Benefit cheat - but family member - help?

jamesey07

is there no 1 else u can report as i'm sure there r plenty of people who earn a bit on the side, why does it have to be someone who is releated to you? must also add that if she is caught out that any court case that will come about she will be granted legal aid which who do you think pays for? needless to say she will most likely have her benefits back again.. is there no mps u can write to as they have been scamming the life out of everyone, r anybody selling drugs r someone with a dodgy tyre r out of date tax disk? i know someone who got reported for this before and all that happened was he had to pay back the amount out of his benefits which was about £5 a week over a couple of years, i dunno why u wanna report this 1 person when i'm sure there r plenty of other people u could be reporting? u sure it's not jealousy

janninew

jamesey07 wrote: »

is there no 1 else u can report as i'm sure there r plenty of people who earn a bit on the side, why does it have to be someone who is releated to you? must also add that if she is caught out that any court case that will come about she will be granted legal aid which who do you think pays for? needless to say she will most likely have her benefits back again.. is there no mps u can write to as they have been scamming the life out of everyone, r anybody selling drugs r someone with a dodgy tyre r out of date tax disk? i know someone who got reported for this before and all that happened was he had to pay back the amount out of his benefits which was about £5 a week over a couple of years, i dunno why u wanna report this 1 person when i'm sure there r plenty of other people u could be reporting? u sure it's not jealousy

I don't for one second think the OP is jealous! She sounds like she works hard to provide for her family! Why would anyone be jealous of a thief who sits on her !!! all day? I can't imagine a more boring existence than sitting watching daytime TV!

jamesey07

janniew i don't think the person sits on her XXXX all day, if she is minding 2 kids i doubt she is sitting about all day watching tv, again i will say if she wants to report someone is there no one else who she could be reporting instead of someone to close to home? i guess all these people who r saying about reporting r all do gooders who have never done nothing wrong in there lifes. what baffeles me though is that mps and plenty of other people r up to far worse yet the people who sit and complain and like to report people sit and do nothing at all, but would rather complain about people who get very little and r trying to earn a bit extra money, oh yeah if you pick up your wee bonus if u go ahead and report her i hope you enjoy it, some people get pleasure outta making other peoples lives bad so i just hope that maybe 1 day if you do something that's wrong then it doesn't come back to bite ya in the bum

MrsTinks

jamesey07 wrote: »

janniew i don't think the person sits on her XXXX all day, if she is minding 2 kids i doubt she is sitting about all day watching tv, again i will say if she wants to report someone is there no one else who she could be reporting instead of someone to close to home? i guess all these people who r saying about reporting r all do gooders who have never done nothing wrong in there lifes. what baffeles me though is that mps and plenty of other people r up to far worse yet the people who sit and complain and like to report people sit and do nothing at all, but would rather complain about people who get very little and r trying to earn a bit extra money, oh yeah if you pick up your wee bonus if u go ahead and report her i hope you enjoy it, some people get pleasure outta making other peoples lives bad so i just hope that maybe 1 day if you do something that's wrong then it doesn't come back to bite ya in the bum

I think there is a distinct difference between "never having done anything wrong" and committing fraud I've certainly done my fair share of dumb things, but I have never broken the law. Apparently my parents did an ok job bringing me up - breaking the law was for some reason frowned on in our house
And to answer earlier points - I have no more love for the big frauds than the little frauds. I think the bank bosses should be fired and loose all bonuses and what have you, I think anyone committing fraud or theft etc shoudl be punished equally. However this isn't about bank bosses and other fat cats. This is about 1 person who commits benefit fraud. Should or shouldn't they be reported?

And if it's ok for the SIL to earn a little on the side then Jane Blogg down the road who earns £75 a week on the sly shouldn't be reported either, nor Joe next door who does a bit of labouring for his brother and gets £100 a week on top of his job seekers because it's only £100 right?
So when you add up all the Joes and Janes... I wonder how much the "odd" £50, £75 or £100 adds up to? Bet you a penny it's a lot more than 7 figures a year... So because it's not ok to shop THIS benefit fraud then we shouldn't report anyone else either right? And then we can wonder why there isn't enough in the coffers for us all when one day the worst happens and WE end up on benefits... Because we're daft and honest we won't get enough to live on. But before that our taxes will go up - because Jane and Joe haven't paid tax on their earnings and have been getting benefits too - all things needed to keep the economy churning... but it's ok right? I mean it's ONLY £50 a week or £2300 a year (or whatever it worked out as)...
:rolleyes:

jamesey07

do u ever sit down and think though that when these people r reported and it goes to court who pays for the court and the legal aid? so while trying to save the country what ever job seekers is a week about £60 £67 i'm not sure how much it is will eventually cost more with the courts and legal people doing the best out of it, needless to say as i said earlier the person is still gonna be on benefits as they need money to live on and will pay back whatever amount in small payments each week out of there benefit, yes when u add it all up i'm sure there is quite a few people getting a bit extra, but aren't they gonna be spending the money anyway so they'll be paying taxes on say there alcohol and cigs. and also if the OP does go and report this on the sly do you not think the person is gonna deny it. so she could be called to give evidence if it where to go to court.

carolinosourus

jamesey07 wrote: »

do u ever sit down and think though that when these people r reported and it goes to court who pays for the court and the legal aid? so while trying to save the country what ever job seekers is a week about £60 £67 i'm not sure how much it is will eventually cost more with the courts and legal people doing the best out of it, needless to say as i said earlier the person is still gonna be on benefits as they need money to live on and will pay back whatever amount in small payments each week out of there benefit, yes when u add it all up i'm sure there is quite a few people getting a bit extra, but aren't they gonna be spending the money anyway so they'll be paying taxes on say there alcohol and cigs. and also if the OP does go and report this on the sly do you not think the person is gonna deny it. so she could be called to give evidence if it where to go to court.

