bil

Not you, of course not. I did think of using the more correct 'one' but I thought it would seem pedantic.

scampicat

Yes, I agree sometimes the Benefits system is hard to understand.

People living in the EU who are legitimately entitled to the Winter Fuel Allowance are not commiting Benefit fraud though, are they? It is a European decision to allow this IF you qualified for it before leaving the UK. Also some other UK Benefits are exportable here, so if people are entitled to them, they are not committing fraud.

I am not talking about legitimate claimants, I am talking about the ones who fraudulently claim, either here or in the UK.

And, I hasten to add, so far I have reported nobody!

scampicat

Thanks! I didn't really think you meant me!

bil

Yeah, and on the one occasion when one of them reports her, she will be in a world of financial pain.

scampicat

They are both theft.

bil

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?

scampicat

And this is why so far I have reported no-one, although I disagree with Benefit fraud.

rugbymatt

I know you haven't and I have been very careful not to suggest you have, I am simply discussing the can of worms it opens if someone did. As I said, laws are set by governments and change each year, who knows what will become law next year, or the next?

bil

I just feel that some types of theft are worse than others.


If I find money on the street, and I pick it up, it is theft by finding. If you take home from the office so much as a paperclip, that too is theft.

Stealing form the state isn't as bad as stealing from someone who is hard up.

bil

I don't know if it is true, but it has an awful ring of truth about it, that these days it is effectively impossible to own a car and walk down the street without breaking a law somewhere.

agoreira

Probably, but I bet they'd rather live there than Écija!
http://www.20minutos.tv/video/dnvwBE...z-en-un-mes/0/

bil

Or any one of the flooded out English towns. What was the name of the one that was almost washed away a year or two ago?

Bigger Jim

I think that one of the problems is that a lot of people see benefit fraud as a victimless crime and the state, just like the insurance companies, can afford it. But in the end it is we, the people, who pay for it.

Jim

scampicat

Absolutely. It is not a victimless crime and in the end those who need the Benefits most are penalised for it.

Sickness Benefits are now very difficult to get because so many people in the past have fiddled them. The Government have put so many hoops to climb through. This means that genuinely sick people, especially those with mental health problems,who can't cope with the process, end up not getting the help and support that they need.

(I'm not saying, by the way, that there should NOT be checks made on people claiming sickness Benefits!).

jackytoo

I am ashamed to say I have never been to Wales, maybe will do a recce this year

Back to benefits. I don't think I could cold-bloodily report anyone, even though I don't agree with the fiddlers. The whole benefit system is out of control and I don't think it will ever be fair.

Just a point about the disability allowance...if some people receiving it are not visibly affected, look healthy and appear to lead a normal life why should they get money for it