What is a "Midas" Check ?

thequant

A frugal woman who saved more than £22,000 out of her benefits has been left penniless because she did not tell officials about her nest egg.

Pauline Ford, aged 58, lived in a rusty mobile home, never went out, smoked or drank, and only spent the bare minimum she needed to feed herself and her 15-year-old dog.

She wanted to build up her savings for her old age but fell foul of the law by failing to declare her assets when she applied for means tested benefits.




By 2005 her savings had grown to £15,000 which meant she should have declared them when she continued claiming the housing and council tax benefits.

In 2008, she applied for income support, which is also means-tested, without revealing she had just invested £21,000 in a Nationwide fixed bond.


Plymouth City Council carried out a 'Midas' check which revealed her savings, and in 2010, Ford was interviewed by the council and Department of Work and Pensions investigators.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2075861/Spinster-jailed-fraud-saving-20-000-nest-egg-benefits--shes-pay-back.html#ixzz1gz2OL7ac

What is a "Midas" Check ?

Lady_gaga

Looks like some kind of cross comparison system

http://midas-nms.sourceforge.net/

tph86

Lady_gaga wrote: »

Looks like some kind of cross comparison system

http://midas-nms.sourceforge.net/

That's software to monitor computer servers, don't think it's what the OP is after.

No idea what a midas check is, but i'd assume it's something to do with the ancient king of the same name who turned everything to gold (including his benefit savings account?)

Oldernotwiser

I think the Daily Mail's started its Christmas celebrations rather early!

Dognobs

It is a check on bank account balances.

rogerblack

I've said for a while it should be possible to 'defer' benefits, and not have them paid for a period.
These would be payable at any time the claimant chose, but revert to the state on death.

This would mean the government could reduce the benefit bill immediately, by having people 'save' with them, effectively loaning the money to the government at low interest, with a good chance they'd die without getting it back.

It would also let people like the above safely save for their old age, if they chose to, rather than simply spending their money on things they don't want.

suelees1

MIDAS = Matching Intelligence and Data Analysis Service

For instance HMRC provide DWP with an an annual amount of taxable interest a claimant's savings have generated. It's pretty obvious that a high amounts of interest couldn't possibly have accrued from capital below the upper limit then hey presto

shauniebabe

However it doesn't always work. For instance the mother in law got called in because it had brought up a savings account which from the interest paid on it would of been over 50k according to the advisor. Her dad used to set up accounts for her so we thought he had hidden some money away which he was prone to doing. Got the details went the bank......no just a dormant account with £300 quid nice but for some reason hmrc had flagged it as monthly interest. We had to provide 3 years of bank statements for her to proove the money had never been there!

suelees1

I simply gave an example which would lead to the DWP/JCP looking at the claim. In the OP case it could have been as a result of that.