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

[Fragmentedbrain]

And if the DWP subsequently came for them

That’s what I was told too.

I have reported her to the council
Many bloody times-they send her a letter
Which she rips up and carries on
The dwp is my next step

You reported them, and you lost your job. The ‘haves’ were protected.

meanwhile th rest of TW nation are more interested in wether women have me staying ovef whilst the fathers continue their lives with impunity

I’m sorry but can you explain this:

meanwhile th rest of TW nation are more interested in wether women have me staying ovef

I am usually not too bad at autocorrects but that has stumped me.

Why VAT? Relatively unusual to hit the threshold but lots of people do a wee bit of tutoring on the side undeclared etc etc for income tax and NICs

So going off your original op ,is it only if claimants you stalk?

As I said, there was a thread on here recently about paying tradesmen cash in hand for a discount (due to them avoiding VAT) and on that particular thread the vast majority of posters were in favour of it. That’s why I used that example.

I have twice with 2 different people , neither was followed up, know this for a fact as definitely would have heard, ironically both of them still work cash in hand 3 or 4 days a week in quite a public role ( in a pub/ restaurant ) whilst claiming as a single parent working 16 hours .
I can only assume that it’s considered small fry and they’re inundated with these kind of reports .

No, but I wish I had. The people concerned are now retired, (early), and enjoying their life of leisure and holidays after being able to save an absolute fortune due to years of one half of the couple claiming fraudulently as a single person, while the other person lived there, whilst also renting out their own property cheap to a ‘mate’, meaning they could not only pocket the rent, they also had all their post etc sent there and picked it up once a week. Oh and they were a police officer, btw.

You definitely should for these cases, that's shocking.

I did it once and would do it again, friends and I are debating whether to do it for another friends absolute shirker of a partner who wants to marry and move in with her but be supported totally by her so they still get benefits, but genuinely worried she could get a custodial because it has been so long and would run into the £££££ and don't want to do that to our friend.

Ok so that covers one part of it, but you said that they claim 'maximum single parent benefits despite living with a partner who also works cash in hand', mention 'hand outs from her parents' and said there was 'no investigation by DWP'

How do you know without a doubt about the other things and what has been declared when claiming? Or that there was no investigation, or that there was and because you've seen no change in her circumstances, the outcome wasn't that there was no fraud happening?

My point is that because you don't see someone carted off in handcuffs, read about or hear of their prosecution through the grapevine, or that don't suddenly have a massive and noticeable change in the bits of their life you see, it doesn't mean that they are just getting away with it because the DWP can't be arsed.

Oh, no, @LakieLady, that's so sad. I'm glad you were able to help her but that year must have been horrible for her. People make their own judgements based on nothing but their imaginations, and just thoughtlessly wreck lives.

From my experience, getting the eventual arrears doesn't make up for it either. By then you've run up all sorts of debts, had services cut off, and the back pay isn't enough to put things right.

No I haven’t, but I have been tempted to. A few years ago a single mother moved into a privately rented bungalow at the end of our drive. She subsequently then went on to have two more children with two other different partners (not judging as it’s her choice). The first partner was taken away by the police in handcuffs. Their relationship was very volatile and neighbours often heard shouting etc. She, apparently, according to her next door neighbour, was as bad as he was and was more violent than him.

The second partner who moved in definitely lived there and didn’t work. However, he did offer his services as a sort of gardener/handyman to the many people around us. The bungalows are quite small and many pensioners reside in them. We didn’t avail ourselves of his services, but our 90 year old next door neighbour did, and paid him £150 to clean his gutterings! He even asked us if we could lend him our lawn mower, as his broke! (We said no by the way, on the basis that we didn’t have one, and that a retired guy down the drive cut our grass, which was true).

The straw that broke the camel’s back was a few weeks ago, when I saw her at the hairdresser’s. She was having hair extensions (which aren’t cheap!). I regularly see them in Asda with their trolley piled high (again, no judgement , as feeding a family of five doesn’t come cheap), taking a taxi back. An online shop may have been cheaper, but as they have nothing else to do, I suppose it passes the time.

I wouldn’t report them, because there are children involved, but I’m pretty sure she is claiming as a single person and he is too and claiming he doesn’t live there. I may be wrong, and maybe they are claiming jointly, but the money he’s making cash in hand and ripping pensioners off must be considerable. He charges one OAP £1 to wheel her bins out! I told her that she only had to ask the Council to do this (as a disabled person) and they would so it for free!!!! Couldn’t get through to her though. Doesn’t seen fair as he is getting away with cash in hand jobs and she’s using benefits to pay for hair extensions!

I couldn't tell you what the rules are now - this was years ago.

Do you have an elastic view of the law then. You feel only some laws are valid. How about the sewage in the public waterways or turning a house into one of multiple occupancy without permission?

Sorry I should have said I take it you "wouldn't" report any one for minor benefit fraud

Well that's entirely different to a single mum cleaning a few hours a week to earn an extra say an extra 40 pound.

I haven’t but do wonder about
where those at my DC’s school get their money. The demographic is very modest with many single parents who work only part time. And yet they can afford multiple holidays abroad each year and taking their
kids to Disneyland Florida is pretty commonplace! We can’t afford that and my DH and I both work full time in good jobs. We pay a tonne of tax and sometimes I wonder if we are the idiots financing everyone else.

No, she thought her mum could get that because she says she is her carer (she isn't - she doesn't see her often). Her mum lives miles away and spends a lot of time in the US. So she set her sights on AA. I said it is for pensioners, and she insisted it is for anyone... I just thought she can go ahead and apply and be disappointed (more like be convinced the system is in the wrong, not her).

Frankly I would report someone if I was sure they were committing fraud. We have had to make sacrifices as a family with both parents working full time and I should not be subsidising someone else to work less off the back of my hours at work. Neither of us have ever claimed any form of benefit and we do not expect anything because we are healthy and can support ourselves and our family. Any person who has committed fraud can bloody well pay back the amounts they defrauded and repay to the government what has been stolen by those who work really hard and make sacrifices along the way- missed sports days, fewer play dates, late pick ups and exhaustion.

I was almost tempted once but I realised it would have been done in anger and a spiteful thing to do. I don't want to be that sort of person. I think a lot of benefit fraud is down to organised criminal gangs anyway. I also think if benefits were a genuine safety net instead of a system set up to punish and humiliate, and if wages were actually enough to live on rather than barely subsist, rates of benefit fraud would go down. Plus the hoops that people have to jump through for their measly few quid almost invite some to circumvent the system.

Are you King Charles or something? You must be pretty rich to fund the Florida trips of everyone in an entire school.

I have reported to HMRC, someone who hasn’t paid tax in 15 years and was a massive wanker.

I have also reported to social services. In both cases something was done.

Never benefits, but I would, this country just can’t afford our ridiculous welfare bill anymore.

Social services would be a safeguarding thing, surely? YANBU to report that at all.

It’s a tricky one. I think it’s hard when you go to work all the time and see people not working and going on lavish holidays and constantly having nice things. However I have a friend who doesn’t work. Looks after her two young children. The dad is crap. He lives with them but he’s not on the books. However he doesn’t contribute financially so if he was on the books then how would she manage financially. I totally get she needs to make him step
up but it’s the kids that suffer isn’t it. But then again I see pictures of what the kids have which I can’t afford foR my own kids and I work full time!