Should I report my cousin's benefit fraud?

[GreatAmberSnake]

Hi everyone - I'm having a bit of a moral dilemma and looking to get everyone's opinions.

My M34 cousin doesn't work, he claims PIP. I'm not that familiar with how it works but he says he's on the highest level available, and there's even talk of him getting given a car. He openly boasts at every opportunity about the extreme exaggerations and outright lies he put on his PIP application, and calls me and other members of the family idiots for working when we could just get our money from PIP like he does.

If they investigated him they would easily find that some of his lies don't add up. I believe he genuinely does have depression and anxiety, but he has no physical issues. He said he put things like his partner needs to dress him in the morning (he split from his partner a couple of years ago), needs to wear velcro shoes as he can't tie laces etc. A home visit would show up some of his lies, and a call to the school (he's a weekend Dad but sometimes picks up/drops off his sons) or the Police (he's been arrested for drug offences a couple of times) would be further proof.

The main thing stopping me from reporting him is his depression. He has attempted suicide on at least one occasion, and I fear that a potential prison sentence for fraud could send him into a spiral. Even if no-one found out it was me, I really don't want that on my conscience.

If he didn't boast all the time I would just ignore it, it's not like it affects me directly, but it just winds me up every time he goes on about. Grrrr!! I do try to minimise contact with him but sometimes it's easier said than done. If he gets this car I think he'll become even more unbearable 😡

Help! What would you do?

PIP is going to be changing soon.

Personally, I would leave him be.

He sounds suicidal and ill.

Not fraud. Requires all evidence to back up his claim

It's up to the PIP people to establish who's entitled or isn't. If they get it wrong, that's on them.

I couldn't be arsed actually dealing with them.

@ByAquaBee

So many confused opinions on here. If he had a previous suicide attempt then he would qualify on the basis of him being at future risk of serious harm from the distress caused by certain activities

That's not how it works either. Have you read the PIP criteria? Do you know suicidal people can and do recover, they wouldn't always necessarily qualify for PIP.

He leases it and has to give it back at the end. He can then choose another car. If you have to pay a deposit, depending on cost, you don’t get that back either.🙄

Some claimants in certain areas still haven’t been mass migrated over. 🤷‍♀️

Edited
It's not that simple as it would be all patient says they want proper evidence
So if someone is claiming for mental health issues, do they see a CPN
Have they been seen by the crisis team
In patient admission, etc.

But someone determined enough can access all this based on self reported symptoms. There's no clinical test that can disprove what a patient describes as a crippling level of anxiety or depression - if you make enough noise for long enough, you'll wind up with a record of doctors appointments, CPN visits. How bad you think your mental health is is also terribly subjective.

No one does that.
The bar to access CMHT is set very high. No one with mild cases of anxiety/depression gets much in the way of help apart from their GP. The CPNs, psychiatrists are also not stupid, and can spot a faker. I was under them for years, and at times expressed a concern that I was faking but not realising it. I was told they do not have people who fake symptoms on their caseload. I also did not fake my way into hospital and under section.

This thread is terrible, and as always is full of people who think that anyone claiming benefits for MH reasons is taking the piss and making it up for money.... because that is what the press is trying to get you to think now. That those of us on benefits for MH reasons are the reason the country is in a financial black hole. They always know someone who claims loads and goes on multiple holiday etc. Honestly, I am considering making up a Benefits Bingo card, as these threads are so predictable.

Well quite I used to be a mental health nurse
And we just didn't have staff or the resources ti deal with less urgent cases
And if someone trying to fake mental illness they would find it exhausting trying to keep up the act
Some people seern to think mental illness only covers anxiety and depression
And don't realise there is a huge spectrum including severe and enduring mental illness.

Yep I too can’t abide spiteful people either. That’s the other persons business!
But I get mad when another friend aged 80ish, has breast cancer, lung cancer, riddled with rheumatoid arthritis & turned down for attendance allowance, her hands are so knarled, & frozen solid because they are too scared to put the gas fire on, this I find unfair- that they are too scared to appeal incase they are knocked back again.

Oh quite possibly switched over by now. I don’t understand the difference between DLA or pip. Anyway was a few years ago that they moved away, never said bye- so took that to being no longer on speaking terms.
is Attendance allowance something you go on after DLA or PIPS? A friend who 80 odd was turned down for AA.. she suffers breast cancer, lung cancer/ rheumatoid arthritis, COPD? Two knee replacements, 2 hip replacements & other ailments but was knocked back.
Her hands were frozen solid with the cold as she’s too scared to put the gas fire on.
is it worth her appealing?

