claiming benefits and now I’m mid 40’s and a higher rate tax payer, so I do know how it’s not easy to manage on benefits. But some people are blatantly cheating the system and yes it can be bloody annoying to see that when you’re working long hours.

Believe what you like, this person is a family member so I know for a fact.

Because how would you know, 100%?

If you report someone based on suspicion then you could potentially make their life incredibly difficult as sometimes benefits get stopped while they investigate. I would never feel comfortable to do that to someone.

Only if there was a welfare issue. So, animals or children being neglected, domestic violence (where safe for the victim!), someone drink driving etc.

i would never snitch for tax/benefits matters.
i’m more concerned about massive corporations not paying appropriate taxes than Mandy down the road getting cash in hand for her 16 hour a week job.

I think often people won't until they see the impact someone's actions have had.

For example, the whole covid, stay at home,report result and isolate etc, I thought a bit OTT. Until I attended the funeral of a 15 year old child who died from Covid, this was absolutely heartbreaking and changed my opinion

If I felt that someone/something was really at risk or if it was severe fraud that I knew for 100% was fraud (talking more probably financial/family circumstances I think maybe financial abuse or something)

Tv license... really nt bothered. We pay ours, but I really resent the bullying tactics used in enforcement.

Car tax... if I knew it wasn't taxed due to no MOT, probably if I'm honest. Potentially dangerous cars don't belong on the roads.

Benefit fraud... only if I knew they were actually a millionaire!

See, this situation I understand.

Things like car tax or Tv license - I just could not care enough to report. I don’t understand why people can’t focus on their own lives.

Who do you think pays though? It's not some faceless entity is it? It is you, you pay for it. It's no different to retailers hiking their prices for people who don't steal from them to cover the cost of the things that thieves steal.

I did, car tax.

i knew they had effectively stolen the car off an elderly relative though. I also knew they were using that relative’s blue badge, without them, but had no proof on that one.

not one ounce of guilt. I just hope they got a fine at least.

This

car tax often means an unsafe vehicle as no MOT either and maybe no insurance....someone who had forgotten to tax their car for a couple of days then no, but serial offenders absolutely.

@Garlicked how did she make you homeless?

Why on earth would I want to report any kind of benefit fraud while our greedy MP’s and the like are a far bigger drain on the public purse? And don’t get me started on the tax avoidance schemes which are far more criminal in my mind than most benefit fraud.

Are you asking how you know if your neighbour’s partner lives with them? It’s not difficult. My next door neighbours are 2 adults with 2 teenagers. Over the last 18 years I’ve seen them leaving, arriving, going out together, going out separately, in the garden , going on holiday, also seen them at local village events, and obviously talked to them many times.
I know with absolute certainty that all 4 of them live in the house next door to mine. It’s not rocket science.

2 wrongs don’t make a right. And no one said they’d report benefit fraud but turn a blind eye to tax evasion. I’d report both if I was sufficiently sure of my facts.

My rent support was stopped during investigation. The investigation took longer than 2 months, so I was evicted for non-payment of rent.

The landlords got their money when the investigation was finished. By then I was 150 miles away, sofa-surfing with relatives and all my furniture & stuff in various people's sheds and gardens. I lost my work and my cat. My life never recovered.