False benefit cheat claim by national press

ab.da54

wellynever wrote: »

Hello Mr Expert,

Could you please let me know what 70yr old people can claim as benefits please,

Yours A.N. benefit Claimer.

I would assume, given the long medical health history, that someone who is 70 could be claiming care and mobility DLA if they started claiming before they reached retirement age.

ab.da54

vax2002 wrote: »

Most in print relate to people claiming mobility issues, people claiming that they can only walk 10 yards with 2 sticks then get filmed paragliding or some silly activity.
I would think that genuine disabled people should be applauding the Sun for highlighting those taking what should be going to the genuine disabled, many who can not get benefits because of the actors stealing them.

I personally think any claimant found to be taking money they did not deserve, ought to be named and shamed in the press. It does sit uneasy with me though, that anyone can "shop" a person, as the potential for vindictive accusations rears its ugly head.

Hopefully, any reports in the Sun newspaper are only there where there is irrefutable proof that a person is claiming benefits fraudulently.

SkyWatcher_3

ab.da54 wrote: »

.... It does sit uneasy with me though, that anyone can "shop" a person, as the potential for vindictive accusations rears its ugly head...

But you can be "reported" for any kind of crime via Crimestoppers but that's not a problem.

Police don't act on one anonymous Crimestoppers tip-off without investigating the matter properly first and actually getting some evidence and neither will benefit fraud investigators.

DylanO

shedboy94 wrote: »

Because the ones who exposed it get "1-up" on their rivals and sell more papers.

So they get no credit at all? According to you, they can never do the right thing for the right reasons.

In any case The Guardian and The Sun are not in competition - the Sun's readership have a minute crossover with the Guardian's readership. Even if they were in direct competition, that wouldn't explain why they would seek to destroy each other. The media is a tiny place - everyone knows everybody. You don't get to walk away from destroying a newspaper and leaving hundreds of people out of work (most of whom had never hacked a phone and weren't there when the abuses took place) unless you have a bloody good reason - and that's not to get a "1-up".

DylanO

MattLFC wrote: »

Someone reported :beer: a family of lying scrotes around here, who were claiming not to be able to walk anywhere etc, when they can all go shopping and down the gym etc. The mother was basically forcing her daughters to claim (they were all over 16 and a bit mothered) so she didnt have to work, they gave half their benefits to the mum and she got a car on motability, presumably carers allowance etc, anyway one of the daughters told me it would be unfair to expect her mum to have to work after 20 years of defrauding the system, and that's why they continued to claim.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, once it was apparent they were being invested, they never went over the freakin door unless it was in a taxi, and I'm talking literally a taxi down the road to their mates house, the mother wouldn't let them walk anywhere!! This lasted for about 2 months!!

The lengths some people will go to to avoid working is unbelievable.

This is what I mean about the DWP not being able to investigate properly. It's disgraceful.

ab.da54

SkyWatcher wrote: »

But you can be "reported" for any kind of crime via Crimestoppers but that's not a problem.

Police don't act on one anonymous Crimestoppers tip-off without investigating the matter properly first and actually getting some evidence and neither will benefit fraud investigators.

My thoughts were to do with reporting alleged benefit fraudsters to the newspaper, rather than the DWP.

SkyWatcher_3

ab.da54 wrote: »

My thoughts were to do with reporting alleged benefit fraudsters to the newspaper, rather than the DWP.

In that case I agree with you entirely, that's not a very good idea.

Murgatroyd21

Interesting that the focus is on alleged benefit cheats.

According to http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/index.php?page=fraud_error,
The latest National Statistics report, Fraud and Error in the Benefit System: 2010/11 Estimates was released on 23 February 2012 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. This report is produced by the Department for Work and Pensions.
The latest report estimates fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain.


Total estimated value due to fraud and error (no separate figures produced) was equal to £3.2b for 2010/11.


Underpayments (yet again no separate figure for what is the result of system error or unclaimed benefits) was equal to £1.2b for the same period.


It would help get a true reflection if the figures were able to be broken down to show the error and fraud amounts separately.



We have tax fraud and avoidance that has been estimated up to a value £120b. Even conservative estimates place it in excess of £50b.



Seems to me the wrong people are being subjected to the greatest scrutiny.

tartanterra

Seems to me that your father has nothing to worry about. I can't see the Sun running a story on a 70 year old disabled man playing bowls. Unless they have pictures of him doing star jumps down the local gym, it's a non story.

That said, I applaud the Sun's campaign against benefit cheats. In fact, I applaud any campaign against fraudsters.

Anubis_2

There is more lost in ERROR than fraud, for example take this, I know it's from 2010 but...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10922261

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12240673

There are many other examples but my net is giving me problems