To be angry that a mutual friend is committing benefit fraud!

[166lady]

Myself my husband and our toddler went on a soft play date with my husbands friend, his wife and 2 kids. My husband asked if his friends wife will be going back to work and she said she’s in no rush as she’s getting enough from universal credit to live happily.

My Husbands friend then added that she’s been off work for 2 years as she claimed they live separately (they don’t) and that she has no savings when they do.

I don’t know how much they were claiming but she suggested it was more than what she was getting in maternity pay! I feel angry as myself and everyone I know were scrambling for childcare to go back to work and earn again, and they’re living a fake life

To all those saying it's a bullshit made up thread, it actually doesn't matter in the slightest if it's made up. It's an important point, the excusing of benefit fraud and how normalised it is.

We are facing a huge problem with benefit fraud and mismanagement that needs to be addressed. £9.5 Bn every year is not nothing! It's not some made up thing that isn't happening or fake news.

People aren't inventing or exaggerating the benefit fraud, it's just uncomfortable to contemplate because a lot of people are doing it, maybe even some on this thread!

You can argue the Robin Hood principle all you want, but it's unsustainable to maintain that type of loss every year and not see the link to declining public services.

It's not goady for people to be getting pretty pissed off with the situation. Especially when they are getting up early to go to work and paying more and more taxes to support this shitty situation.

Benefits should go to those who need them. and I for one would like to see the benefit fraudsters dealt with so the kid with cerebral palsy whose mum is on her knees trying to keep body and soul together, or the elderly person lying on a hospital trolley in a hallway waiting for a bed gets decent support not just scraping by.

Fraudsters take from the genuine people needing help not just the able bodied. I don't understand why more people aren't angry about this rather than just turning a blind eye. maybe they just haven't connected the dots that fraudsters are screwing over their own community and just don't care.

There are many problems to solve in this country and this is one of them, along with taxing Amazon, foreign aid and financial mismanagement. It is firmly on the list and needs to be dealt with.

The human leech may feel she trusts OP because their partners work together, or she has a naive side to her character, or has let her guard slip after a couple of drinks. It may not be the implausible scenario you want it to be.

I also think that while 1 billionaire’s tax would dwarf this woman’s claim, there are probably hundreds of thousands of people doing what she’s doing and all together it’s probably not too different.

Mumsnet users seems to fight tooth and nail for generous, unaffordable benefits to be a human right for any minor life affliction or misfortune, and for them never to be reviewed or probed and every person yanking the chain to be let slip ‘because billionaires’.

I have been physically disabled since birth and require assistance with personal care needs. However, I still work full time and claim PIP, which I am entitled to do since PIP is not an out of work benefit. It is intended to cover the extra costs associated with disability. My PIP does not cover all of my disability related costs though it helps. I also live a rich and full life, happily married with a wonderful baby, lovely friends and family, own my own home, etc., doesn't change the fact that the eyes I was born without aren't going to sprout any time soon and the multiple joint deformities I have had since birth won't magically sort themselves out!
Needing help to bathe and being able to work and live a full life are not mutually exclusive and being capable of the latter is not proof that your friend is claiming PIP fraudulently. Without the adaptive technology, specialist equipment and support PIP helps to pay for I would be living a much less full life and it is also doubtful that I would be able to continue working.

Posting on MN will achieve bugger all. Report them. But I guess that isn't as much fun as benefit bashing on social media?

Just report her, you can do it anonymously. The bloody benefits bill in this country is horrendous and if she is fraudulently claiming shes part of it

I have reported people I absolutely know are committing fraud and benefits were substantially reduced and notability scheme stopped

Unless everyone is prepared to report those they know are committing fraud it will just get worse and those who genuinely need the support get tarred with the same scrounged title and that’s not fair on them

The thing is some people brag about this- they think they are clever to "trick the system". You are lucky not to have ignorant people like that around you. I do. And I know of plenty who fraud the system. Why I don't report them? There are children involved so I just can't bring myself to do that.

What! A couple of fruit shoots at the soft play centre? She needs to reign in her drinking.🥱

If you suspect, then report. You could be right, you could be wrong. Experts will assess.
You don't need consent from here. In any case Mumsnet is a branch of the Peggy Mitchell " dhant be a gwass".

It happens. I know someone who qualifies for school meals due to low income (not a forces family etx)
And they just bought two new vehicles in the 60k realm...and somehow put it through the business. They are often away on holidays and weekend breaks- family of 6.
Id personally keep out of it ie. Id not report it ( but that's just me)
I would find it difficult to remain friends with her though (sorry)
Id be letting the friendship gradually slide away as I know id be quietly judging the dishonesty. Im suprised she was so open about finances especially in a public place but also they do monitor bank accounts!

Yes they will. She will have a review at some point and they will discover this and consider it purposeful fraud due to the immediate move. UC compliance teams will be watching probates and named beneficiaries. The UC Facebook pages are full of questions from people asking how they can receive an inheritance without UC finding out, the short and long answer is that you can't.

She should seek help from women's aid or another DV organisation, they could help her to get the tenancy changed to her name only. She is technically committing fraud, could end up with a criminal record and custodial sentence.

Meant to say, banks are obligated now to inform HMRC of large payments if UC or any means tested benefit is paid into that account.

Most people that claim ‘it’s my tax money’ or ‘taxpayers have a right to know’ etc don’t earn anywhere near enough to be paying the tax required to be a positive contributor. They are barely paying for their own needs and services yet love to play moral superiority.
fraudulently claiming benefits isn’t ok but I think purposefully defunding the nhs and paying schools a pittance or contributing to a system where UC tops up wages so shareholders get large profits is way worse. Companies like Amazon deliberately paying no tax is a huge issue that is allowed to slide. That pisses me off more than some builder not declaring his earnings. I can be mad at both sure, but I’m more angry about the time and effort that goes into ensuring large corporations get away with paying minimum tax

What soft play do you go to where they serve alcohol?

On MN every second poster definitely knows someone committing benefit fraud and telling every old random about it.

Since op hasn't bothered to return I'm inclined to think this is just another thread to whip posters into a frenzy about benefit fraud, and that op has embellished (if I'm being generous) the story somewhat.

"To all those saying it's a bullshit made up thread, it actually doesn't matter in the slightest if it's made up."

I thought made up wasn't allowed.

Yep my apologies about the alcohol thing in this situation, wasn’t reading properly.

The Government have put a lot of money recently into detecting benefit fraud and within UC they are focusing on the areas where the majority of the fraud exists undisclosed capital, people cohabiting without informing UC and the under declaration of self employed earnings. A lot more checks and reviews are being carried out. It is much more likely that people will be caught if they try to exploit the system.

Many soft play places are part of a pub or annexed to a pub. All the ones local to me are.

They are doing more checks but fraudulently claiming because people are cohabiting will be impossible to prove if couples have all of their individual accounts registered at their individual homes and don’t make any payments to the other person.

Same

👏👏👏👏👏

In some circles its completely normal and the same for self employed people hiding income. The number of mners exs who hide income from child support to pay minimum should tell us that.

I dont dis beleive t that people commit benefit fraud, its the telling all and Sundry about their fraud im sceptical about.

I say wait a bit before repoprting otherwise they will connect the dots and realise it was you. You don't want the aggro, wait a few months maybe