Cheating Pensioners Will Be Forced To Sell Their House....

[Gromit]

....to repay the taxpayers says Iain Duncan Smith.

// Welfare cheats will be forced to sell their homes and pay higher fines to reimburse taxpayers for the money they have wrongly claimed, under plans to tackle benefit fraud.

Hundreds of thousands of pensioners who fail to declare their full earnings from private pension schemes will also be targeted as fraud investigators trawl through HM Revenue & Customs records.

:: Existing claimants will be cross-checked against HMRC records to catch pensioners who are receiving extra income than they have declared from private schemes, while also claiming pension credit, a means-tested benefit.

Officials estimate that fraud by pensioners failing to declare their full income cost taxpayers £170 million last year, up from £140 million in 2012.

Officials expect to find 300,000 pensioners and workers who are claiming benefits to which they are not entitled because they have not declared their full income. The system will be tried out this month.

The plans form part of a major campaign from ministers this week to publicise reforms to the welfare system, which the Conservatives regard as among their most popular, vote-winning policies. //

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10747122/Benefit-cheats-face-higher-fines-and-losing-their-homes.html

A vote winning policy - What's not to like?

[treetops68]

Certainly not before time!

[sandyRoe]

"However, £3.5  billion was “lost” to fraud and payments made in error, an increase from £3.3 billion in 2010."

Would pensioners who'd be overpaid in error be forced to sell their homes, be pauperised and rendered homeless, because of someone else's mistake?

[ummmm]

People who are overpaid because someone elses mistake are not cheating.

[Tilly2]

300,000 people are not declaring their full income? I find that amazing. Do private pension providers not inform HMRC of pension payouts?

[grumpy01]

IDS is keen on this,what about getting the money back from Maria Miller.The political class have their snouts in the money trough again.

[Cloverjo]

The cheats will have to sell their houses?
How much money does IDS think anyone can fraudulently claim in the few years available to people as pensioners? He should look at the MPs who are still fiddling their expenses.

[Farriercm]

Oh dear I D Smith, Voicing his opinion again. This is the man who has just wasted 40 million of tax payers money on a computer system that does not work.And as Grumpy 01 Posted. About the Miller fiddle . The Con Party Chairman Grant Shapps ,Says its time to draw a line under the Maria Miller Case .Get your own Party in order first Smith .

[Gromit]

// The Daily Telegraph reported in December 2012 that Miller had claimed more than £90,000 in mortgage interest and other costs for the property in which her parents lived even though parliamentary rules said a second home must be for the exclusive use of MPs. //

Can Ms Millers parents expect a visit from IDS? Probably not.

[Gromit]

// Voicing his opinion again. //

This is more than an opinion. The new fraud checks system begins this month.

[naomi24]

Whoever they are, if people are fiddling they should be stopped - and they should repay the money.

[lady-janine]

agree with naomi but also think that all (ALL) cheating fraudulent MP's should be made to repay all (ALL) the money they cheated up of and not just a small amount and "I'm so sorry i suppose". at least i'm sorry for getting caught.

[naomi24]

^That's why I said 'whoever they are'. No one is above the law.

[Farriercm]

IS this what the cons call interest rates in reverse? You claim 90,000 and only Pay 5,800, but you have borrowed the 5,800 in the first place , but you are allowed to keep the remaining 84,200.Can I Join The Bank Of Parliament please, as in the case of Miller.

[RATTER15]

I think we need to tread a little carefully here as many pensioners will find the whole thing about pensions very confusing and genuine mistakes will happen for sure.

[whiskeryron]

Be very careful I.D.S. I believe quite a large proportion of pensioners votes can fetch you & your Tory mates down.

[jno]

yes, pensioners being natural Tory voters as they pine for the lost Britain of their youth, may take umbrage when IDS's pension police come knocking at the door. Especially if they've done nothing wrong.

Just getting Amazon to pay tax would cover half the loss from pensioners

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/04/amazon-british-operation-corporation-tax

[Gromit]

Number Crunching:

£6,000. The the maximum amount pensioners can have in savings before
they are penalsed how much savings credit they get (£18 a week). Above that figure, entitlement is reduced at the rate of £1 a week for every £500 of savings.

£6,000. Well £5,800, the amount Maria Miller has volunteered to repay of the £90,000 she fraudulently claimed.

[Farriercm]

David Mellor on TV today said that Maria Miller,will not be missed if she is sacked, or Noticed if she stays. Strong words from a fellow Con, Will ID Smith be forcing her to sell her home to pay back the taxpayers? answers on a postcard please.

[Gromit]

Is that the same David Mellor who resigned in 1992 and has been irrevelent ever since. He knows what he is talking about then.