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?

[Farriercm]

YOU Bet its the same David Mellor, Gromit,He even said that Miller reminded him of White Dee from Benefits street, Perhaps Dave could produce a Con Soap on TV .and call it Mill and Mell.

[ellie44]

If you are right about pension credit why is it that over the past 4 years my credit has been reduced from almost £5 a week down to 82p a week this year. My savings have been reduced by about £5000 in that time. due to house repairs that are essential. Maybe I should get in touch with the pension service

[lozzer50]

what about the ministers who claim expenses when they shouldnt ?? hmm double standards as always from this rabble

[Canary42]

Since the HMRC haven't been performing the proposed checks before, where does IDS get his "estimates" from, who are the "Officials" referred to ?

More Tory lies and deception it seems to me.

[naomi24]

I don’t understand why anyone thinks that attempting to reduce fraud is a bad thing.

[Farriercm]

Agree with you naomi , but start at the top of the list first MPs Who are doing it big time.

[naomi24]

It seems to me a lot of MPs have already been caught out - but the continuing scrutiny of parliament shouldn't prevent the government from investigating fraud elsewhere - should it?

[saintpeter48]

MPs are allowed a second home yet people on benefits are not allowed a spare room ............... We're all in this together, yeh right!!!!

[naomi24]

People on benefits are allowed a spare room, but not at the expense of the taxpayer.

[saintpeter48]

naomi, But MPs are allowed a second home at taxpayers expense, who is the more deserving?

[naomi24]

Deserving? Why are people on benefits more deserving than anyone else?

[cazzz1975]

I would rather a disabled man was not forced to move out of his flat that has probably cost the council a fortune to modify to suit his needs because the tiny spare room is used to store his medical equipment, a more deserving case than an MP living a cushy life care of the taxpayer

[saintpeter48]

you are getting a bit picky now, i don't know your situation naomi but i have a friend who is in a wheelchair and is at his wits end over this and feels, like i do, that MPs get away with 'murder', Miss Miller being an example, yet people like my friend are being 'punished' because of their plight.

[naomi24]

I’m not getting picky. I just don’t understand why you think people on benefits are more ‘deserving’ than anyone else. If your friend is in a wheelchair I’ve no doubt the benefits he’s receiving are substantial – and I speak from experience. He is entitled to keep his spare room – if he’s willing to pay for it. I think much of the problem is people are not willing to do that.

[Peter Pedant]

People who are overpaid because someone elses mistake are not cheating

thank you Ummm

and what the Civil servants kick off with is a bland statement that it is not their fault so can the lucky claimant show it is ?

Everyne think they should get an old age pension - but if you have not made enough conts then you get a lower pension and a top up known as pension credit and this is the thing that is means tested and goes up and down depending on other income.

and income can change if you get married, someone dies and so on.

It took me a year ( but I was ill ) to realise a fren' was being overpaid and that when I was doing his tax form for them. We ( he they ) made a voluntary declaration and the payments go hay wire for a few quarters without any explanation

and we are not talking about large amounts of money ( here is was £2000) and he commented it is a lot to me
howevr compared to the MPs expenses - peanuts....

[saintpeter48]

naomi, you are very argumentitive and 'cherry pick' on points raised, the main point of my thread is this, why should disabled people have to pay for a spare room when MPs can work the system for financial gain, again I say, who is the more deserving, ie. qualified for or having a claim to reward, assistance, etc., because of one's actions, qualities, or situation: the deserving poor; a deserving applicant.

[ladybirder]

I don't see what one has to do with the other at all.

[naomi24]

saintpeter48, you say I’m argumentative because I don’t agree with you. Yes, MPs can work the system and it is open to abuse, but no one is expected to work away from home and pay their own expenses. People on benefits are not necessarily ‘the deserving poor’ – whatever that may mean - and they are not entitled to expect the taxpayer to subsidise them beyond their needs.

Ladybirder, neither do I really.

[saintpeter48]

naomi ....... i can see you obviously are on the side of MPs, heaven help us all, goodbye. :)

[naomi24]

I'm not on anyone's 'side' - perhaps that's the difference between us. ;o)