Truly shocked by Tory bank trials for benefit claimants.

[caringcarer]

When Tory's suggested looking at people's bank accounts to stop benefit fraud I thought they might catch out just a few people so it would be pointless doing it. I've just seen this article in local press and I couldn't believe my eyes about the number of bank accounts having an average of £50k yet claiming UC or low income benefits fraudulently. It was a real eye opener. Anyone else shocked?

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/dwp-tries-bank-account-checks-29191387

Erm, read it yourself :

held by individuals receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, or ESA (Employment and Support Allowance)

Pension credit = pensioners

Yes but not pensions or PIP like the last post suggests.

These are low income benefits

How ‘low income’ can you be with £50,000+ sitting in a bank account?

There is no savings limit for pension credit. the first 10k is disregarded and then above that the amount of pension credit a pensioner can receive is reduced slightly. So if a pensioner had a low income and high savings and was disabled they could likely still qualify with 50k in the bank.

Yes, and? The fact someone has a balance on this assessment of bank accounts tells you nothing about whether it was already declared.

You're letting yourself be emotionally manipulated by the Conservative Party, which you're entitled to do of course, but personally I think it best to take a facts-based approach.

Wish they would chase tax dodgers with as much scrutiny and gusto

But you can claim benefits with savings if you’ve given enough in national insurance within a recent timeframe. So if it’s a stop gap then you can claim even if you have savings.
And if you haven’t given enough then why not?

Im in favour of higher taxes funding more social spending and higher benefits by the way, but I also think people should be trying to give to society where they can - maybe someone can’t work due to a disabled child needing 24 hour care- then let’s support them properly. But if someone hasn’t worked for years because theyre choosy about where they work and yet want to have a bank full of savings then why on earth should the nurse, teacher, and road sweeper living down the road be funding their lifestyle.

Thank you for posting some facts.

They will not be welcomed by some here!

Surely it’s pretty straightforward for there to be a conversation about it on the UC journal ?

‘your bank balance shows 50k. Please can you verify this and explain by x date as the savings limit is 6K. Here is some information about what we can disregard etc etc’ then the claimant can respond and either it’ll be ok or not ?

Im not being manipulated at all. I actually disagree with majority of what the conservatives do especially the way they are planning to treat those on PIP. This however seems like common sense to make sure only those eligible are getting UC

Sorry I don't believe a word of this, proof please.

@Silveroaks the savings limit for UC is £16,000. Between £6001 and £16k capital is assumed to produce tariff income of £4.35/month for every £250 or part thereof.

Maths doesn't work like that. It was 8% who might (because of things like different levels for different benefits, house sales, settlements for injuries/compensation, loans being deposited and not yet spent on disabled facilities, backpayments of benefits like PIP that should have been awarded over a year ago, etc, etc) have £1+ too much out of the cohort that they specifically targeted for inspection.

Not 8% of the population. Not all claimants, not all fraudulent, not all holding tens of thousands of pounds.

Sorry yes that’s what I meant as the level where it starts to affect the UC amount

I absolutely agree - it’s all about how it looks and not what is cost effective and most efficient. Politicking at its very worst.

It makes it impossible for people to get themselves out of poverty. How can you save for a house deposit / emergency repairs etc?

Same with UC paying rent but not a mortgage- it would be cost saving for the government to pay poorer people’s mortgage than a landlords. At the end of it they’d own their house rather than renting forever and UC paying their rent forever before being in poverty as pensioners. It increases the social divide because rich landlords are getting their mortgages instead!!

Drop in the ocean compared to if we started looking at tory bank accounts and comparing the balance to HMRC tax records.

Hahaha you know all these paper just copy and paste from the Daily Fail and such like op? I wouldn't believe a word of it.

8% allegedly for one and 1% for another. 8% if this accurate - and knowing our government's ability to obfuscate, bend, get wrong and downright lie about figures - you have a point. But 1%, it shouldn't happening at all but hardly worth shit stirring over.

And shit stirring is exactly what you're doing. There have been so many of these threads lately I'm beginning to wonder if we have the entire Comms team of Tory central on MN.

Why would anyone mind it being checked that they are legally entitled to UC depending on their savings and the eligibility criteria ?? It’s like saying they shouldn’t check if someone actually has a child for them to claim child benefit ??? Like it or not there is eligibility criteria for these things and they need to check !

Exactly. Have a root around and see if any Russian money is involved.

By checking everyone properly not just going by what they put in the claim would save a lot of money and then the government would back off attacking those who are unwell/on PIP ! It seems logical to me to ensure that all benefits are being correctly claimed. Some cases may be complicated but they’ll be investigated and verified or not

I think even if it's 1%, it is worth stopping. 1% will be thousands and thousands of people.

Nobody should be defrauding the benefits system or the tax system. Whether they are a random low income benefits claimant with £50k in the bank or whether they are a conservative mp not paying their taxes.

It's just whataboutery to bring up other problems when we do have a serious problem with people defrauding the state.

Another Tory post to drum up support with their lies 🙄

I can just imagine a thread on here for example ‘im on UC but working cash in hand and not declaring but it’s ok because Starbucks don’t pay enough tax’

Im sure everyone would agree …..or what’s more likely is they’d be having a go at the OP 🤦‍♀️

I work in an industry where I regularly review individual's bank statements. The stories they tell never cease to amaze.

Not just talking about accounts which are receiving some kind of benefits here. Some of the covid bounce back loans. Straight into gambling companies! 😳

Plenty of accounts where benefits coming in also getting regular, large payments coming in from individual names.

It's truly mind boggling and always an interesting read.

If UC was regulated properly and checks done on everyone the money saved would be a lot. Maybe then they could increase carers allowance for example . People shouldn’t be claiming if they aren’t entitled - this isn’t really about the conservatives (I hate them as much as the next person) it’s just verifying eligibility and there are criteria and cut offs for everything it’s not personal attacks

I think both govts would tackle it