PIP Fraud- now even the DWP staff themselves are it!

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Clifford Redman, 57, claimed he had severe mobility issues and needed daily help - but he was caught out after being filmed going to the gym and on long walks https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2105390/dwp-fraudster-claimed-19k-caught-gym

Tip of the iceberg, serious reform needed.

Yes, but the point is he’s not disabled. He claims he can’t do washing etc but he can build a shed, media wall etc? I think not

We still run a car. So no saving there. I use it for some private therapy, increased bills (as I’m at home all day), prescription charges. All sorts of things.

My friends dad was allegedly disabled enough to be claiming Attendance Allowance and his wife claiming carers allowance for caring for him 35 hours a week ( physical issues ) yet was round at my friends house up a ladder putting curtain poles up and painting and decorating her house !

Start one and I'll join in!

And Rayner hasn't had an easy ride since her tax mistake came to light has she.

But if you are having to use taxis to get to work (because there is either no public transport or it is not accessible), and it is multiple times a week, that max of £800/month soon goes...

When it comes to these threads, I get a sense that people just aren't willing or able to think outside of their own comfortable non-disabled lives to imagine what the practicalities of life as a disabled person are really like.

I also use it for the odd bouncy blow dry and to have my nails done .Doesn't make my claim claim fraudulent or mean I dont have a disability

Absolutely not.

It does mean, however, that you don't need the PIP - so the award you get is either partially or totally unneccesary. Public money utterly wasted.

Agree with some pp's, a total reform of PIP is needed.

I do that by working my arse off.

There's probably a lot more to this story, but, i do think it is important people understand that it is possible to go to the gym/for walks and have limited mobility.
Some conditions fluctuate a lot. It doesn't make them less real

You do not have to have any additional costs in order to get it, that's what's wrong with it. Nowhere do you have to account for extra costs. The people I know do not have extra costs at all. If you don't count costs for doing your hair, nails and partying.

That’s the number who are caught.

Me too. Also with a disability but never occurred to me to claim a benefit. Of course I someone has a serious condition and CANNOT work I’m happy to support. But the current top up system is ridiculous

But what do you spend it on that helps you with your mental health? PIP should be tiny. Wheelchairs, hoists, therapy, etc should all be available on the NHS. That’s one of the things it’s there for. Giving people cash payments to spend as they like is the issue. There is nothing to induce them to spend the money on the areas it has been given for, the person gets no better, they stay off work and on benefits. That’s where we’re going wrong here.

Of course you do.

You clearly no nothing.
PIP is really really hard to get. I was PIP assessor for 2 years and the DWP are BRUTAL. Half the time they don’t listen to the bloody assessors and refuse to give it even when the assessor is saying they need it!

Because it’s just not true. Tell me one way a company or a billionaire is evading tax. Better still, call HMRC. They’ll be very interested indeed.

Oh but you have no examples whatsoever because you are making up nonsense to suit your narrative.

I see fraud as people not using the PIP money given to them for the purpose to which it was given. That sort of fraud is rampant.

(The assessor doesn’t say whether or not they need it, before someone corrects me, but the report they write and the scores they award impact the decision and often they are overridden).

and I meant KNOW not no.

PIP isn’t just an out of work benefit….so someone’s capability of working is neither here nor there. And you can’t make judgements about the extent of someone’s MH issues (or the extent of support they may need to manage them) on the basis of their social life 🤷‍♀️

Where is your evidence that tax is being evaded? You have none! Give me one example of unprosecuted tax evasion of a billionaire or a big company? Just one.

Pip isn't an out of work benefit. Some people claim it to help them be able to work.

I always think people don’t understand the costs involved in being disabled - increased costs of food and personal care etc.

If you have any system, there will always be a percentage of fraud, there can not be a perfect system. 1% caught is incredibly low, even if the actual fraud is higher it’s still probably fairly low.
I bet the percentage of self employed people who don’t pay correct tax or child support is very high, I’d rather resources were put into sorting that.

I agree with you but

" I see fraud as people not using the PIP money given to them for the purpose to which it was given. "

Unfortunately there doesn't have to be a purpose for the money: it's given whether you work or not (regardless if you can/can't), whether you have got extra costs or not. You do not have to justify what you do with the money. It's not means tested. So just some extra cash/fun money for many.

For those of you with a disability that means you can't work/have real extra costs due to your disability this is NOT a dig at you!! I'm happy that PIP exist. But when I think of my two former friends with adhd who have largely exagerrated how debilitating their symptoms are to their GP (one helped the other what to say) and being awarded tax payers money to get some extra money while their dh earns extremely well it makes me 🤢.

Should doesn't mean that they are. Especially therapy, some people could be waiting years on lists or they could use some of their PIP to pay for therapy that the NHS doesn't cover.

NHS will provide basic wheelchairs but maybe an electric wheelchair is more suitable etc.

But this isn’t unprosecuted PIP fraud either.

So what are you wanting quantified?

That there isnt any tax evasion - untrue. Because prosecution proves its exists.

That there isn’t any unprosecuted tax evasion - course there is because it wasn’t prosecuted until they were caught!

A Tory MP was caught evading £5m tax and had to pay up.