I'm dying to grass up the benefit cheats living next to me but..

[ssd]

..dh won't let me as they have 3 kids and he feels its unfair on the kids

they are the laziest young couple I've ever met, she told me she can't afford to work as she is getting so much paid for her by claiming to be a single mum, but her partner (kids dad) work on the side so they have that money coming in too

they seem to spend all their money on takeaway deliveries, about 3 a week, but sod all on their kids who come chapping my door every day trying to get in to play with our toys, and probably for a feed as they get their takeaways about half nine at night

we both work here, I'm part time on minimum wage and she actually told me what she "clears" a month and with income support, job seekers and rent paid she's better off than us bith working

I'm heartily sick of seeing them swanning about, she always seems to have new clothes and their car is much better than ours, her mu mtakes the kids at weekends so they can go out and party, she told me they can afford to go out every Sat and they lie in bed all Sunday till the kids are delivered back to them

I'm so bitter, I'm sick of the injustice

should I go ahead and tell social services and let dh go mad or just let them live their dishonest life and shut up? I really don't know what to do

www.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/benefit-thieves/

that link is very interesting

I still can't bring myself to phone about them, I have to admit, dh is right, the kids might suffer more than they do already

this is something I struggle with......

very difficult - My DH works damn hard to put food on our table - we have a 3.9yr old and an almost 5mth old - I have my own business making wedding tiaras and jewellery and am on maternity leave at the moment, but i still have to pay the business insurances even though I'm not working. We are struggling, but getting by (we don't go out smoke or drink and could never afford it at the moment) it makes me so angry that there are people who work and claim benefits and have new cars, new clothes and can afford luxuries - sky tv etc... We work and can't afford things like that - i have a family member that does this and it riles me every time i see him with yet again another new car. I'm angry that we work hard and seem to get nowhere, when these people get it given to them and live a life of luxury for doing something illegally.

i just hope karma gets hold of these people and gives them a good shaking

SSD I don't agree with what they are doing but I have seen people investigated for genuine errors and small amounts of money and they absolutely tear people apart, interviewing them for hours, playing them off each other, it's absolutely awful I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, for the sake of the kids I would rather let her know you disapprove, even stop being friends with her.

But if you are honest about your situtation, and haven't lied, then you would have nothing to fear.

Doesnt sound particularly pleasant the way they interview people, but it wouldnt bother me in the least if I knew I had not falsely claimed anything which should rightly not be mine.

Forever cleaning - that simply isn't true at all in the same way if you've ever been accused of anything by the police, many people end up pleading guilty because they cannot cope with the pressure of being put through the system to prove their innocence.

I don't think it would be unfair on the kids to shop em as the kids, by the sound of it, aren't benefitting from the extra money they are recieving.
The parents are going to behave the same to the kids whether they have this money or not.

katiedd - sorry I do not understand your post.

Yes, i can see that they may not go about interviewing people in a particularly pleasant manner. But surely, they must have evidence that someone has falsely claimed benefits, otherwise what are they being accused of?

If those in question have been honest on the original forms, then how can they be found guilty of something they havent done?

If there have been changes in their personal situation, there are adverts all over the place saying you must report those changes. Nobody can miss that. I don't claim anything, but have seen on the tv, radio etc that if there is a change in circumstances it must be reported immediately.

Sorry, but if that has not been done, then it is fraud.

You are right but in my role as an advisor with the CAB I can tell you that an awful lot of people do miss it, despite the radio/tv/literature enclosed they simply do not have the intelligence required to commit fraud and yet that's exactly what they do because the system is beyond them.
There are also thousands of people entitled to claim who don't because they don't understand how it woks.
As I said the way the process is set up you are guilty until proven otherwise and it is virtually impossible to prove if the DWP have made a mistake, which happens regularly the telephone operators are only human after all.
The person in the OP is obviously guilty and when it catches up with her she'll know about it but just as not every person in prison is guilty, the same applies here.

Don't grass them up. We are getting too close to Big Brother-land as it is. The government are desperate for us to constantly check on each other, which fosters distrust within neighbourhoods. It is the thin end of the wedge and if you follow that through to its logical conclusion you are looking at kids telling on their parents, husband on wives etc.

The government is not doing its job properly and we are colluding.

I'm getting out of here now.

I agree with Jux.
If you feel strongly enough talk to your neighbour face to face.

OK, it's all been said before, but I would shop them. It makes me MAD that my hard-earned tax is used to pay people who aren't actually entitled to it!

mote, my neighbour knows my views, HER view is is that we are mad to both struggle to work back to back shifts in low wage jobs when we could live off benefits like her and be better off

so really no discussion there is there?

before anyone thinks that I spy or snoop on my neighbour, let me tell you she brags about her finances to me, make no mistake!

if she is bragging about her finances then she deserves to get shopped imo.

Why call it benefit cheating? It is benefit theft. It means that money that could go to building new schools, hospitals etc is being given to thieves.

To the OPs thread, I would say shop them.

Shop them but be prepared for any fallout when their income drops. Pisses me off as my DH hasn't had any construction work for months, I was made redundant & eventually we were forced to claim benefits but now we're in limbo -if he gets 2 days agency work we will have to find rent & council tax etc out of 2 days money, whereas if he doesn't bother we won't have to worry about all the forms & means testing etc ever again. Btw if any1 knows where there are construction jobs in midlands please pm me! I think my best option is to teach kids to love a new rich husband & emigrate. Ans as for the royal family...bloody scroungers, spongers and loafers drinking champers on hols taxpayers paid 4. Apart from Queen, Princess Anne and erm... Harry the sexy one

rhinosparkle - harry is a ginger one!!!Please go and get your eyes checked. Very concerned about your sight loss.

Sad, people so at the ready to make other peoples life a misery, and they dont realise everyone has problems and you can bet we dont know other peoples situation at all

TWELVE YEAR OLD ZOMBIE THREAD

What a nasty bunch of people you all are!

@edam - I’m struggling to understand your point about “city fat cats”. Are you talking about fund managers who get bonuses to manage Pension funds? Or are you suggesting people are stealing from pension funds? Or something else?

Edam left mumsnet aeons ago.

I’d shop them, and I don’t believe it’s ‘a drop in the ocean’, especially not when every drop of taxpayer money is needed elsewhere. And especially when genuinely needy people can find it hard to manage, or to get what they’re entitled to.

As for those people who say there isn’t actually that much benefit fraud, I do wonder how they think they know.

By definition, the only cases that are officially known about are those that have been reported/investigated/found to be valid.

Which I wouldn’t mind betting is a drop in the fraud ocean, given that so many people are reluctant to report it, even when they know 100% that it’s going on, and pretty blatantly at that.