Benefits Street

Apparently according to government statistics if they eliminated benefit fraud and at the same time made sure people got everything they were entitled to, the benefits bill would go up! Even HMRC says that the tax gap is £30 billion per year, but it does not seem to be going after those people. That's 15 times more than the benefit cheats owe.
There was a case of a woman last year who kept claiming JSA even though she had two part time jobs. She was taken to court and told to pay back the money she owed. When it was worked out, she would have been entitled to twice as much through working tax credits, but she wasn't paid what she was owed!

I see many people, mainly women whose reason for giving up work wax 'pregnancy' 20 or 30 years ago. They have been certified as being incapable of work for nebulous reasons ever since! The GPs are partly to blame for doling out Med3s on demand without review. Also, they do not realise that is it is incapacity for ALL work, not just their original job.

I would point out that I am not against genuine cases, in fact I think that 40% of appeals against DWP adverse decisions succeed on appeal.
Must point out that this is 40% of appeals that are disallowed.
I have no idea of the number of cases examined that are allowed!

That I do not understand, Galen. But then I do not know anyone who has been certified as being incapable of doing work, apart from my husband who had genuine medical reasons. We had someone from Ageuk come and talk to us, and he asked why we had not applied for the carers part of DLA as my husband could not cook himself a meal or even dress himself properly for years. The answer really is that we did not need the money because we had insurance through his company, and it's demeaning having to go through all those questions every year and relive how and why you are disabled.
Nowadays he might not even get the mobility component because the rules are so ludicrous. If you can walk to your car on the drive you do not get enough to get Motability. However, without a Motability car he would have been confined to the house.
I look at the False Economy website and Full Facts to check facts on benefits. We are Spartacus is a site showing things from disabled people's points of view, and giving statistics.

I was interested in your last sentence Galen. What kind of people are involved in this kind of fraud if it involves accountancy?

It always comes back to the same stumbling block - for benefits to be channelled to those who really need them, bureaucracy needs to know more about their financial and medical health. Is that a good thing for the economy, or a bad thing for personal privacy? Can the two ever be reconciled?

A thought which has come to me recently, I suspect that the various benefits authorities attack the more innocent because they are the easy option. If this isn't the case then how come those who stick to the rules can be sent many threatening letters whereas those who have never worked from the moment they left school are allowed to claim, claim, claim without it even being questioned?

I've just caught up with this thread. Of course there is a "them and us" situation. 85 people in the world - just 85 - own as much wealth as half the world's population. articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-01-21/news/46375718_1_oxfam-wealth-less-tax

For heaven's sake, why are those of us who are not one of the 85 maintaining the status quo for those that are, by fighting amongst ourselves, instead of demanding that they be subject to the same laws, especially tax laws, as everyone else? Do people really think that a multi-billionaire has amassed this sort of money through honesty and hard work?

And they are all at Davos, Eloethan.
I have just been looking on the Guardian website. There are figures for the latest fraud and underpayments of benefits on 16th January.
www.theguardian.com/society showing the difference between fraud and error.
Eloethan, this is how they want it, divide and rule. Cameron's dad amassed his millions by doing offshore tax dodging and running a company to tell others to do the same.
Going out to buy my Guardian now.
By the way, I heard on the local bbc news programme this morning that one million people have been taken off benefits and told they are fit for work. Of those who appeal, 40% will have their appeals upheld. In the meantime they will be living on less than they should be. They will be going to loan sharks and payday lenders to get money to buy food.
Most of the benefit fraud and error is because of housing benefit.
They could end up on the streets, or families in bed and breakfasts.

Bill Gates has.

Karl Albrecht, founder of Aldi, is eighteenth richest.

Like bloke is number 29.

You can't stop people having good business brains, and a passion for hard work.

That "Lidl bloke" is Dieter Schwarz, founder of the Schwarz Foundation.

Previous but one post should have said Lidl not like

It's the influence they have that is the problem. No point criticising, or envying, their wealth.

Yes Bill Gates is someone who has not only amassed huge amounts of money by his hard work and enterprise, but also gives huge amounts back to charity. He and his wife have established a foundation with the aim of eradicating malaria from the world, if I'm not much mistaken. Better not to tar everyone with the same brush, but it would be good if those with money that they could never spend in a lifetime could follow his example.

I'm really shocked at the treatment Phoenix has had Can Citizens Advice Bureau not help you Phoenix?

Andrew Carnegie was told many , many years about philanthropy , otherwise he would not be remembered .
He took it on board as they , a lot of the wealthy do , perhaps more so in the U S of A .

They need to in the US of A Nonu, there isn't an NHS, and public services are largely funded by local business and philanthropy. We're headed the same way, sadly.