Benefits cheating

[joebean]

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/benefit-cheat-must-carry-out-200-hours-of-unpaid-work/
 

It seems to me that the punishment for stealing taxpayer’s money is never a true reflection of the offence. 
Sometimes the statements made by the defence really need to be dismissed as ridiculous by the court. If someone has been defrauding the benefit system for 5 years, before being caught, you can’t really say it’s “out of character”. I’d say 5 years solid offending is very much an indicator of it being in character. 

 

[Non-Believer]

Some of the repayment terms leave much to the imagination too, in respect of repayment of the amounts fraudulently claimed. £10 a week to pay back £40k...?

[joebean]

14 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

Some of the repayment terms leave much to the imagination too, in respect of repayment of the amounts fraudulently claimed. £10 a week to pay back £40k...?

They always do. If a person continues to be on benefits, their income must be just sufficient. Paying the money back is not really a realistic option. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by joebean
Typo

[2bees]

Awe, it happened over a 5 year period, there are far worse things going on. Life on benefits is rubbish (unless you're a drug dealer on the side, I imagine its quite lavish then) 

[joebean]

4 minutes ago, 2bees said:

Awe, it happened over a 5 year period, there are far worse things going on. Life on benefits is rubbish (unless you're a drug dealer on the side, I imagine its quite lavish then) 

But it wasn’t life on benefits was it? She had income that made the benefits unnecessary. The fact that it is now being “repaid” means that the £30,000 unlawfully claimed has been spent. Not that rubbish then. 

[Barlow]

To be fair it wasn't just the Defence, it was Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood who also said “It does appear that these offences are out of character.”

[2112]

1 hour ago, joebean said:

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/benefit-cheat-must-carry-out-200-hours-of-unpaid-work/
 

It seems to me that the punishment for stealing taxpayer’s money is never a true reflection of the offence. 
Sometimes the statements made by the defence really need to be dismissed as ridiculous by the court. If someone has been defrauding the benefit system for 5 years, before being caught, you can’t really say it’s “out of character”. I’d say 5 years solid offending is very much an indicator of it being in character. 

 

In effect an interest free loan which will take an eternity to pay back. The benefit fraudster probably is living in social housing. Yes we can condemn and no doubt there will be some socialist liberal wishy washy types defending benefit fraudsters. This type of offence is occurring all to often, and sadly, there isn’t a real deterrent or punishment which will send a signal to potential benefit fraudsters.

Im sure some posters on here would love an interest free handout, and would find the money handy. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by 2112

[fredtosser]

She seems to have money to spend it the Courts taking injections out against people if you look at the listings, unless the tax payer is also picking that up. 

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, joebean said:

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/benefit-cheat-must-carry-out-200-hours-of-unpaid-work/
 

It seems to me that the punishment for stealing taxpayer’s money is never a true reflection of the offence. 
Sometimes the statements made by the defence really need to be dismissed as ridiculous by the court. If someone has been defrauding the benefit system for 5 years, before being caught, you can’t really say it’s “out of character”. I’d say 5 years solid offending is very much an indicator of it being in character. 

There's actually more information in the IOM Newspaper's report, which explains what were some of the puzzling features in the Manx Radio one.  The £10 is to pay off the Court costs, she's already  paying pack the amount at £30 a week.  As with many cases the claim wasn't fraudulent to start with,  It also looks as it she was working and declaring that she was working during the time as the overpayment was on Employed Person's Allowance.  It was additional income from maintenance payments (those may have been irregular) and other side jobs that seem to have been undeclared.

[Fred the shred]

The black economy has always been alive and well on the Island with regard to dodging tax but claiming benefits you are not entitled to is on another level completely.    Doing a foreigner or mates rates or a favour with a cash thank you has always been around.   These benefit fraudsters seem to get off lightly of course there is always the name and shame aspect which lasts for 100 years on the Island if you are local.

[WTF]

37 minutes ago, fredtosser said:

She seems to have money to spend it the Courts taking injections out against people if you look at the listings, unless the tax payer is also picking that up. 

are injections like injunctions but for drug addicts ?   😁

[HeliX]

If people got half as worked up about real problems as they do about someone overclaiming a few grand a year in benefits that'd be nice. 

[HeteroErectus]

2 hours ago, 2112 said:

In effect an interest free loan which will take an eternity to pay back. The benefit fraudster probably is living in social housing. Yes we can condemn and no doubt there will be some socialist liberal wishy washy types defending benefit fraudsters. This type of offence is occurring all to often, and sadly, there isn’t a real deterrent or punishment which will send a signal to potential benefit fraudsters.

Im sure some posters on here would love an interest free handout, and would find the money handy. 

The rules encourage these behaviours. Who knows how big the benefit system abuse actually is??

https://www.gov.im/media/1378953/pink-book-2023-24-v14-for-website.pdf

Also, the 23/24 pink paper appears to show a total amount £279m of income tax received, but £325m of welfare/benefits payments. Big chunk of that is pensions of course.

£38m of income support. Which (if my pickled brain can still do mathematics) means ~14% of our income tax. 

(passing no comment on this being/not being money well spent. No guess on what % of IS is paid unnecessarily) 

Edited October 4, 2023 by HeteroErectus

[The Voice of Reason]

2 hours ago, HeliX said:

If people got half as worked up about real problems as they do about someone overclaiming a few grand a year in benefits that'd be nice. 

Overclaiming, or fraudulently claiming benefits is a real problem.

Edited October 4, 2023 by The Voice of Reason

[Barlow]

1 hour ago, HeliX said:

If people got half as worked up about real problems as they do about someone overclaiming a few grand a year in benefits that'd be nice. 

It's still £30,000 no matter how you dress it up - hey, how about try "only a couple of cups of Starbucks coffee a day?" You maintain a similar stance of there being "only a handful of immigrants arriving in the UK arriving by boat". 40,000-50,000 per year "just a handful" ?

These matters of course may not be life threatening but I am curious as to what the real problems are you perceive