Advice on a benefit fraud

karvya_2

Hi

My current situation is i have 3 children all under 16 and i live with my partner. I work 37 hours per week and we receive child tax credits. The only other benefit we get is child benefit.

I have discovered today my brother has claimed job seekers allowance from my property within the last week. Neither myself or my partner gave him permission to do this. In fact we have told him not to use our address at. At no point has my brother lived at our home.

Will this affect my claim for tax credits? Should i report my brother for benefit fraud? Obviously this is not something i want to do but i have my immediate family to consider.

Any advice would be appreciated.

HappyMJ

karvya wrote: »

Hi

My current situation is i have 3 children all under 16 and i live with my partner. I work 37 hours per week and we receive child tax credits. The only other benefit we get is child benefit.

I have discovered today my brother has claimed job seekers allowance from my property within the last week. Neither myself or my partner gave him permission to do this. In fact we have told him not to use our address at. At no point has my brother lived at our home.

Will this affect my claim for tax credits? Should i report my brother for benefit fraud? Obviously this is not something i want to do but i have my immediate family to consider.

Any advice would be appreciated.

No it won't affect your tax credits.

Morally you should report him for benefit fraud but he is your brother. I wouldn't report my sister/parents/chidren for anything but the most serious of crimes and benefit fraud isn't that serious.

If he is genuinely unemployed and looking for work there is no loss to the taxpayer if he's claiming from your address. Has he fallen out with his partner requiring him to use a different address to claim from?

I'd just let it go.

Any mail you get for him make sure you return it. The claim will be stopped and he'll be called by phone or next time he signs to explain.

nannytone_2

it has no effect on your tax credit claim at all, as even if he were living at your address, he would still be considered a separate household.

you need to tell him to use his own address.... and make sure it is only JSA he's using your address for

karvya_2

He is currently living with a friend, claiming from his address would affect his (friends) benefit claim

A letter arrived today for my brother, my partner contacted him and passed it on. She asked what it regarded, he then owned up to using our address for JSA

We do not have the letter to send back, he assures me he will change address but i honestly do not trust him. The last thing i want to do it report my brother. Should i just ignore it or contact the JSA office?

dippy3103

If he has told them it's a c/o address then I can't see the problem. Do you get housing benefit?

pmlindyloo

Is he living with his friend on a temporary basis (ie. as a visitor?) if so then his claiming JSA should have no effect on his friend's benefits.

I would suggest that your brother goes to CAB and gets some help regarding his housing and the effect on his friend's benefits ( and/or get his friend to go)

If this is a temporary situation then your brother should make it clear to the Job Centre that your address is a correspondence address only and he does not live there.

As far as I know your brother can use the Job Centre Plus as a correspondence address if there are no other family/friends who can help.

TELLIT01

From what you say, your brother isn't actually committing benefit fraud but his friend potentially is. Your brother may be guilty of assisting somebody in a benefit fraud and that could get him in just as much ****.
"Benefit fraud isn't that serious". I'll remind HappyMJ of that comment next time he/she tries to take the moral high ground about other people's actions.

HappyMJ

karvya wrote: »

He is currently living with a friend, claiming from his address would affect his (friends) benefit claim

A letter arrived today for my brother, my partner contacted him and passed it on. She asked what it regarded, he then owned up to using our address for JSA

We do not have the letter to send back, he assures me he will change address but i honestly do not trust him. The last thing i want to do it report my brother. Should i just ignore it or contact the JSA office?

It's not fraud if he's genuinely unemployed and looking for work.

Would this "friend" by any chance be a partner or is that what he assumes the jobcentre will think?

Yes it could affect his friends benefits. The friend might get a non dependant deduction from his benefits if he claims from his address if the friend is claiming housing benefit.

There's no need to contact the jobcentre. Just return the letters you get in the future and let him sort it out.

ohreally

karvya wrote: »

Will this affect my claim for tax credits?

Should i report my brother for benefit fraud?

No.

Depends on your moral compass.

BrassicWoman

I would give him a week to sort it out, bfore I felt compelled to take action to protect the income of my family.

dippy3103

How old is your brother?