How to actually get authorities to take action on benefit frauds

[Hattieandcake]

Examples reported and nothing done -

• someone taking cash in hand for dogs - evidence sent online of cash only sales and also including social media showing lifestyle and purchase
• someone who is lying that they are single having a partner living at their government address with ring footage available that they live their permanently - also taking cash in hand jobs - evident on footage
• someone putting their SAHM wife on payroll to reduce income claimed - no work done for the business

These are only 2 of many and nothing is done, I am sick to death of it.

I think YANBU in principle, but I don't know what can be done about it. Governments and the media tend to scapegoat disabled people and carers, while often seeming to ignore these much commoner forms of fraud,

“Snitches get stitches” is thug talk. Don’t try to intimidate people.

Considering you have three bullet points and then go on to say they are ‘only two of many’, I have decided I can’t take anything you say seriously. Therefore YABU.

'knakkard' is excellent

Yeah. That’s fairly normal, the accountant recommends that. I think I was the company secretary for years. We weren’t on benefits, we just used all the tax and loops available. That’s why we paid the accountant.

Yesterday, I was peering at my neighbours through my home-made binoculars whilst hoiking up my home-made judgy-pants, and I noticed a brand-new BMW parked in the driveway. I never see anyone ever leaving the property to go to work so I suspect that the car must have been obtained by illicit means. Please OP can you report them on my behalf. I’d do it myself, but I suspect you’d love to have another notch in that judgy-pants belt of yours. I’d hate to deprive you. Thank you and god bless you for the work you do.

😅

So outraged about someone else's behaviour yet another person with zero regard for the fact your Ring doorbell is covering far more than it should.

Even if the DWP or HMRC have started an investigation based on your reports they won't actually be able to use your doorbell footage to do so because you shouldn't be recording your neighbours coming and going from their home in so much detail!

It's nobody else's fault you've got a larger family than you can afford, is it?

Some of us don't or can't have kids. Life isn't fair, are you only just finding this out?

I think it’s selling dogs rather than walking dogs - so big bucks!

I very much doubt that is true. I have a friend who breeds as a hobby. Yes, sells puppies for several thousand a pup BUT the costs are astronomical. They are a responsible, registered breeder and make zero profit and are actually in the red, but that’s not why they do it! They are able to be in the red as they do have a job, and yes, they pay tax on it, and this ‘tops’ up the loss from breeding.

Add up the costs for top quality food, good medical care for current breeding stock and retiree’s (who obviously have greatly increased vet bills as they age, one currently has hydrotherapy several times a week at a specialist centre) and even with pet insurance the gap costs are huge. Then there are things like sourcing and flying in frozen semen to broaden and strengthen breeding lines, storage of frozen semen if necessary, specialist vet care for insemination etc. Routine vet costs for puppies for health check, vaccinations, preparation of puppy packs to go with them to new owners etc. Add to that travel costs, including flights/accom to take their dogs to shows to promote the breed and their lines. Several thousand per pup ends up in quite a loss that they need to work another job (on which they pay tax) to pay for!

I think you might be my neighbour? This sounds a lot like the accusations my neighbour has made, and she is also as mad as a box of frogs on crack, and has recorded Ring doorbell footage of my property to use as "evidence."

FYI, I work from home, no benefits. We used to get a small amount of UC but are no longer entitled. No one has ever gotten PIP.

The drug dealers you've recorded coming to my house are Just Eat delivery drivers.

The "strange men coming and going at all hours," - honestly, you've got me stumped on this one, I can only assume you're referring to DD2's boyfriend or Just Eat drivers. I do know the Ring footage you submitted as evidence to my LL was bollocks, though, as it was of my children's father and you submitted it two years after he died.

We did not sell the puppies for cash. The last litter were orphaned puppies from a rescue and were rehomed via the rescue. The first litter were given to family members, bar one, who went to the breeder of our bitch in exchange for her paying all the costs of whelping and nursing.

The weed you smell constantly, you need to look closer to home for that one, I'm afraid. I'd start by asking the large crowds of teenage boys who congregate outside your house while you're at work, constantly revving their engines while I'm trying to work.

