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Original poster

You know what? I commit "benefit fraud "and I think I'm justified

251 replies

ScroungingSingleMum · 11/04/2008 15:21

I'm a single mum , whose ex left three years ago and has consistently refused to pay anything (and I mean anything - not even a penny) in maintenance.

From my benefits (£59 IS, £45 CTC, £18 CB - so a total of £122 a week) I am losing £15.26 a week in repayments for the loan I had to take out to secure my child and myself a home after ex did a vanishing act and the council refused to house us. Every week I need to pay nearly £15 for gas and electricity (yes, the heating is on a low setting, but we live in a cold rural area and have no double glazing), £4.50 for TV licence, £4 for Water, £8 for phone/internet connection (yes, I know its not a necessity but I have to have some way to get contact with the rest of the world - being on my own in the countryside means I don't get out much), £4.50 every time we need to get the bus into town for shopping/doctor/library/semblance of social life etc, £15 for the taxi home if I need to do a big shop, oh and feed us a healthy diet, clothe/shoe us adequately, find the money to take my child to see ex (I know thats not my job, but if I didn't do it the relationship would be lost which would IMO be a tragedy for my child), I try to save something, however small, so that we have a fallback fund for holidays/birthdays/disasters...

I am entitled to keep £10 of any maintenance ex pays - but he doesn't pay any, so we don't get that premium.

I refuse to get into debt (other than the Budgeting Loan from the Social Fund that I have) and we do not have a car, or a big new telly (we have one that I found in a skip in fact). I economise wherever I can but its very very hard.

So... I clean the old lady three-doors-down's house for four hours a week for £6 an hour. It means I can have a bottle of wine once in a while, or a coffee before getting the bus 6 miles home after a morning luging the shopping round town, or have a friend over for a meal sometimes, or buy new (by which I mean secondhand-but-new-to-me) clothes every now and then.

And you know what? If you begrudge me that then fuck you.

OP posts:
TinkerbellesMum · 12/04/2008 15:20

I'm pretty sure you don't have to declare under £20 or 16 hours a week (you're just over, so a cheat for £4 a week tut tut )

All Landlords have to meet the 2010 decent homes standard, you should look into whether you can get double glazing fixed under that. There isn't much time for landlords to sort things out, my own has been rushing to get things done. In the last year we've had central heating, kitchen, bathroom, rewiring and a man came today unexectedly to fit us a digital TV point.

nancy75 · 12/04/2008 18:25

again interesting that people think because the figure in question is small it doesnt matter. if 1 million people claim income support (and im sure the figure is probably much higher than that) and each 1 of those people should be deducted £4 per week but isnt because they dont declare it, that amounts to £208million pounds per year that is being paid out wrongly.
For what its worth i dont think the amount a parent gets to live on is enough, but the limit is the limit, it is not for us to say oh its only £4 a week, why not its only £20 a week? where would you draw the line?

TinkerbellesMum · 12/04/2008 18:57

But then, as someone else said it's averaged out, so with holidays and sickness I think the money works itself out. It only takes 8 weeks of not doing the work for it to have averaged out. It's irrelevant if everyone did it because everyone doesn't.

nancy75 · 12/04/2008 19:00

no thats right tinkerbellesmum, not everyone earns £4 over, some people earn much more and dont declare it. the point im making is if she can keep the money legally why not declare it? if she is over she is over and it is fraud.

Mumcentreplus · 12/04/2008 19:08

This country wastes money on war...and I'm sorry I don't think she is wrong 6 quid ffs you think we should take her to court and jail her over it?...get a life

nancy75 · 12/04/2008 19:11

mumcentreplus, i dont recall mentioning court or jail in any of my posts, i simply pointed out that there has to be a line somewhere. would you think it was wrong if it was £50per week? afterall £50 is nothing compared to how much we spent on war.

choufleur · 12/04/2008 19:23

sorry if someone has already mentioned this (i haven't read all 10 pages) but benefit fraud is still fraud (if you're entitled to earn a certain amount before declaring then fine do so). Benefit fraud costs every household £80 a year each.

