Re:The Unemployment Rate in Every Region of Europe
by pbhjpbhj on Thursday May 03, 2018 @11:04AM
(#16986660)
I don't think I said it was widespread, or anything to indicate that? I've been on Jobseekers and am likely to be again: yes we should guard against creating a hostile environment and assuming everyone is on the make, but pretending there's no fraud at all is surely not the way.
Are few people dishonest, or are most dishonest people caught.
My concern is if the system encourages moral compromise for survival and what this means for our society as a whole.
Looking at your link, these people were caught reasonably quickly.
One of the people in your link managed to claim just £231. At his age he'd be getting £73 per week, so he fraudulently claimed less than a month.
It's harder to work out the other person, because they were also claiming housing benefit.
He lived at Ballysillan Crescent, Belfast, which is a B14 post code. Local housing allowance rates are https://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/benefits/lha/current_lha_rates...
Here's that street on Google maps: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.6291805,-5.9663763,3a,75y,...
Let's take the one bedroom rate of £86.16 per week, plus £73.10 per week = £159.26 per week. (this assumes he claims as a single person, and it lowers the weekly amount. I do this because I want to maximise the time he claimed for as a worst case). £4,114 / £159 = = 25 weeks. So, about 6 months. If he was claiming the 2 bedroom rate, or was claiming JSA as a couple he would have got more moeny per week, and so was caught much quicker.
You'll find similar in the other cases. People try it and they usually get caught within a year.