Benefit Fraud

Voyager2002

Terence123 wrote: »

Hi I wonder if you could any information I know this probably won't be popular but here goes.
My niece claims benefit for her and her four children and has her ex husband living with her permanently - he is a main electrical Contractor and employs three men.
He parks his van (signwritten) directly outside the house and has even had the Bus Stop moved so he can get outside the door.
There lifestyle is patently not within benefit limits massive TVs in each room and games consoles all the children have state of the art phones etc.
The rent is paid by Housing Benefit.
Prior to this she had another man living with her.
This has been reported over the phone & via the online form to the fraud people at least 6 times.
She likes to take people to court and gets Legal Aid and this has been reported twice.
My question is is there a method of reporting the lack of action this has gone one for at least 10 years.
It is not right when people are having their benefits cut and these people are abusing the system.

Her ex-husband (?) is clearly not trying to conceal his presence, so everything that you say would be obvious to any fraud inspector. Reports of fraud do get investigated, so the most likely explanation is that she is only claiming benefits to which she is entitled, or perhaps is not actually claiming and is just winding you up by saying that she does.

Terence123

No she is claiming as a single person and is quite open about it if asked.
I have worked hard all my life and paid my dues as my parents and their parents.
She is quite open about 'fiddling the nash' and what a pack of 'wan----kers' they are.

She has her basic and extra as two children have asthma and eczema.

Her social worker recently got a grant for new suite for her and she thought that was really funny as she got a new phone with the money.

So no I am not in the wrong but last year when I struggled to get any help for my dying mother I decided to do something about it as did several other members of the family

Muttleythefrog

Terence123 wrote: »

No she is claiming as a single person and is quite open about it if asked.
I have worked hard all my life and paid my dues as my parents and their parents.
She is quite open about 'fiddling the nash' and what a pack of 'wan----kers' they are.

She has her basic and extra as two children have asthma and eczema.

Her social worker recently got a grant for new suite for her and she thought that was really funny as she got a new phone with the money.

So no I am not in the wrong but last year when I struggled to get any help for my dying mother I decided to do something about it as did several other members of the family

It is possible she is not being honest with you... sometimes people boast about things that aren't entirely true. Your own situation and the politics of this are totally irrelevant... fraud is fraud... it either exists or it does not. Report that she is claiming benefits as a single person but give her cohabitation details naming the partner. I think that's all you can do. As above.. I would think that if things are as you claim then a suitable investigation should be able to get the relevant evidence without too much difficulty.

leveller2911

HappyMJ wrote: »

The fact he needs to employ three men to complete the work does not mean he is doing well for himself. There may be very little profit left after the expense of employing the men to help him in his business and the benefits are being paid legitimately.

The TV's may have been purchased using savings. The benefits for a family of 4 children and 2 adults do pay quite well so it his highly likely the money is able to stretch. Any expenses with the van are all business expenses so it doesn't matter that it's a new van that has sign writing on it as it's a business expense and that business expense may cause his income to drop below the minimum income required and create an entitlement to claim working tax credits as well as housing and council tax benefits.

I take issue with the above as businesses buy new vans rather than 2nd hand purely to offset their tax liability.No point buying a new van if your not making any money.

His "employees" may well be self employed and if so then if he isn't making any money then he would get rid of one and go "on the tools" himself to earn a wage.......

You would be very surprised how many one man band LTD companies are showing earnings as minimum wage,claiming benefits on the basis of NMW and also taking sizeable dividends once a year..

The whole systen stinks.......

HappyMJ

leveller2911 wrote: »

I take issue with the above as businesses buy new vans rather than 2nd hand purely to offset their tax liability.No point buying a new van if your not making any money.

His "employees" may well be self employed and if so then if he isn't making any money then he would get rid of one and go "on the tools" himself to earn a wage.......

You would be very surprised how many one man band LTD companies are showing earnings as minimum wage,claiming benefits on the basis of NMW and also taking sizeable dividends once a year..

The whole systen stinks.......

Morally you are right but why not have a new van and project a good image of the small business to potential customers. I would not be impressed if a contractor pulled up in a van that was rusty, dirty and old...I'd think he was a cowboy trader and prepared to rip me off either by value or quality of the work completed.

Even better than that a director of a limited company doesn't have to pay themselves minimum wage as that does not apply. The best amount to pay a director of a limited company is equal to the secondary threshold in the national insurance tables avoiding both employer (13.8%) and employee (12%) contributions at the same time as being credited with national insurance contributions for future benefits such as contributions based JSA and a pension. The ideal amount to pay as a salary is currently £144 per week and then pay the remaining profit out to the owners of the company as dividends. At least that's what I do....

MUMZ2BEE

I know how you feel at the failings of benefit fraud.

I have a woman who lives in my road; she claims full housing benefit and council tax benefit, and claims income support.

She's had a partner living with her for the past 5 months; this has been reported to benefit fraud at least 4 times, with no action ever being taken.

Also, they have just had a holiday as well which I believe the partner has paid for as he works fulltime.

I too agree that benefit fraud is a bloody disgrace as she is still claiming benefit with him living with her!!

ceecee1

It is more likely that a full investigation will take place if full information is given. If it is merely a report that someone is living with her, it is more likely to be passed for a visit where she can easily deny it.
If however, full details are given of his name, the details off the side of the van ie, name of company, phone number. What time does he leave for work/get home/where does he work/ what does he look like/
are any of the kids his....the fact that she is bragging about it....the list goes on and on. Have they bought things together

The more information given - the more likely that full checks will take place.

Dunroamin

leveller2911 wrote: »

I take issue with the above as businesses buy new vans rather than 2nd hand purely to offset their tax liability.No point buying a new van if your not making any money.

His "employees" may well be self employed and if so then if he isn't making any money then he would get rid of one and go "on the tools" himself to earn a wage.......

You would be very surprised how many one man band LTD companies are showing earnings as minimum wage,claiming benefits on the basis of NMW and also taking sizeable dividends once a year..

The whole systen stinks.......

I don't think he'd be surprised at all!;)

earthbound_misfit

BigAunty wrote: »

Some benefit claimants are very wiley and know how to fly under the radar and produce a paper trail that shows that their live-in partner actually lives elsewhere, therefore it's very hard for the DWP/local council to prove cohabitation unless they stake out the house for weeks (very time consuming, I imagine most fraud teams are tiny and under resourced).

I know someone who was investiagted for benefit fraud (suspected he and female housemate were couple), someone from the DWP came round and (literally) went through their dirty laundry to see if they did washing togther, went through kitchen to see if they shopped/cooked togther etc. (I find this last one a bit much as pretty much all the housemates I know will eat togther/share some food, especially if they don't have much money... but anyway...) So I'm amazed this hasn't happened in this case, wouldn't need to stake out or anything. Are you sure others have reported too? And if he got the bus stop moved surely that'd be on council records or something?
Are DWP allowed to tell you if they've already investigated the person?

john539

Terence123 wrote: »

I just want to know who to speak to it is not just me it has been reported by other people too.

Maybe you're wrong, don't know all the facts & yours is just another repeated false report that has been filed away as from a know all who won't give up.