Oh btw they told me about their medical history,
I had someone in the family who had bipolar (now dead) but has soon as they were better from their episode they would come off DLA. Maybe went back on it when another episode occurred a few yrs later.
Some people are comfortable being on benefits, some people are embarrassed by being on benefits. Each to their own.

No middle 50s, could have been switched over, I don’t know, they moved away.

Attendance Allowance is for pension age. It can be applied for at two different rates. Rate 1 is if you need assistance because you have care needs that mean you are unable to look after yourself for the past at least 6 months (£72 pw). Rate 2 is fast tracked and higher rate for those given less than 12 months to live (£108 pw). I believe non-means tested and given on top of pension / pension credits. The associated full time carer can also apply for carer allowance (£82 pw)

People don’t just come off and go back on DLA or PIP like a yo- yo if they have an unpredictable chronic mental health condition. PIP and DLA are far too difficult to get and the process is often gruelling, often taking months or years to get an award. When you get awarded, each award is valid for a certain time period, after which you are reassessed. No one with a genuine serious MH condition like bipolar is just going to go from needing it to not because they can’t possibly know.

No one in their right mind just comes off it on a whim when they don’t know when they could possibly have an episode again, you’re talking drivel. It’s not about ‘’being comfortable on benefits or being ashamed’’ - having a disability or health condition is nothing to be ashamed of at all. Many people brag in front of others whom they know are envious busybodies just to wind them up, so it’s no wonder they told you 🤣

Oh thanks for that info, I’ll pass that on.
granddaughter helps to shower her but she works full time. I personally feel she needs carers in to help her get washed & dressed.
is there someone that could help her fill in these forms? I wouldn’t know where to start tbh. Thanks

I know a few people on PIP for bipolar. You don't need to be acutely ill to claim. An episode usually last less than the time you would eligible for PIP anyway... but they claim because they need care and adjustments to their life to make sure they stay well and avoid an episode to begin with.

I'd report him. It's people like him that make it hard for genuine people trying to claim.

I certainly not talking drivel, when you can go from being so catatonic that you can’t speak, to suddenly you can answer every question in the universe, buying & spending like a whirl wind- you feel on top of the world and that you think there is nothing wrong with you, you suddenly stop taking your medication- that’s when when my family member would take themselves off DLA.
Because they were in & out of a psychiatric hospital for months at a time, the Social Services would help to fill in the DLA forms- they were put back on DLA no problem. I can tell you it was a bloody nightmare. Her psychiatrist said it was one of the worst cases of bipolar he’d ever seen.

So if they were in and out of a psychiatric hospital they still needed DLA, then? So it wasn’t that they didn’t need it!! So you are talking drivel about them being ashamed and taking themselves off it ‘’when they were better’’ - they sound like they weren’t better - they were manic.

Even if they were free of an episode, as pp said, PIP is meant to keep you well and living independently so if they were better then it was doing its job. Add to that the fact that bipolar is entirely unpredictable so most people wouldn’t take themselves off it at the drop of a bloody hat!

How could they tell me to wind me up, if they didn’t know what reaction I was going to take. The person is the least braggart that I know.

I bet your friend can judge your character more than you realise. I mean, I’m not even your friend, you are a total stranger to me and I have a pretty good idea of your character by the fact you are on a public platform slagging off PIP claimants when you clearly have a very limited understanding of how the system works. Very spiteful indeed.

I'm going to get flamed for this but people can and do lie and manage to get PIP. I know someone who claims he can't put a coat on or tie laces but manages to use his benefits to go out drinking and smoking weed all day everyday and is certainly capable of putting clothes on and tying his laces up. I'm not benefit bashing at all, it's supposed to be there for genuine reasons though and not to take the pss. People have a right to feel frustrated at others who abuse the benefits system.

Yes absolutely needed it, & it was a nightmare getting them to apply because they thought they were god & didn’t need the help.

oh but if you haven’t had an episode for 20 yrs, do you still stay on DLA/PIPs
my family member had nurses in & out, that’s how I knew they weren’t faking it

The higher rate is not just given for terminally ill people, it is awarded when someone has day and night time care needs. The lower rate is awarded if someone just has day or night time care needs but not both.