Would you report someone for benefit fraud?

Indie_Kid

hthr wrote: »

I was googling a question about someone I know as I was wondering a similar thing: One of my mother's neighbour is a mum with 3 young children, she claims to be a single mum. There is a man who seems to be there all the time who they introduce to people as her cousin, though he seems to clearly be the father of the children - 2 of whom have been born since my mother has lived there and there have been absolutely no other men around other than this 'cousin'. He is almost always there, spends a lot of time with the children, does work on the house etc the children look just like him - plus I saw her kissing him one time in a way you probably wouldn't kiss your cousin! All the neighbours my mother's spoken to say of course he is the children's father although they deny it. This woman has a housing association flat and doesn't work at all. I believe she has the flat and claims benefits based on the father being absent. She's always having new furniture delivered, take long holidays etc so obviously aren't hard up (he works). Are they committing fraud to have a housing association flat under false pretences? Why would someone lie about being the children's father?

How do you know she doesn't work from home?

FluffyDuck3

hthr wrote: »

I was googling a question about someone I know as I was wondering a similar thing: One of my mother's neighbour is a mum with 3 young children, she claims to be a single mum. There is a man who seems to be there all the time who they introduce to people as her cousin, though he seems to clearly be the father of the children - 2 of whom have been born since my mother has lived there and there have been absolutely no other men around other than this 'cousin'. He is almost always there, spends a lot of time with the children, does work on the house etc the children look just like him - plus I saw her kissing him one time in a way you probably wouldn't kiss your cousin! All the neighbours my mother's spoken to say of course he is the children's father although they deny it. This woman has a housing association flat and doesn't work at all. I believe she has the flat and claims benefits based on the father being absent. She's always having new furniture delivered, take long holidays etc so obviously aren't hard up (he works). Are they committing fraud to have a housing association flat under false pretences? Why would someone lie about being the children's father?

Families can apply for social housing. They can be working and earning and still apply for a council or HA property .

If they claim as a single person but are living as a couple that would affect their income, not the social housing.

sh1981

hthr wrote: »

I was googling a question about someone I know as I was wondering a similar thing: One of my mother's neighbour is a mum with 3 young children, she claims to be a single mum. There is a man who seems to be there all the time who they introduce to people as her cousin, though he seems to clearly be the father of the children - 2 of whom have been born since my mother has lived there and there have been absolutely no other men around other than this 'cousin'. He is almost always there, spends a lot of time with the children, does work on the house etc the children look just like him - plus I saw her kissing him one time in a way you probably wouldn't kiss your cousin! All the neighbours my mother's spoken to say of course he is the children's father although they deny it. This woman has a housing association flat and doesn't work at all. I believe she has the flat and claims benefits based on the father being absent. She's always having new furniture delivered, take long holidays etc so obviously aren't hard up (he works). Are they committing fraud to have a housing association flat under false pretences? Why would someone lie about being the children's father?

Kissing someone does not make them the father. You have absolutely no evidence. Just because a woman is on benefits does not mean she can not have a life or even so much so as kiss someone other than the natural father of the children. Ridiculous.

sh1981

FluffyDuck3 wrote: »

Families can apply for social housing. They can be working and earning and still apply for a council or HA property .

If they claim as a single person but are living as a couple that would affect their income, not the social housing.

Fully agreed.

FluffyDuck3

going_nowhere_fast wrote: »

The person I had in mind when starting this thread lives with her children and boyfriend in a house paid for by everyone who pays tax. The housing benefit pays all but £50 of the monthly rent. She does not work, I have no idea if her partner does or doesn't. Seeing as he is not claiming the benefits I really do not care.

Earlier in the thread you said you don't know the name of the benefit she receives. You don't know if it's income support or not. How do you know the actual figures?

sh1981

FluffyDuck3 wrote: »

Earlier in the thread you said you don't know the name of the benefit she receives. You don't know if it's income support or not. How do you know the actual figures?

She's probably guessing heh

going_nowhere_fast

jetplane wrote: »

So you know that the man does not claim benefits so maybe she includes him on her claim and receives more money because of this. You have no idea if he works so how come you know she is fiddling?

I think this is why DWP have a problem with anonymous reports because often the information is half true.

How old are the kids and how often are they left to fend for themselves?

Because she told me that she claims as a single parent.

I don't want to go in to details about the children, I shouldn't have disclosed what I did but I did because I wanted to get the point across that this is not a loving family struggling to get by. I have never, ever reported someone for benefit fraud but it is certainly something that I've started to think about.

BillJones

sh1981 wrote: »

Well unfortunately you do have to have jealousies to have morals, it's true with most people who get motivated enough.

Er, what? You can have perfectly good morals without being jealous of anyone.

Most people do not use jealousy to motivate themselves, please don't judge everyone by your own drives and desires.

going_nowhere_fast

Indie_Kid wrote: »

How do you know she doesn't work from home?

Because she told me she does not work.

going_nowhere_fast

There are a lot of comments on this thread which are a little bit silly.

Some people assume that you must be jealous or that the person is hard up and just doing their best. Some people think that you are guessing everything. It doesn't seem to occur to people that my knowledge is based on what I have been told by the person in question and with regard to living as a couple, that is what I have observed.

I don't know an exact figure of what this person claims but I know what their property rents for and have an idea of the income and types of benefits she receives. You do not need to know the exact figure to the pound or penny.

At the end of the day if you are claiming as a single parent but are living as a couple then that is benefit fraud, it is immoral and wrong.

As regard's the children's welfare, this is something that has concerned me. The children are 11 and 14. Far too young in my opinion to be left overnight home alone (especially when they are only being left so their mum can go out drinking) but I'm sure others will probably think this is fine.

I don't want to get anyone in to trouble or cause anyone upset or distress if they are not doing anything wrong and I have not reported any of the above but it is something that makes me feel uncomfortable knowing. I'd much rather I didn't know.