So what if she was getting £200 per week and still claiming benefits? Would you still be supporting this woman? It's illegal whatever the amount is. Surely if someone does something illegal then they should be punished? Rather than having this 'one rule for one and another for someone else'?

And as for the Prosecution costs, once this lady has been found guilty (trust me, the general public do NOT like benefit cheats) if she doesn't plead guilty, then more than likely the CPS will request that Prosecution costs are paid, it's usually about £70, which will be taken off her benefits. She may be made to do unpaid work, have supervision with the Probation service, or be sent to prison. Who's going to look after the children then? Guess she should have thought about that one...

Remember, that prosecution happens once whereas this person will be scamming £50 each week for a long time. Surely a prosecution is more cost-effective to the honest, law-abiding tax-payer in the long-run?

And as for giving evidence, she could do it by a prepared statement to be read out in court.

jamesey07

if she was sent to prison how much do you think it costs to keep a prisoner in jail? i can tell you now it's a hell of a lot more that what she would be getting in JSA, and that would hardly be value for the taxpayer, if she had to pay that £70 fee yes it'd be taking outta her benefits but it'll be about £3-£4 maybe up to £7 a week, and sure all those extra £50's would come in handy then if someone was earning £200 a week and still claiming benefits then yeah i would still support them to. besides any company that was paying a cash in hand of that amount it should be them who they should be going after.. people pay to much tax in this country so it's good to see some people try and play the system back,

1sue23

Sarahlou wrote: »

yeah god I am sooooo jealous. Wish I could get up at 9am, stratch my backside, feed my 4 year old son a tin of spaghetti for his breakfast (i kid you not)..sit and watch JK. Then when other SIL drops child off, plonk them infront of tv and play on facebook until 5pm. Oh and in between, feed both children food from the chip shop for their lunch. What a life eh![/QUOT

Did not know it was a sin to give children tinned spaghetti for breakfast must call in the food police ,at least the child is getting breakfast many a child will go to school with an empty tummy .
You sound to me as if you look down your nose at her, why not just leave be and go and live your life as you see fit and leave her to live her life .

MrsTinks

jamesey07 wrote: »

do u ever sit down and think though that when these people r reported and it goes to court who pays for the court and the legal aid? so while trying to save the country what ever job seekers is a week about £60 £67 i'm not sure how much it is will eventually cost more with the courts and legal people doing the best out of it, needless to say as i said earlier the person is still gonna be on benefits as they need money to live on and will pay back whatever amount in small payments each week out of there benefit, yes when u add it all up i'm sure there is quite a few people getting a bit extra, but aren't they gonna be spending the money anyway so they'll be paying taxes on say there alcohol and cigs. and also if the OP does go and report this on the sly do you not think the person is gonna deny it. so she could be called to give evidence if it where to go to court.

But if more were taken to court and given a decent punishment then less people would risk it - over all costing a LOT less
And no she can't be called as a witness if she reports it annonimously can she
And if someone stole a car and you saw them, but you knew the chances of they getting caught and prosecuted for it were slim because they torched the car, would you still report them? Or what if someone stole YOUR car and you knew someone had seen who it was, but wouldn't tell because there was likely little or no evidence other than their statement... wouldn't you still want the person respocible reported? Or is it ok to not report that because "it would cost too much to prosecute them" too? Yes two totally different crimes but where exactly do you draw the line?
Both are breaking the law, both should be punished and certainly both should be reported!

carolinosourus

jamesey07 wrote: »

if she was sent to prison how much do you think it costs to keep a prisoner in jail? i can tell you now it's a hell of a lot more that what she would be getting in JSA, and that would hardly be value for the taxpayer, if she had to pay that £70 fee yes it'd be taking outta her benefits but it'll be about £3-£4 maybe up to £7 a week, and sure all those extra £50's would come in handy then if someone was earning £200 a week and still claiming benefits then yeah i would still support them to. besides any company that was paying a cash in hand of that amount it should be them who they should be going after.. people pay to much tax in this country so it's good to see some people try and play the system back,

Ok, so someone stabs somebody and you'd support them? Or drives a car while 3 times over the legal blood/alcohol level? Or do you just pick and choose the type of illegal activity you support? I think that may make you a hypocrite.

I'm not sure I understand the relevance of your "cash in hand" comment in this context.

As for people paying too much tax in this country? I think you must be mistaken. The projection from the Treasury for 2009-2010 is that welfare payments will outweigh income tax paid by honest, hard-working people by nearly £25 billion. That means that £25 billion more is being paid out in benefits than is being paid in in income tax. Still think we're paying too much tax?

Do you pay tax? Or do you just spend your undeclared money on cigarettes and alcohol?

Edit: Also, I find it interesting that you think you know how much it costs to keep a prisoner, but you're totally unaware of the problems facing the Treasury, and that people who have paid National Insurance and are entitled to a state pension may very well not get one because of the amount being paid out in benefits.