The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been quite busy hunting down all the benefits cheats. It seems in the last month, many people have been arrested, charged, or under investigation. Makes you wonder how many are still falsely giving information in order to obtain benefits. I would not be surprised if thousands are still cheating, given the economic crisis and the temptation of easy money.
It certainly begs the question of how careful the DWP is when it awards benefits to those who make extraordinary claims of incapacity. Many of these people have pulled the wool over their own doctor’s eyes. Perhaps, there needs to be a revamp in the way medical incapacity is determined. Perhaps, there needs to be further tests. Perhaps, in order to qualify, these people not only need to see a doctor to determine their disability, but they need to have prior records that indicate an injury and subsequent incapacity that has been progressing. You cannot suddenly be so disabled that you have no prior medical records.
Those cases of fraud involving incapacity due to injury or medical illness are relatively easy to prove when CCTV catches them in the act of doing something they say they can’t. But many other fraudsters claim for other reasons, such as being a single parent, being unemployed, being an asylum-seeker without any resources. These may be harder to prove against unless someone knows something about the cheat.
Unfortunately, I find that Britain has become altogether too tolerant. I suppose it is because if we weren’t there’d be hordes of serial do-gooders rioting for humans rights and so on and so forth. But why should the government support an illegal alien who is denied asylum status? They are sponging off this country without contributing anything, and they will lie to get what they want. Mr. Montazery, from Iran, was imposed a suspended jail sentence and an order for unpaid community service, followed by two years of supervision. No deportation. However, the DWP are starting “removal” proceedings. He should have been ordered to repay the benefits and kicked out.
Another woman cheated the system out of 70K and was ordered to repay it. However, given her current situation, where she is now legitimately getting benefits, she can only repay a minimal amount per week, which means it will take 100 years for the debt to be repaid. She is shown smiling smugly because she will never repay the full amount. It is outrageous! There should be some law that since she received the benefits illegally, she cannot claim for more until that amount is paid up. Or, until such time that this amount would have been paid to her legally. Since she claimed illegally for 5 years at the rate of 240 pounds a week, and she is now getting almost the same amount, she should not be able to draw on this until another 5-6 years (in which she qualifies) has elapsed.
