More than 85% of public tip offs on benefit 'frauds' are false

[I1L2T3]

Makes sense to me.

 

There are an estimated 2.4 million benefits claimants to potentially investigate as oppose the 500,000 so called rich people to potentially investigate.

 

Most staff to the biggest task.

Isn't that just plain logical.

 

If we look at the pure maths and divide down the figures we could very easily say that both the benefits investigators and the HMRC tax investigators would be allocated around 650 - 700 cases each to look at.

 

How much more symmetry would people want. If this was a staff resource analysis it couldn't be more perfect.

 

It is logical if

1. The potential return is greater. It doesn't seem to me that it is. I'd like to see the figures though

2. There is similar level of complexity. That doesn't seem the case to me either. A HMRC evasion or aggressive avoidance investigation will be way more complex on on average than investigating a benefit claim.

 

The symettry argument based on numbers looks deeply flawed. I doubt a minister would ever make it in public.

[RonJeremy]

It would seem likely that someone investigating benefit fraud would not need to be as highly qualified as someone who is investigating high level tax evasion.

It may be simple economics. In my opinion the revenue will go after someone who can afford to pay and will hound them until they give in and come to an agreement rather than continued lawyers and accountants fees. Let alone the disruption to the business and the time effort and worry of fighting a megalith like the HMRC.

They have you over a barrel.

[ANGELFIRE1]

But surely that means that 15% of the tip offs resulted in stopping benefit frauds which may otherwise have gone undetected...

 

... so that's a good thing!

 

 

The big problem here is that to "collect" the 15% from the "scroungers" costs more paying the collectors wages than just paying out to all. So it's not as good as most think, is it.

 

Angel1.

[ukdobby]

Did anyone see the African woman on tv last night?think it was something like 27 housing benefit claims over 5 boroughs,she had her Chelsea pad raided and there was £20,000 worth of handbags alone,she was arrested and her lawyer fought for bail which she got with a tag fitted,she cut the tag off and is now in the Congo via Paris and Brussels.....how the heck do they do it?I wouldn't know where to start.