Reported possible benefit fraud

[snitchapparently]

I suspect someone of claiming carers allowance fraudulently, and after bottling out several times, I just submitted a report. It’s likely to get back to me if something comes of this and I feel like the bad guy for doing it. Am I the bad guy?! Should I just not have said anything?!

To claim you need to be providing 35 hours a week of care and also earn under a certain threshold and I’m fairly sure this person meets neither of those criteria. (If I’m wrong, of course, there will be no ill effect to the claim).

Feel quite stressed.

But anyway OP, congratulations for making someone's difficult life just that little bit shittier.

Well you evidently think you did the right thing, hence your passive aggressive swipe. I don't see why you posted.

Jesus you've reported a carer?

Yeah, another one who thinks somehow managing a ft job and caring isn’t the gotcha you think it is @snitchapparently …hopefully if it’s all genuine then it’ll all be fine but I’d have left this alone personally.

How do you know how much a carer does? I care and probably do about 70-80h per week but it wouldn't look like that to the outside world. Also, how do you know how much the other person earns? I find it always odd when outsiders appears to have such detailed knowledge of others lives. Nobody know the hours I spend caring, nor what I earn (apart from me)..

They ask for payslips, a few of my staff dropped hours because it took them over the threshold. Apparently they are very strict with what you can earn and you can’t hide it when it’s on your payslip. Maybe you should have read up about the criteria for it before wasting time reporting people.

Wow op you don't know anything about this person, what on earth made you decide to start interfering in their life? I don't even think carers allowence is a particularly high amount.

And no they won't 'get back to you' you don't get updates on the person's life you're trying to disrupt.

You suspect your figure is proven?

0.2% is the government's own figure.

It's incumbent on all real decent people to counter "benefit fraud" with "tax dodging"

every
single
time

fair play to the "OP" - I can see how they thought it was a clever way to sneak a story about carers whooping it up at the expense of the poor ickle billionaires. However they forgot to mention carers getting free SkyTV and goats*

*My "benefits bingo" generator machine may be on the fritz.

The inland revenue would know if she was working full time and claiming carers

So unlikely you have your facts right!

Deliberate drip feed there, but you still don't know. Nobody ever said people should claim money they are not entitled to - they said that you don't report someone on the basis of not knowing they are. But I agree with @SerendipityJane and @lifeturnsonadime - someone working full tme would have HMRC records proving that and wouldn't be able to claim carers. These records are checked when they claim, and at times after they claim. Very obviously - and you say that you know both of those things to be true - there is a strange discrepancy that seems to suggest someone isn't telling the truth. And I am not convinced it is the carer.

The DWP themselves say that the care for Carers Allowance eligibility can include general household chores, support with admin, taking to appointments etc it does not mean only personal care. Most people who live with a disabled partner or family member meet the 35 hours pretty easily and rightly so. The earnings bit is different but lots of carers do some form of work and the threshold is rising for this, but not even vaguely enough.

That we know of. Plenty won’t get reported

Do you know just how much it takes out of you to be a carer!?
Not just Physical but Emotional too

Wow OP, congrats on making two people’s lives harder 👏

If they work full time they certainly are not meeting the criteria.
Are you sure that they are claiming carer allowance? People can be counted as carers without receiving carer allowance for some specific situations. They can have a Carer card from the local council or carer centre but still not receive a carer allowance. E.g mum working full time wouldn’t be getting carer allowance but she would get free flu jab as a carer for her disabled child. If they visited the attraction this mum might get free ticket for herself as an essential carer. She would need to show relevant DLA/PIP paperwork which showed that the child needed extra support.

So ime people often misunderstand the meaning of “carer” . There are carers who receive Carer allowance and there are carers who work full time so don’t receive Carer allowance. They both will call themselves carers in a conversation and some people might get confused.
Im saying this because it’s always worth to know before judging people. I wouldn’t be upset about the check myself, I would be ok but I would be upset that one of my friends thought so low about me. It would hurt.

Are they actually receiving carers allowance or the UC carer top up? Because you can work full time and have the latter.

Also caring isn’t a 9 to 5 job and there are allowable expenses that can be deducted from earnings to fall below the threshold. Carers allowance is strict but there are variables.

Unless they are self employed inland revenue notifies carers if you go over so it’s quite hard to get away with over earning. Caring is 35 hours a week which is less than a third of a day. So unless they don’t live with the person and don’t visit it’s not that hard to meet the hours criteria

Perhaps they spend most of their evening caring for the person? It's not a 9-5 job, after all. I hope you have got your facts straight, otherwise, this could cause a whole load of added pressure to these people.

Let's assume you're right and that it's easy for benefit fraud to go undiscovered for any length of time: even with a sizeable contingency the percentage would be low.

same as tax dodged then.

That being said, there are ways and means (needs a bit of smarts though).

Fucking hell, this country is going to the dogs. Sticking the boot in to a carer, really? I despair.

No, because they’re not a carer in that sense of the word. They are using their elderly parent as a way to get extra income essentially. Most of us will face looking after our aging parents, but most of us wouldn’t use it as a way to get money to which we’re not entitled.

Appreciate many people think I’m unreasonable, I take on your views. However the “you only have a suspicion” folk, thats a bit daft as that’s all anyone can ever have - pieces of information which culminate in suspicion which is then looked into. Other than people reporting themselves I’m not sure how you think this works!