Help! (I bent the rules in desperation)

ikx

I'm sorry, Broken hearted. Can we kiss and make-up?

Turning_into_scrooge

ikx

I know someone who has been cheating the system for years, similar situation to yourself, she was trying to keep the roof over her daughters head. I don't agree with benefit fraud but where she is concerned yes i have turned a blind eye as they live out of second hand cloths shops such as Oxfam, shoes are not expensive leather, her daughter does not walk around in designer gear like some of them do. In once sense of the word this is a grey area and i know that she has been reported a few times but nothing has ever come of it, probably because the house only has 2 beds fridge cooker and one sofa that looks like ti died years ago, her ex husband cleared the flat out one day and left her, and has never paid one penny for his child since the day she was born. To think that such poverty exists today in 2006 is terrible. I understand your reasons for doing this, the fear of losing your home is awful, i know how that feels as i faced bankruptcy last year fortunately my son bailed me out. I'm probably the only poster on here who hopes you don't get caught i think the fear and worry will always make you think twice. The only way i can think of how you got away with this is if you were working on a self employed basis without the tax man knowing. Dangerous, but i wish you well.

(got my hard hat on now)

dorry_2

You don't say whether you were working or not. If you weren't working then you'll simply have to repay the working tax credit part of your tax credits award if you contact the helpline (0845 3003900). This isn't so serious and you'll likely get a time-to-pay arrangement with HMRC and a few quid interest perhaps. If they catch up with you first, you may well get a financial penalty to go with it but prosecution unlikely. Tends to be reserved for more serious cases (fabrication of documents, undisclosed partner in household etc). If you were working then it's JSA fraud which is probably worse. As someone mentioned before, Citizens Advice would be your best bet. I don't know Benefits Agency rules, but I can't imagine that you wouldn't get some credit for owning up. Criminal prosecutions are expensive and complicated and I would imagine that they would do something under civil law (contract to repay or similar??).

Well done for doing the right thing.

seven-day-weekend

Turning_into_scrooge wrote:

ikx

I'm probably the only poster on here who hopes you don't get caught i think the fear and worry will always make you think twice.

I don't want the poster to get caught either, I think they have learned their lesson and will not do it again, I suggested coming clean and repaying the money because I think that is preferable to being prosecuted when the JSA people find out.

ikx

Yes, that's how I've stayed under the radar to date. I wasn't in the position where I could ask anybody for money (because nobody had any) and faced with losing my home - I cheated. Thank you for understanding. The fear of losing your home is sickening, nauseating; but I wasn't going to hurt anybody (or myself) in order to keep my roof.

I shan't need luck, as I am intent on calling them up and paying them back as soon as I have spoken to the CAB. I might "get away" with it if I hide and do nothing - but I want to feel in control of my life.

seven-day-weekend

ikx wrote:

I shan't need luck, as I am intent on calling them up and paying them back as soon as I have spoken to the CAB. I might "get away" with it if I hide and do nothing - but I want to feel in control of my life.

Well done again

ts_aly2000

What I never understand about the 'system' is that in our OPs case it's far cheaper to our society what he has done, where if he had have been turfed out, he'd have been homeless, and in and out of bedsits and hotels for months on end costing £1000s to us the taxpayer.

The system is quite quite bizarre and short-sighted in my opinion. Just for example, you'll have a single parent bringing up her two children who has fallen back on her council tax. They'll then take her for everything she has, then she falls back on the rent. And why wasn't she eligiable for assistance? Because she was too proud to claim a token benefit or whatever which would have opened the doorways to assistance in the first place. It seems like conditioning people and treating them like little school children taking the wrong packed lunch into school. (seriously!! kids have to see the headmaster if they've got white bread and daft stuff like that!).

So in the long run our OP has likely saved us all money in the grand scheme of things. Mind that the bulk of our money is spent on ridiculous management studies, private chartered helicopter flights, and bubbly for the end of year booze up.

Morally I wouldn't agree with what you've done OP, but when I consider the wider picture and how daft council and government policies are, I'm grateful to you for not clogging up the system and making best do.

Truly don't worry about it, just when you are working then save up the money in preparation for being pounced upon.

kittykate_2

ikx wrote:

I shan't need luck, as I am intent on calling them up and paying them back as soon as I have spoken to the CAB. I might "get away" with it if I hide and do nothing - but I want to feel in control of my life.

Good idea, speaking to CAB.

Surely it's best to confess now and face the consequences than wait and see if you get caught, when those consequences may be even worse than those for 'fessing up.

saubryn

Good luck I hope they're sympathetic and you work something out. I bet it will feel good once its all paid back.

I know what its like to be facing eviction, and I'm sure you just did the only thing you thought you could do at the time. I think the way people in financial trouble are handled by landlords / councils sometimes is disgusting, and I'm glad you're in a position now to make right.

samspam

Personally, I don't think you should own up. It sounds to me like you are finding it hard enough to wrestle your own concience for what you have done and it's been 2 months now anyway. I actually think that the person on the other end of the phone would laugh in private that you'd admitted it!

I'm not convinced that they will 'Come and get you' There are millions of people commiting much bigger frauds who haven't been caught. You are probably a small fish in a big pond!

Lets face it there's millions of Asylum Seekers that the home office can't keep a track of, I'm not convinced that the JSA and other agencies know exactly what everyone is earning / doing and when, if they did then more people wouldn't be dodging the system.

At least you feel guilty for what you did.

All you 'Ivory Tower' people, give him a break, I'm not sure that any of us are 100% squeaky clean!