The Sun Declares War On Benefit Cheats.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3091717/The-Sun-declares-war-on-Britains-benefits-culture.html

Much has been said regarding the 'Benefit Culture' that is now becoming a problem, are such papers as the Sun right to be conducting a campaign aimed to crack down on fraudulent benefit claimants, do you support their campaign.

It also looks as if Labour are finally addressing the problem, or is this just pre-election promises?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/06/labour-plans-shift-welfare-payouts

/// "The problem at the moment is that you have a person aged 50 who has worked all his life and then becomes unemployed getting much the same as the person next door who has never worked. It is about linking what you take out to what you have put in," said a senior party source. ///

Can't disagree with that.

[bednobs]

don't mix up benefit claimants with benefit cheats

[woofgang]

Oh well if the Sun has declared war on them, that's alright then (not)

[sandyRoe]

But are these people cheats or are they collecting their rightful entitlement? It would be a sad day if someone was denied their rights just because some bean counter didn't like the cut of their jib.

[barney4444]

Can`t imagine anyone having a problem with trying to stop `fraudulent benefit claims ` I for one am getting fed up to the back teeth of paying in so people who duck and dive and cheat can have my hard earned..

[jim360]

Even the Sun's own article highlights an interesting point. More money (£2.1 billion compared to £1.5 billion) is lost due to accidental errors than due to deliberate fraud. While fraud remains an issue and needs to be dealt with, it's worth making sure that we don't demonise all benefits claimants while we are at it.

Meanwhile Labour's policy seems OK in principle but would imply that an unemployed youngster would receive less than an unemployed 50-year-old, because the youngster won't have had a chance to pay anything in to the system. So again some care will be needed before rushing into that idea.

The benefits system is very difficult to resolve and it's got to be accepted that at least some of the reason why this is the case is because life is just difficult. Lots of different circumstances means lots of variation in how much money people need from the welfare system. In the long run I think it's worth being overgenerous with the money than too sparing.

[barney4444]

No Jim lets not be overgenerous, sparings good, may make people who are able to go out and work..

[jim360]

Undoubtedly there are some people who should go out and work but don't because they are lazy. Who knows, I might even be one of them... though I have been at a university that prohibits working during terms so I have an excuse. On the other hand there are people who seriously do need the money and for whom any cut in the money they receive will hurt deeply.

If there is a way of reforming the welfare state so that we target the first group without hitting the honest claimants at all, then we should carry out that reform. But if there isn't a way of doing that it's probably better, I think, to suffer the "scroungers" or "shirkers" or whatever you want to call this handful of people, than to make the honest claimants suffer.

[Mrsspagnoli57]

I worked for the DWP and prior to this the old DHSS for 27 years before being made redundant in the Labour cut backs. Part of, though not wholly the cause, was the move from local benefit offices to 'benefit factories' leading to a lack of experienced and locally knowledgeable staff who knew their 'customer base'-good and bad. Sadly the 'new' thinking in these centres was towards young graduate entrants with little experience of the real world or real life-they were great organisers but lacking in common sense. The benefit culture was a ticking time bomb back to the 80's and 90's and we regularly saw customers having one, two or more children while in receipt of benefit-to add to the 2,3 and 4 children they had at the start of their claims. Working people having to claim at times of job losses found their national insurance counted for a paltry 6 months of benefit while those who had never contributed a penny continued to claim and face few interventions as to their attitude to finding employment. Capping child benefit would be a start-we as employees wanted this limit years ago-but I doubt anyone would have the guts to do it. I'm not anti families or genuine cases, of which I've seen plenty-but I am anti anti social households who expect everything and contribute nothing.

[stillabrunette]

I know one benefit cheat that has got it well sussed how to get maximum payments and is doing very well for himself he has two foreign holidays a year and a very nice car on his drive he hasn't worked for near 20 years and complains that his neighbor is getting more than him and has a bigger car

[sara3]

have you reported him, stillabrunette?

[sandyRoe]

If he hasn't worked for 20 years how is he cheating the system?

[barney4444]

It is wrong that we have allowed the benefits system to become for some people a way of life rather than a helping hand while they get over temporary difficulties,as things get harder and harder I think your average `Joe Bloggs`who works hard and claims nothing becomes more and more fed up with the sort of people brunette mentions, I know of quite a few as well!!

[barney4444]

Well Sandy, 2 foreign holidays a year and a very nice car, but no job for 20 years does seem rather odd..

[Gromit]

This the same newspaper who's journalists have been prosecuted for bribing Policemen and public officials.

Bunch of hypocrites.

[rojash]

"The Sun Declares War On Benefit Cheats"

That's a large part of their readership gone then.

[sir.prize]

Of course, there is also this which I mentioned yesterday . . .

A young lady from Burnley, Lancashire. She's a partially blind and deaf thalidomide victim awaiting spinal surgery. She uses a wheelchair and stairlift but has lost her £110-a-week benefits and been declared ready for work training.

The Sun reported that too - is that the kind of person the Coalition is 'gunning for'? Anything goes as long as Dave, Nicky and Ozzy don't suffer.

[Gromit]

Over £10billion of benefits go unclaimed every year.

// Up to 620,000 people failing to claim up to £2bn in income support, and employment and support allowance
Up to 1.6 million people failing to claim up to £2.8bn in pension credit
Up to 1.1 million people not claiming up to £3.1bn in housing benefit
Up to 3.2 million people missing out on up to £2.4bn in council tax benefit
Up to 610,000 people failing to claim up to £1.95bn in jobseeker's allowance //

Benefit cheats are a very small problem hugely overstated.

[DJHawkes]

when i did the tax return yesterday there's a new thing started jan 2013, if you earn over £50,000 and recieve child benefit it's counted as taxable income, never saw that one before, it doesn;t apply but it's a bitof a stealth tax as i thought child bebefit paid after working so many years and paying NI should be none taxable to those that have contributed

[douglas9401]

That's what we need, geezers on patrol, to be deplored by politicians as mob rule while ignoring the instigators for fear of negative press themselves.
I can see trouble ahead if these misinformed shyt stirring cretins start to believe they have been empowered to act.