TheCoderator · 12/04/2008 19:24

hello i sned benefit fradusters to prison

Mumcentreplus · 12/04/2008 19:27

You work in Fraud then Codey?..lol

Mumcentreplus · 12/04/2008 19:27

Wonder how much war costs us?

nancy75 · 12/04/2008 19:29

so mumcentre plus if i decide to commit benefit fraud, claim money i am not entitled to and then get caught, is "how much does war cost" going to be a defense in court?
i simply do not see what the 2 subject have to do with each other

nancy75 · 12/04/2008 19:31

by the way if we had not gone to war income support payments would be the same amount as they are now and this would still be fraud

PersephoneSnape · 12/04/2008 19:33
Mumcentreplus · 12/04/2008 19:35

it's all Money lost or spent my the government - public money...a person commiting fraud for £6 a week is criminalised and a country spending billions to kill is not...just pisses me off tbh...yes there is a limit and the limit is set by people who have second houses...I'm just saying what she does is miniscule when really think about the government spends our money on...

Mumcentreplus · 12/04/2008 19:38

@Perse

Greyriverside · 12/04/2008 19:38

Should we all obey all the laws? Yes I suppose we should.

Would most of us always obey every law? No I don't think we can assume we would.

Many of us would obey what we felt was the spirit of the law if we felt it had been applied unfairly.

The OP isn't pretending to have 12 more kids in order to get more money so she can go on holiday. She is working as much as she can to top up the benefit which someone in government decided was enough. Probably someone who added more onto their expenses this month than she gets in a year.

It's supposed to be enough, but there isn't enough money to look after the poor in our society because we need to buy millions of mosquito nets, pay for wars or send MPs on fact finding tours of tropical beaches.

Some think she should hand over her child to the system and go to work. Perhaps to one of those nice schools with the airport style metal detectors to cut down the numbers of weapons wielded by pupils.

Or even more commonly where the whole of every class is spent trying to stop the problem kids yelling so the lesson can begin.

It's wrong to disobey the law, but sometimes it's perfectly understandable.

nancy75 · 12/04/2008 19:40

yes it is miniscule and i have already said that the amount given to single parents is too low but as i also said £50 is miniscule compared to how much a war cost, as is £100 per week, but unfortunately the answer is not for people to claim, work and not declare, it just leaves even less in the pot for those that are totally honest.

Mumcentreplus · 12/04/2008 19:45

I just think you have to put it truly in perspective...£6 a week...she's not living it up in Monaco love...she buys a bottle of wine!...I think everyone should work and put in to the system...but a person who has nothing and gets a little extra doesn't bother me at all...sorry

busymum1 · 12/04/2008 19:57

Why not ask woman to pay you £20 a week and a bottle of wine as agift problem solved

TinkerbellesMum · 12/04/2008 20:17

busymum, I love that suggestion!

WallOfSilence · 12/04/2008 20:30

If the OPs mam slipped her £20 a week, this would benefit her too.... should she declare this?

Say she went to the shops & did this old woman's shopping for her... the lady give her £60 to get £40 worth of shopping & told her to keep the change...she would be £20 up... would she also have to declare this?

expatinscotland · 12/04/2008 20:32

i agree about bartering. you don't have to declare bartering, last i checked.

i've bartered around here, although we're not on benefits.

'come and let me bbq for you after you teach me how to burn this garden waste properly' that kind of thing.

DH barters a lot, particularly manual labour he provides. in return for small car repairs, baccy, etc.

Mumcentreplus · 12/04/2008 20:42

My friend who nannys asks her employers to pay specific bills for her instead of giving her the cash..

PersephoneSnape · 12/04/2008 21:04

there is a regulation about payment in kind ( normally reserved for people doing things like lunchtime cover in a corner shop and getting paid in fags) but it is very difficult to proove.

incidentally - there is a reg that can have the minimum wage taken into account against someones income support/JSA, even if they say they're being underpaid, because ot is 'inherantly probable' that a comparable wage should be paid. I'm not saying OP is doing this (min wage is very slightly lower i believe) but o have a case at the mo where someone is earning less than min wage and i have to decide if we should take min wage into account - no badgering the employer for shit wages, oh no - we try and penalise teh victim

LadyBabo · 12/04/2008 22:52

Not begrudging you in the slightest, erm... Scrougingsinglemum - wish you'd chosen a different name! But for heavens sake if you need to do a big shop, then buy online from one of the big supermarkets, the delivery charges are variable, but you can pick delivery times and NONE of them charge anywhere near £15 farking pound!
Less stress too! But do check weights etc on tins (been faced with a teeny tiny of beans more than once)

XXX