WOULD YOU REPORT A FAMILY MEMBER FOR BENEFIT FRAUD??

[wouldyougrass]

Ive known for a while they collect benefit, they have a baby but live at home with parents, in their late 20s

they always moan about their life, but never get anything together or do anything about the way they live, ever since she was pg theyve been going to the housing to be put on the housing list - the babys 4 months now and they still havent been

they sleep ALL day

im 90% sure they recieve benefits, not sure what but theyve mentioned it in the past

he works 3/4 nights a week - cash in hand, off the books

it never bothered me until one of them rang DH last night and was asking him which high definition flat screen TV to buy, hes got £1,500

they dont own theyre own car, even though he drives - they borrow the mums car to 'work' the 3 nights - and moan they cant afford a car

so why not buy a car with the 1500???

would you?

No, I wouldn't report a family member for anything unless it was violent or dangerous. Money isn't all that important to me.

yes definitely.

its wrong and pushes up the welfare costs for everyone

bloody well get of your arse and get a job.

I elieve people wh are genuinely unable to work ( and believe me thats not very many) shoudl get much much more support from the state - but scrounging freeloaders should have to contibute to their own costs.

definiely dob them in

Threads like this bring out the worst in people IMO. Some of the attitudes on here are very unnattractive.

Hell,no.

one or other of them is depressed which is a very good reason for finding it hard to turn life around

a car costs a lot to run..very sensible of them not to think of getting one which would be a big drain on resources and better to share with mums..better environmentally too

you can work cash in hand no law says you have to have a bank account

just breathe and be happy that you are not living their life

"dobbing" them in will give you no satisfaction and will undoubtedly make a lot of people suffer and no one happy

as to whether they are doing anything wrong it doesn't sound like a great deal tbh and i would not like to be the big brother watching in this case

noI wouldn't also agree with greenselves on this thread.

no - I'm with greensleeves on this one. But then I don't even own a TV so I'm probably the last person who would identify with your feelings of envy over the posh overpriced consumer goods

no

do you know what. yes i bloody would because as a single parent who earns a decent wage i get crippled by childcare paymnets so that 16 year olds coming out o fschool going on the dole get more at the end of the month then me. They are using their parents and taking the piss and the only way they will grow up is if they are forced to so decent working poeple with a sense of responsibility arent forced to pay for their flatscreens whilst we go without.

No. Bunch of nosey, houlier than thous. Since you ask.

People who knowingly commit benefit fraud are taking money from people who need it; the people who are deservedly entitled to it not least of all the taxpayers. We're not talking small change here; the cost of benefit fraud in this country runs into hundreds of millions of pounds.

he will probably get a warning, so then he will stop working nights and do nothing at all!

none of you pay anyone cash in hand???

if they did have some free house
and a car
and holidays
and spent all day in the pub smoking 40 a day
blah blah
then maybe, maybe i would

but in this instance, living at their mums, with a 4 month old and doing a few nights work a week. no i wouldn't.

How will it make you feel if you do?

Why do it?

Yes it's wrong and yes there are loads of people doing it or worse but how wil it make YOU feel? Really think about that one.

No, people who claim illegally AREN'T taking money from "the deserving" - if all benefit fraud stopped do we really thing for one naive second that there would be a rise in disability/family credit/child allowance etc???

Levels of benefit payment are politically and economically arrived at -there is no 'pot' of money which some steal from.

The vast, vast majority of those prosecuted who I have come across are single mothers doing cleaning jobs, with no previous convictions, and are doing it in a usually vein attempt to make ends meet, and are doing it in contravention of their own moral code, but find themselves in reduced circumstances and hate doing it, esp. with the haunting fear of getting caught and being "shamed", not least to themselves.

Cases like the one quoted just muddy the waters, but allows the 'law-abiding' public to throw a few self-righteous stones.

In my very humble opinion.....

I think the who pays argument could also apply to mps wives being their secretaries

Yes anyone can work 'cash in hand'.

Many moons ago, I used to do a yt training scheme and worked a 40 hour week to be given £35 cash in my hand! I also have had jobs where money has been given 'in my hand'. BUT I also paid tax and/or it went through my employers books.
Slight difference between someone who steals money from the state and then 'works' 3 nights a week for a few quid in their local shop/pub to 'top up' benefits. This money is not recorded and not taxed.
I have nothing at all against people who want to make a head start in life, we all have to start somewhere - but please do it off your own back and not off tax payer's backs!

When I left home at 19 and moved in with dh I lost my job, dh had to support me because I couldn't claim a single penny. Was told dh had to support 'us' on less than £100 a week. Was told ny the job centre I would be better off having a baby!

and don't start me on corporate fraud!! And the middle-class professionals who employ accoutants to turn everything into "tax deductables", but get viewed as "you rascal!" by their peers.

Try to get a grip and put issues in perspective?? Benefit claimants are a piddling pee in a small pee pot compared with the oceans of "cheats" who remain 'respectable'.

I wouldn't. As someone else said, most of the people who work cash in hand do so because they are in serious financial trouble - do any of you smuggies know how hard it is to live on benefits for any length of time? State benefit pays you enough to live on in terms of feeding and housing yourself, but there's no provision for unexpected costs. If you're on benefits, your DC growing out of his/her shoes is a major unexpected cost FFS.
ANd the OP doesn't know for sure what, if any benefits her relatives are claiming, she just doesn't appear to like them very much. Maybe she should just get a life herself.

madamez, it can also be very hard to raise a child if working!

Especially when your and your partner's earnings are just over the limit to claim anything other than child tax credit.
Dh needs new glasses, but we can't afford it.

i dont know.

ive seen the wife of an md claiming incapacity and working for cash. nothing more than greed.

ive seen the woman who claims single parent, lives in a filthy house, with filthy kids and scrounges from friends when her money goes on beer for her live-in bf and takeaways.

ive seen another one who works cash in hand so she can gamble the money away while she has no electricty.

but if i grass any of them up what will it do for me? it wont make me richer. i'll still be struggling working part time with tax credits. ive also been on benefit and know how hard that is too. strangely, when a close friend was doing the same i never felt the urge to dob her in, which tells me if i had grassed on the others it would be out of jealousy, not for the right reasons.

so in summary...i still dont know!