"DISABLED PEOPLE ARE LAZY AND A DRAIN ON RESOURCES " QUOTE TWEET

axwy62

Yadnad said:

Topkitten said:

.This btw, is one of the reasons that now they automatically stop or reduce benefits after receiving anonymous reports of fraud and force the claimant to fight to prove they should get it back. A dreadful method that punishes those most needing the help the most but is the easiest way for them to get better results.

TK

If that system works then OK, there is nothing wrong in having to prove that you are innocent. This happens every day in other walks of life. When people are arrested by the police and provided there is a public interest angle to it, that information will find it's way into the newspapers and TV, not forgetting the web.
It may take months even years for the police to establish that they are innocent and then and only then will they be released.
The damage is already done and it is up to the arrested individual to prove to the press and the public that they have done nothing wrong.
Being arrested can and does cause major damage to their life which can never be undone.

So yes let the accused prove entitlement as they should be doing at regular intervals throughout their claim period. 

If you'd ever been on the receiving end of a malicious accusation, you might have a different opinion. Having had a total of 8 assessments, supported by extensive medical evidence, over the last 16 years, I feel I have proved my entitlement to the benefits I get, therefore for the DWP to automatically believe someone who won't even identify themselves but says I am neither ill nor disabled - well, I don't even have words for how that would feel.
Luckily for me, the first time an accusation was made DWP spoke to me before deciding it was unfounded. The second and third times they didn't even investigate having decided the accusations were malicious - they won't say obviously, but I guess they know it was the same person each time. Still think my benefits should have been stopped automatically each time?

Yadnad

axwy62 said:

If you'd ever been on the receiving end of a malicious accusation, you might have a different opinion. Having had a total of 8 assessments, supported by extensive medical evidence, over the last 16 years, I feel I have proved my entitlement to the benefits I get, therefore for the DWP to automatically believe someone who won't even identify themselves but says I am neither ill nor disabled - well, I don't even have words for how that would feel.
Luckily for me, the first time an accusation was made DWP spoke to me before deciding it was unfounded. The second and third times they didn't even investigate having decided the accusations were malicious - they won't say obviously, but I guess they know it was the same person each time. Still think my benefits should have been stopped automatically each time?

Many times, some serious some not.
I was once arrested from my home and taken to the police station. The arrest was made on the basis that I was in a conspiracy to steal x amount of 24ct gold.
The guy who had reported the theft didn't speak good English and as his accountant he described me to the police as his 'money man'.
The whole thing was cleared up within hours and I was released to go back home.

I was accused by the DWP and the police of benefit fraud having been taken from my home at 6.30am and had my home,, office and car searched. Nothing came of it as I could prove that my net income (in fact it was a loss) would not have affected my unemployment benefit.

In each case I had to prove that I was innocent of the accusations.

Yes the benefit should be stopped only if it is to avoid an overpayment of benefit if it turns out that there was any truth in the allegation. It is then up to the claimant to show that they are not guilty of any wrong doing.