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?

🙄

Folks are exasperated at the wrong people though. They bitch on here about their hairdresser's dog's walker's aunt, with the hyperbole about the £K they get in benefits, their free cars etc, and forget the reason they get that money to begin with. They just think it is handed out no questions asked, and that people willingly give up work to claim it. They post with the aim to get people angry at individuals, and not the people who make the policies.
They should be looking up, not down.

And "housing expenses paid" can't be used as mic drop either. Not everyone on UC claims it (I don't). This means that I am on less than NMW compared to someone who is working. So yes, it does rile me when people think everyone on benefits is raking it in.

Who exactly are you proposing we ‘get angry’ at?

Not at one of the most vulnerable groups of people in Society, that would be a start.

I find it disturbing that you even have to ask that.

I know someone like this, only she claims fraudulently for her child. For people saying it's practically impossible, it's really not if you have enough of a determination to do it.

@XenoBitch Why not answer then? The way I see it is everyone is responsible for their own actions, they can’t just pretend to be a helpless puppet of the state. I could put in a claim for PIP; I actively choose not to, and I’m not wealthy at all. The state can only deal with what we give them, and if millions of people are doing what they can to get out of work, that leaves our country in a dire state.

There’s talk of PIP being removed for MH conditions, I’m not sure if it will happen but I hope it does (bar people so unwell they’re considered legally insane) because allowing disability benefits for moderate MH issues has opened a floodgate that is draining the public purse.

Your true colours are showing. You think people with MH conditions are are not worthy of support. They are the "wrong" sort of disabled.
Come spend some time on a MH ward (I have spent far too long in them), and tell me that even half the people there could be better if they just got a job.
And "legally insane" is not a thing, apart from in films.

Also, someone "legally insane" (and again, this is not a real thing anyway) would have been judged so after extensive forensic psychiatric assessments as part of a court case... and someone judged to be so, would end up on a hospital order.... and guess what... you don't get PIP when you are in hospital (or prison for that matter).

I’ve been hospitalised for MH reasons. I had a 6 week stay. I still don’t think benefits for mental health issues are remotely sustainable unless for the most extreme cases only.

I agree and I do help a lot of people with PIP forms. and I do understand the criteria. Sadly I think we will see them become a lot harder to get awarded, the criteria will become stricter.

So the solution is to cut them? Being in poverty does not help MH.
There needs to be more help for MH out there, more so for children and young people so they can thrive and not end up as revolving door patients as they get to adulthood.
The crapness of NHS MH care and CAMHS, and the benefits system, is not the fault of people claiming it. As the saying goes.... don't hate the player, hate the game.

Yes.

We plough £££ into mental health as it is, and none of it makes much of a difference. How much have you had in the way of therapy/meds/appointments? Has it significantly helped you to the extent you can now work?

I agree. Things have swung too far in one direction with PIP awards for MH, and now, inevitably, it’s going to swing the other way.

Report him, he is committing fraud and shouldn't get away with it.

I have been in and out of the MH system since I was a late teen. Had lots of therapy, sections etc, tried tons of meds. I was under SIM, which caused a lot of trauma in itself.
I have worked, but struggle to cope every time, even in the most simple and menial of jobs. My job now is trying to stay alive and have a semi-normal life.
I have been referred back to CMHT several times by my GP and crisis team. I am told they can't offer anything else.

You don't know that just because he showed some bravado.

You have my sympathy, Xeno. The mental health services are the poor relation of the NHS and the doctors are very much controlled by the drug companies. If you don't take what is prescribed, even if you've tried many different meds for long periods and they don't suit, you are discharged. Not surprisingly, many doctors are leaving the NHS for that reason. It's scandalous.

That sounds incredibly difficult and I sympathise, but I think you’re an example of how mental health issues really aren’t as straightforward as ‘if they could just have X therapy they would be fine and able to work’.

Ultimately we can’t throw hundreds of millions, or even billions, of pounds at therapy which has a high chance of not working. It really isn’t the same as a fixable physical health issue.

Well, plenty of people with MH issues are not being offered anything other than a short course of CBT nowadays, and even the waiting list for that is beyond ridiculous.

But none of this is the fault of people claiming benefits.

There’s nothing else that can be done for them. There are so many mentally unwell people now that a tailored, personalised approach would be completely unrealistic and unworkable.

You’ve likely had hundreds of thousands of pounds of treatment (if not more) plus benefits which support you while you are out of work, over many years. None of this has got you to the point where you feel able to work. I think it’s very unfair to criticise a system which has clearly given you a lot of help?

I am thankful that I was given enough help to not be in hospital/police cells a lot. That is not a good life to live, and it was chaotic and awful. However, my care in the NHS was about keeping me out of hospital, and not getting me into work. That is another thing altogether. The government go on about getting the sick/disabled back into work, but it seems to be by threat of sanctions, and forcing people into unsuitable work, rather than a tailored approach to each person to find their strengths etc. Yes, that would cost a lot anyway... and the ironic thing is that the people coming off benefits to go work in NMW jobs would still be on benefits anyway, and in some case more. I see people get topped up with UC more than I get at all.

I think there are huge numbers of claimants who could be given all the help in the world and they would still claim to be unfit for work.

I was rejected on appeal as my life threatening illness (Addisons) and nerve condition (HNPP) are not seen as being severe enough to make me eligible 🤷‍♀️

That does not mean they are not entitled to claim..