Claiming JSA whilst at uni

triple08

A few of my uni class are claiming JSA and I have checked on direct.gov website and it says you cannot do this? I have warned them to stop it as they could go to prison for benefit fraud, I don't really want to get them in trouble so any advice on what to do? And what sanctions they face?

Thanks

MrsManda

It's technically possible to claim JSA and be a university student providing you meet the criteria.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10034876

If they don't meet the criteria they are likely to be committing fraud. You can either choose to ignore it or report them:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BenefitFraud/index.htm

Jowo_2

Some of my uni contemporaries did this for their entire University degree, plus they also claimed housing benefit, too, plus they also tapped the Uni hardship fund, plus some of them got full grants and their travel expenses paid. They sailed through Uni without having to pay a penny towards their rent and having loads of spending money compared to other students. Meanwhile, honest me had to work part-time during term time, full-time during holidays and take out loans while they had their spliff money paid by the state.

I didn't report them but I bet these days the data-matching between systems is a bit better and perhaps its harder to perpetrate this level of fraud for as long as my contemporaries did.

-BA-

triple08 wrote: »

A few of my uni class are claiming JSA and I have checked on direct.gov website and it says you cannot do this? I have warned them to stop it as they could go to prison for benefit fraud, I don't really want to get them in trouble so any advice on what to do? And what sanctions they face?

Thanks

As a student you might have a slightly different view of right from wrong if you have never really paid into the system as such. If you are a mature student or a late entry who has worked and paid into the system, you might view the whole "I don't want to dob them in" attitude another way.

Whilst it is not your duty to decide whether they are doing right or wrong, it is your duty to report it so that someone more qualified can make that decision.

Don't forget, every single one of those people claiming inappropriately is holding you in complete contempt and in all honestly probably doesn't consider it to be a problem. It's a huge problem that you and every other tax payer will be paying for, for years to come after you graduate.

I know it is not always black and white and there will always be people saying, "But I need that money to get through Uni." Still doesn't make it right...

triple08

Thanks for the response, I am myself a mature student and earned decent money in sales and paid a hell of a lot of tax over the last ten years, However it is not in my nature to 'grass' anyone. To see someone potentially imprisoned is not really what I want to do, I will just tell them the facts and they can make there own decision, I am sure the jobcentre will catch them up sooner or later. I remember around four years ago I actually left my job to go travelling, I didnt really plan it properly and came home after two month skint, I then signed on for JSA as I didn't have a penny to my name only to recieve a letter a few week later telling me I couldn't sign on because I left work to travel, So I am sure the jobcentre are clued up on this issue anyway.

GEEGEE8

The job centre have no idea if someone is at college or uni.

Jowo_2

GEEGEE8 wrote: »

The job centre have no idea if someone is at college or uni.

They do if someone reports the student to the benefit fraud line but there are also data matching exercises which flag up their student status.

The Audit office and local councils do occasional data matching exercises (national fraud initiative) which detects things like benefit fraud, illegal subletting of property, false claims for homelessness, employee fraud or similar. It can throw up anomalies for investigation because it will identify claimants that have taken out a student loan, for example. Perhaps colleges also share their student records with the local council, for example.

Plenty of students have been prosecuted for this type of fraud

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/4280564.Trainee_teacher_jailed_for_benefit_fraud/

http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/4308264.Student_gets_community_service_for___5k_fraud/

http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/east-kent-gazette-the-sittingbourne-uk/mi_8114/is_20100127/student-admits-benefit-fraud/ai_n51153884/

http://www.newham.gov.uk/news/2009/march/studentswarnednottocheatthebenefitssystem.htm

http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Two-convicted-of-benefit-fraud.htm

http://benefitfraud.blogspot.com/2010/02/data-matching-catches-benefit-cheat.html

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/37459/former-rochdale-man-admits-benefit-fraud

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/news-releases/2010/november/two-benefit-fraudsters-convicted.en
http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/News/Fraudsters_convicted.asp

Oldernotwiser

GEEGEE8 wrote: »

The job centre have no idea if someone is at college or uni.

I think that, if you live in a university town and there's an influx of young people starting to claim in September, they may well have a pretty good idea.

GEEGEE8

I stand corrected..

-BA-

So because of your misguided loyalty you are actually complicit in their dishonesty in shafting the rest of the tax paying community, including yourself. Does anyone else see the perverse irony in that?

Jowo_2

I never dobbed my Uni pals in. I expected the authorities to identify their fraud. They didn't. By the sounds of it, there are better data matching trawls these days that can pick up students claiming HB and JSA but it's still going to be pot luck.

Here are some more links to demonstrate that the authorities do find plenty of students claiming JSA, sometimes going to jail for it.

http://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/hatfield_student_jailed_for_benefit_fraud_1_465668

http://www.welovehornsey.co.uk/news/local-news/2174-local-man-gets-prison-sentence-for-benefit-fraud/

http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/localnews/4253556.Student_in_court_accused_of_benefit_fraud/

http://benefitfraud.blogspot.com/2010/02/data-matching-catches-benefit-cheat.html

http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/PressReleases/201010StudentFraudsterMustDo120HoursUnpaidWork.htm?wbc_purpose=basic

http://www.chichester.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=13137

http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/00,news,19827,185,00.htm