To ask if you've ever reported somebody for benefit fraud

[Fragmentedbrain]

And if the DWP subsequently came for them

No but have wanted to on more than one occasion. I feel if the government wanted to bring down the benefits bill fast they could offer a small reward to ‘shop a fraud’ and the encouragement would drive out thousands of them!

I know someone who has a lot in Premium Bonds... enough to stop their benefits. They are adamant that PB do not count towards capital. I am pretty sure it does. I have not reported them as we go into loggerheads over it, and they would know it was me.

I do know people who have been prosecuted for it though. In both cases, they had partners living with them that they had not declared.
A few times, people on here have said that they have reported people and nothing was done. If you report someone, you are not told of the outcome.

Yes, I was a DWP benefit officer for a number of years so was kind of obliged to. Never let on to the neighbours what i did though!

At one point I worked in a team that reviewed claims already in payment and we had access to e.g HMRC records to check if people had undeclared private pensions or capital.

In my experience, the majority of people committing fraud don't start out being untruthful but they hide changes as 'they'll never find out', then time moves on and they're too scared to come clean as by then, £1000's will need paid back. Inherited money and widows getting their spouses private pension were the usual culprits. Due to data matching being targeted to a particular subject, e.g PAYE reported to HMRC vs. Income declared, it can take a while but it does catch up with people eventually.

(To an earlier poster, your friend with PB's will get caught out eventually through data matching).

Yeah I have!

No, I don’t know the ins and outs of anyone’s finances well enough to know whether or not they’re committing any fraud!

I haven’t but I definitely would - the people who play the system give it a bad name and ruin it for the genuine claimants.

Yeah it does. They sound a bit thick!

My sister in law claims as single but isn't.

Annoys me less than the friends I have who rent out second properties and don't declare it as taxable income.

I haven’t but do know someone whose told our friendship group that’s he gets PIP mobility for not being able to walk far but she walks perfectly fine and is able to dance when out drinking. She just gives reminders of no one videoing her and posting on social media.

She has 3 children receiving PIP and charges them admin fees for completing forms for them! Told the council her adult sons live with her so she got a 3bed council house all rent paid but they live with their dad. If i had her address id report her as it’s a joke

Know someone else who says can’t do daily tasks and needs a spare bedroom as her daughter is her carer but she works cash in hand and spends her time babysitting her grandchildren so her daughter can work cash in hand (claims UC too)

Someone else told UC she’s single and living with her parents but just uses that address and lives mostly with her wealthy partner.

Not sure if i do have it in me to report but we cannot afford to keep paying out all this money. And it doesn’t sit right some of us working and paying our way with not much left over whilst some benefitting from handouts.

Benefit fraud is already pretty effectively dealt with, there's far more tax fraud and many many times more money lost that way.

But financial rewards just drive misreporting and snooping, with negative consequences for society. It's better to just stick to encouraging decent behaviour.

No. Steadfastly against it. Leave people alone, even if they aren't your cup of tea.

No I've wanted to though with 2 people. Been too worried about what would happen to their children if I reported it (I know I shouldn't care more than the parent committing the fraud but in both cases theres no one suitable to look after the children if their mums was to go to prison)

I just looked it up and you are right. She actually shouted at me and said PB does not count. She was also adamant she could get Attendance Allowance. She is 45.

They are savings. What else would they be? You have tried to help. May as well let them wait until they get a review and the shit hits the fan.

Isn't Attendance Allowance for pensioners??

Yep, AA is for pensioners. I have no idea why she thinks she can get it. She is going to be very disappointed. She is on UC and said she had a lifetime award (no such thing!) as she had not been reassessed since she applied. No one is being reassessed right now unless they live in NI.
Last I heard, she was going to transfer the PB to her daughter, but I don't think you can do that.

I reported someone for driving with health conditions which meant they should have surrendered their licence, and their licence was indeed taken off them . No regrets. They never knew it was me

Never

I only care about millionaires getting away with fucking us by not paying tax

Some single mum abandoned by some twat to bring up kids alone getting £30 cash in hand I don’t give a fuck about. Benefit amount are SHAMEFUL compared to tax breaks for the rich.

The person I'm thinking of is in receipt of a household income of about 100k. That's not the only issue but it confused me - is it feasible the claimant could hide salary? (I assume not and that at a bare minimum the NI number should allow for an immediate eligibility check)

Are they on PIP? Because PIP is not means tested.
I don't know how someone on £100k could hide that if they were on UC.

Deprivation of capital. 👍

No it's universal credit and housing benefit, so they say (they're lying about being single)

What benefits are they on, and how do you know?

There is no housing benefit. There is the housing element that is part of a UC award. And this would have been verified with tenancy agreements etc.

They told me. They keep insisting a "coach" told them it was fine.

Would it help if they had a fraudulently obtained housing association property (in addition to their family home)?