The SAHM openly says she’s on the payroll
to bring down tax costs, just can’t believe people
can commit fraud in plain sight with no consequences it’s just so depressing

Well, yes, that’s completely normal. I don’t know of any company business (not referring to big global corporate entities here) where it’s not structured like this. That’s the job of a professional accountant who structures businesses, it’s to minimise tax, it’s literally their job and they get taught these strategies as part of their degree (I know as I have one who did this)🤣. This is nothing new, it’s been the case forever. When I was in uni several decades ago I even had student friends who were supposedly earning a modest wage if necessary to minimise tax for the parents business and their parents would pay for their accom with the money etc. Again, that’s what professional accountants are for😁. To stop this you would need to ban them which will never happen🤣, or the government would need to sew up many loopholes, which they put in the too hard basket. Can’t believe you have complained to the government about their own loopholes🙄.

Also, on the subject of dog breeding, I reckon the breeder paid something close, if not upwards of £5k, for our litter, and we paid for food ourselves. Admittedly, we could have sold the puppies for £1200-£2000 each, but then you would have had to add the costs of KC registration, microchipping, and vaccinating, which, in our case, their forever families paid for since they were getting a free pedigree dog from champion lines. That adds at least another £200 per puppy; suddenly, you're no longer making a profit.

WE ARE PAYING FOR IT!!!
It's everyones business. The country is going down the tubes with all the scrounger and chancers taking the Michael.

Its pretty obvious our Governments have allowed the UK to become "the welfare state for the world" which is why many citizens feel entitled to grab whatever they can get away with.

😂

I’m not sure why people keep saying this. It’s not ok to pretend you work for someone so they can take advantage of tax and accountants do not recommend this.

of course now spouses can offset against the non working partner’s tax free allowance as standard there isn’t as much advantage in doing it anyway

That’s the fault of the system not the claimant. Why would anyone increase their hours if they were going to be worse off? It’s not fraud, it is being pragmatic and managing on a low income. People at the other end of the scale do things like put excess income into their pension rather than go into another tax bracket and pay more tax. Tax fraud is a far bigger problem than benefit fraud in my view.

The issue is, just because you say something is evidence of benefit fraud, doesn't make it so. Remember, it's not what you know, it's what you can prove to a legal standard.

Conducting a benefit fraud investigation/prosecution is expensive, and it costs public money. Think of it like a criminal prosecution - The CPS will only prosecute a case if they believe there's a reasonable chance of a guilty verdict. Same goes for benefit fraud. Unfortunately the resources aren't there to launch an investigation based on every report they get, no matter how strong the person reporting feels their 'proof' is.

Its extremely unlikely that the 'evidence' you describe would be sufficient to trigger an investigation in and of itself, but it could be used in conjunction with other tips or suspicions from the DWP somewhere down the line.

You need to get a life. I could understand one situation you know very well annoying you so much you want to report it but multiple situations tells me you need to find another hobby.

You can be upset about both.

They aren’t worse off, they just lose a proportion of their UC as they earn more. They are still better off for working but the marginal benefit for each hour earned is less than their hourly rate.

Maybe start looking into corporate tax evasion first.

It’s not a loophole to lie about working for a company when you don’t. A decent accountant would never suggest someone did this, it’s fraud. If these people got investigated and they couldn’t prove what work they had been doing for their wage, they would be fined. That’s not a loophole

What are you actually looking for here, OP? What is the recognition or validation that you seem to need.

Even if they are all punished to the max’ for every instance of their fraud, you’ll still feel tired. You’ll still be working the same hours.
The feelings of resentment that are (frankly) poisoning your life, will still be there. The happiness in your life will increase through your life being better, rather than their lives being made worse by you (and the stress of a benefit investigation is worse).

It is so so clear from your posts that this isn’t about them, but about something inside you.
(and I say that as a full time working single mum of 3)

You can’t claim a salary unless you are actually doing work for the company. If you got investigated you’d have to prove what you were actually doing. Otherwise it’s fraud, it’s not a loophole.