Rheghead
06-Mar-12, 13:39
This week in the Groat there was a case of a man who inherited £50,000 from his father, which isn't a really major life changing amount of money, it wouldn't buy an ex-council house. And yet his crime was not letting the DHSS know about it thus he was over paid benefits by £12,000 over a 3 year period. OK, I'm not quibbling about the rules as such but there was a case last month where a couple won £10 million on the lottery and was allowed to claim £500 disability benefit on a monthly basis since 2005 and seemingly they were legally entitled to do that.
What gets me is that when these two cases sit next to each other for comparison it doesn't seem fair on the bloke who now faces certain jail for something that anyone could be forgiven for being unaware of.
It raises a number of issues as far as I can see, the uniformity of various benefits being means tested whether that is in England or Scotland, whether the bloke had previous history of scrounging and whether it is right that inheritance should subsidise ones benefits etc.
What gets me is that when these two cases sit next to each other for comparison it doesn't seem fair on the bloke who now faces certain jail for something that anyone could be forgiven for being unaware of.
It raises a number of issues as far as I can see, the uniformity of various benefits being means tested whether that is in England or Scotland, whether the bloke had previous history of scrounging and whether it is right that inheritance should subsidise ones benefits etc.