Mistakes in benefits claims could cost up to £500m

Domo

Domo

Domo

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42012116

I saw this on the news last night. They reckon the average payout could be in the region of £6-7k (according to the BBC and some very basic maths). Not a bad little windfall that considering it was free money anyway - though I am sure there are some well deserving cases amongst the 75,000 claimants.
 
It wasn't "free money" given it's something most of those who receive it will have paid into and it's an utter shambles of a system where they mess it up so badly so often (this is just one example effecting a lot of people, they mess up extremely frequently in smaller ways).

It's an example of a system that every single time they "reform it" they seem to make it worse and more error prone, and it's usually hurting some of those who are least able to cope with the loss of money that is often essential to them (it's meant to be pretty much the minimum someone needs to live with their needs, so underpaying it is going to hurt those people a lot).

Unfortunately it's not really changed much in 30 years in that regard, they don't care if they make a mistake as it's not going to cause them an issue and they've got to work through X number of applications a day.
I'm still bitter about my mum's experiences, where more than once she had to go to a tribunal for DLA before anyone had actually read their own reports* - something that caused her a lot of grief, and cost the government thousands each time in unnecessary expenses, I hold absolutely no illusions about how poor the government is at working out benefits usually at the expense of those who are meant to be able to claim them.
Then there is the whole ongoing child tax credit fiasco that pops up every year or so with assurances to the media that it's being fixed with steps being take to stop problems affecting tens of thousands again.


*At least twice she was basically told "You've got it, we're sorry about it taking so long to sort out" on arrival (in one instance it took 18 months for them to get it sorted).
 
Remember folks when the numbers are so massive like 75,000 - or 0.1% of the population - it is irrefutable proof of systemic fraud and totally not a cockup in the system. Thank God Domo is here to tell us.
 
Domo said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42012116

I saw this on the news last night. They reckon the average payout could be in the region of £6-7k (according to the BBC and some very basic maths). Not a bad little windfall that considering it was free money anyway - though I am sure there are some well deserving cases amongst the 75,000 claimants.
Click to expand...

Phew, thank GOD I can finally have a week with wine instead of Lambrini.
 
Congrats government! Screwing over those who most need your help again. Well done you.
 
Not sure how I feel about a £6k windfall, no doubt a lot of people needed the money to live on at the time, but a large lump sum payment doesn't seem to be in the spirit of what the benefit is intended for which is day to day living.
 
Roar87 said:
Not sure how I feel about a £6k windfall, no doubt a lot of people needed the money to live on at the time, but a large lump sum payment doesn't seem to be in the spirit of what the benefit is intended for which is day to day living.
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It could help pay off all those debts they got in to whilst not receiving all their money?

I see Mr Cartwright in the article said it was a choice between food or heating, I guess he went cold then...
 
Freakbro said:
It could help pay off all those debts they got in to whilst not receiving all their money?

I see Mr Cartwright in the article said it was a choice between food or heating, I guess he went cold then...
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Lol. A lot of people must reach that same decision.
 
Wtf....an article just on the news about the latest Universal Credit debacle.

So it seems low income weekly paid workers eligible for UC lose the benefit 4 times a year, just because those months have 5 Fridays :confused:

Because UC is a monthly benefit it deems they earn too much in that month, UC claim ends and they have to reapply, with subsequent delays. And this is "working as intended". That is just insane. Why can it not cope with that and still assess their annual income? As this doesn't affect monthly paid workers.
 
If they end up getting paid annually the same as a monthly paid worker who is on the same wage - sure not a problem. If they're not though then yeah, that's utterly retarded.
 
Freakbro said:
Wtf....an article just on the news about the latest Universal Credit debacle.

So it seems low income weekly paid workers eligible for UC lose the benefit 4 times a year, just because those months have 5 Fridays :confused:

Because UC is a monthly benefit it deems they earn too much in that month, UC claim ends and they have to reapply, with subsequent delays. And this is "working as intended". That is just insane. Why can it not cope with that and still assess their annual income? As this doesn't affect monthly paid workers.
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If it's the BBC article, it also said they get paid more on the 4 week months and it supposedly balances out. Unfortunately these articles never show any figures so it's hard to confirm either way.
 
Roar87 said:
Not sure how I feel about a £6k windfall, no doubt a lot of people needed the money to live on at the time, but a large lump sum payment doesn't seem to be in the spirit of what the benefit is intended for which is day to day living.
Click to expand...

Not quite the same context but I had £5250 deducted from my benefits by the DWP who seemed to think that they were above the law and it took my Scottish MP (SNP) who happened to be the Justice Minister, the information commissioner and 4 years before the DWP would release what evidence they had against me and it turned out that they had got the wrong person entirely and it was a case of mistaken identity and slap dash record keeping. I eventually got the money back but I think it will be a cold day in hell before I get an apology. At the time I was fighting the DWP for the evidence I was suffering from cancer of the throat and at times almost gave up but thanks to the help from my MSP, my UK MP was worse than useless, I got justice.
 
NewGamer11 said:
Vonhelmet in virtue signalling shocker.
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Oh right, so it’s virtue signalling now to point out that the overwhelming majority of ESA claims are legit, is it?

You know, I’d take no issue if the OP had said something like “though I am sure there are a small number of fraudsters amongst the 75,000 claimants”, but he didn’t, he made out that only a minority of claims are legit.

Virtue signalling indeed. Pull your head out of your arse.
 
Roar87 said:
Not sure how I feel about a £6k windfall, no doubt a lot of people needed the money to live on at the time, but a large lump sum payment doesn't seem to be in the spirit of what the benefit is intended for which is day to day living.
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I suspect that if paid all in one go the police in places such as Glasgow and Blackpool etc.. are going to have an absolute nightmare... they have enough problems as it is every "payday" when a certain subsection of claimants all queue up at the cashpoint and proceed to spend 2 weeks worth of money in the space of two nights drinking
 
Freakbro said:
Wtf....an article just on the news about the latest Universal Credit debacle.

So it seems low income weekly paid workers eligible for UC lose the benefit 4 times a year, just because those months have 5 Fridays :confused:

Because UC is a monthly benefit it deems they earn too much in that month, UC claim ends and they have to reapply, with subsequent delays. And this is "working as intended". That is just insane. Why can it not cope with that and still assess their annual income? As this doesn't affect monthly paid workers.
Click to expand...

The government that cannot build a computer system with the concept of "working month" are going to definitely totally nail some form of digital customs solution.
 
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