Wirral MP brands all benefit claimants 'cheats'

11:56am Tuesday 30th October 2012 in Letters

AS the pensioner father of a learning disabled son, I have complete contempt for "benefit cheats" who are stealing money from those who really need it.

Fortunately the level of cheating is low. Lord Freud is on the record in Parliament this year reporting 'fraud and error' as costing us £3.2 billion. However this is 2% of annual benefit costs.

In fact it turned out that the fraud component was 0.6%.

It is therefore disturbing to see Frank Field MP in the Sun, the Daily Telegraph, at the Institute of Economic Affairs and on his website, promoting his welfare reform ideas, whatever their merits, by indiscriminately branding benefit claimants as cheats.

Here is what he said : "As we now have a welfare state based on meeting need, this encourages individuals, not unreasonably, to try to ensure that they qualify under this guise.

"It therefore pays to lie about one's earnings, to cheat, or to be inactive. The worst side of human nature is encouraged..."

So for the sake of punishing  the one-in-200 benefit claimants who cheat, and appealing to public misconceptions, the principle of meeting the genuine needs of the vulnerable is to be abandoned.

Frank on his website tells us that his welfare ideas will "put the
[Labour] party firmly in line with public opinion."

Let us hope that Ed Milliband, like Blair (and Cameron) before him, decline to listen.

Professor D P Gregg (retired) by email.

Comments(9)

bickyboy says...
8:02pm Tue 30 Oct 12

Rather than concentrating on the REAL villains--those who indulge in benefit fraud-- the DWP are busy conspiring with ATOS to obliterate the incomes of tens of thousands of disabled and sick people, at a time when there isn't an icicle's hope in Hades of them getting a job.

Please, Frank: put the blame where it truly belongs: with Ostrich-headed Labour politicians who wasted public money hand over fist and thereby created ideal conditions in which the Tory government, an administration stuffed with sneering, malicious toffs is able to exercise its pathological hatred of the poor more or less at will.

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uncatom says...
9:48am Wed 31 Oct 12

Frank, I dont know which side of the house I am, have you tried the lib dems yet Frank? or are you waiting to see if odious Dave can manipulate another period as lord of the manor before you switch again?

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Spiffy says...
10:57am Wed 31 Oct 12

Meanwhile over the other side of Frank's side....benefit cheats are another slice of Frank's bread and butter where he is keen to reform the criminal acts they commit since they only do it because they are "in poverty" and that's ok 'cos he can just send their mums to parenting schools. We'll pay for it all, of course.
...
No matter which way he twists it Frank is only ever after funding for one of his very own social engineering projects. Who knew that "poor people" were so versatile ;)

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don't look back in anger says...
12:24pm Wed 31 Oct 12

this comes from a mah who claimed over 100,000 in expenses last year on top of his 60,000 a year salary and he calls people for claiming 40 quid a week.

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don't look back in anger says...
12:24pm Wed 31 Oct 12

this comes from a man who claimed over 100,000 in expenses last year on top of his 60,000 a year salary and he calls people for claiming 40 quid a week.

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neibrialy says...
11:39pm Thu 1 Nov 12

As a mother who has a mentally disabled child I put all my effort into tackling my son's unique behaviour myself for 14 years, I had all sports of complaints from neighbours thinking I was deliberately causing harm to my children when in fact it was the amazing screaming that came from my son. I had help available which I could get without extra benefits to cover. now my son has reached adolescence it became more difficult to put up with the challenging behaviour so I asked his therapist to fill in a form for benefit help so we could afford to release his energy and help his social skills etc with more programs for his age. this had a remarkable impact on everyone in my family and for the first time in 14 years I have been able to breathe easier knowing he is getting appropriate help. When the was younger we almost exhausted ourselves because we refused to claim for allowances as we thought there are other desperate people out there and we have been getting along just fine, difficult but we managed, and until the time that we really needed it then we would apply.
so yes I agree, claimants who do not need this money should at least consider the possibility of other options and not think that it's just there to take without a care in the world.

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No.9 says...
11:28am Fri 2 Nov 12

neibrialy wrote:
As a mother who has a mentally disabled child I put all my effort into tackling my son's unique behaviour myself for 14 years, I had all sports of complaints from neighbours thinking I was deliberately causing harm to my children when in fact it was the amazing screaming that came from my son. I had help available which I could get without extra benefits to cover. now my son has reached adolescence it became more difficult to put up with the challenging behaviour so I asked his therapist to fill in a form for benefit help so we could afford to release his energy and help his social skills etc with more programs for his age. this had a remarkable impact on everyone in my family and for the first time in 14 years I have been able to breathe easier knowing he is getting appropriate help. When the was younger we almost exhausted ourselves because we refused to claim for allowances as we thought there are other desperate people out there and we have been getting along just fine, difficult but we managed, and until the time that we really needed it then we would apply.
so yes I agree, claimants who do not need this money should at least consider the possibility of other options and not think that it's just there to take without a care in the world.
Hit the nail on the head! I admire your principles.

Prof Gregg has pointed out that only 0.6% of benefit costs is fraudulently claimed, and the previous and current government have done a wonderful job in casting suspicion and portraying benefits users as thieves and cheats in order to gain mass public support for some very unkind policies.

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spamfiend says...
7:13pm Sat 3 Nov 12

don't look back in anger wrote:
this comes from a man who claimed over 100,000 in expenses last year on top of his 60,000 a year salary and he calls people for claiming 40 quid a week.
and not forgetting Denis MacShane who quit as an MP after fiddling at least £7500 from his parliamentary expenses!!

maybe auld Frank needs to speak to his colleagues before he starts with his pot kettle and black quotes!!

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Gingerthinker says...
10:57am Wed 7 Nov 12

He did NOT call all people on benefits "cheats" unless the Professor has used the wrong quote.

The particular quote used clearly refers to those claiming benefits by lying and cheating...so he's actually talking about those cheating the system.

Fair enough.

You may not think that the countless millions lost through fraud is much, but I do.

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