Research Suggests Concerns Over Housing FraudResearch Suggests Concerns Over Housing Fraud

According to a recently published survey, it is claimed that 66 per cent of UK consumers are concerned about housing benefit fraud. Really? Are we supposed to believe that two-thirds of the population are wandering around constantly thinking about this issue? If that actually is true, then that is a much more serious problem than housing fraud!

I am reminded of a humorous incident where a news reporter was interviewing a racing car driver and he asked the question “Aren’t you worried you could get killed?” And the driver replies: “Well, I wasn’t until you mentioned it!” That’s the problem with surveys, as this clip from the highly acclaimed series Yes Prime Minister so aptly illustrates.

Of course if you call people and ask them point-blank if they are concerned about benefit fraud then – presuming they don’t simply tell you to mind your own business – it is more than likely they will answer in the affirmative. But, if instead you asked people what their most pressing concern was at the moment, how likely is it that 2 in every 3 people would mention benefit fraud? Or even think about it at all? The whole thing is so clearly agenda-driven, it’s like they’re not even trying to hide the fact they have an agenda any more!

You can see how ludicrous it is from the fact that half the respondents said they thought the government should use money recovered from cutting housing benefit fraud to fund affordable housing. The government already has more than £1.3bn to spend, so why haven’t they already allocated money for affordable housing?

Certainly, if affordable housing were available, then bona fide housing fraud would be much less prevalent. That raises another issue, which is how much of the money claimed to be “lost” each year can really be attributed to actual fraud and whether it really is prevalent, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Just a few things that many people are concerned about right now include:

• War in the Middle East
• Tensions in Eastern Europe
• Worldwide poverty and hunger
• Hardships brought on by austerity
• Cuts to the NHS
• Increased costs of education
• Government corruption
• Ever-increasing police powers
• Wasteful prosecutions
• Overcrowded prisons
• Increased privatisation and out-sourcing

How could anyone reasonably be expected to believe that concerns about housing benefit fraud trump all of these issues in the minds of the great British public? Or perhaps it is just that the media has done a really outstanding job of beating this issue up so thoroughly that people really are concerned about this issue. That just doesn’t seem very likely.

It is disturbing how much importance the government and the media tend to place on the results of surveys and polls, quite often ignoring signs indicating people really do feel strongly about issues such as petitions and protests. In fact, the usual response to protests is hostile, often sending in the police to knock some heads together, even when the protest is composed of mainly teenagers peacefully sitting in a circle.

The lesson to take from this is that the authorities are keen to know what people think as long as the information is collected quietly from random anonymous people (who may not even be UK citizens) and can be manipulated to suit an agenda. Should you be brave enough to state your opinions in public, you are likely to be met not only with scorn and ridicule, but quite possibly violent force. Even knowing the futility of it, some MPs heroically join forces with protesters. It’s easy to be cynical, but we’ll know it’s for real when one of them gets tasered or arrested along with the rest.

But setting aside all matters concerning the credibility of these kinds of survey reports, what I really want to bring to your attention is the way this word “fraud” is being bandied about by the government and the media.

Fraud is a very strong word. It implies intentional dishonesty on the part of the accused, and it is also a serious crime that usually attracts a custodial sentence for those whom are found guilty of it. The media and the government like to use this word because it is emotive and liable to provoke strong reactions from readers and viewers.

The great problem with the use of this emotive word to describe the general problem of losses incurred through the housing benefits scheme is that those losses cannot solely be attributed to fraud. Remember that fraud is a crime, and crimes require proof. But do the authorities send you a nice polite letter to say, “Dear Mr Bloggs, it seems you may have made a mistake…” No, they do not!  They send you a quite nasty, impersonal, computer-generated letter telling you that you are being investigated for fraud, and that is simply disgraceful conduct.

It is not good enough to say that because some people are actually guilty, this can justify the enormous insult and damage to reputation that honest people incur as a result of the accusation and the frequently ensuing publicity. Nor to justify the attempt to manipulate public opinion on an issue that in reality no ordinary person really cares about for more than two seconds at a time, despite what certain opinion polls may try to suggest.

This is not idle commentary based on conjecture, either. The government’s own published data on the issue clearly shows that the amount overpaid due to error (including administrative errors) is almost twice the amount overpaid due to deliberate fraud. Yet we do not see headlines screaming “Elderly Man Makes Innocent Mistake” or “Computer Bungle Causes Overpayment”… no, no, no!  We see something like: “Pensioner Accused in Housing Fraud Scandal”.

There are other gems in this data too. For example, it can be seen that even though housing benefits account for the majority of overpayments, it actually accounts for only about 5% of the total expenditure on housing benefits. In other words, it is a drop in the ocean, because the other 22.7 billion pounds is going where it is supposed to go.

You can’t even trust the amount given as the total figure lost due to overpayments, since not all “overpayments” are genuine. Many people when told they have an overpayment simply pay up, and there are also situations where people do stand up to the system but fail and this is often because they did not understand how to present their case, or did not have sufficient knowledge of the law to put forward an adequate argument in their favour.

When you put it in perspective, we’re being told that less than 2.5% of claims are fraudulent. Does that sound like an out of control problem to you? Something that 66% of the population should be seriously concerned about?

The vast majority of claimants are honest, and fraud is extremely rare. Don’t be deceived by tricky pollsters and glib politicians who exploit these non-issues as a means of diverting attention away from their other shameful antics.

More than 63% of all overpayments are due to error, and not all of the amounts considered to have been overpaid are correctly assessed. Many people accused of fraud are guilty of nothing more than honest mistakes, and this is not surprising given how complicated the forms are and the fact that many recipients have mobility problems and other such things that could make it difficult to lodge forms on time.

The computer doesn’t understand these things and it doesn’t care. But at Hylton-Potts we do care about helping you avoid an unjust prosecution or having to repay money that you don’t rightfully owe. So if you are accused of benefit fraud, you know where to come for help!

According to a recently published survey, it is claimed that 66 per cent of UK consumers are concerned about housing benefit fraud. Really? Are we supposed to believe that two-thirds of the population are wandering around constantly thinking about this issue? If that actually is true, then that is a much more serious problem than housing fraud!

I am reminded of a humorous incident where a news reporter was interviewing a racing car driver and he asked the question “Aren’t you worried you could get killed?” And the driver replies: “Well, I wasn’t until you mentioned it!” That’s the problem with surveys, as this clip from the highly acclaimed series Yes Prime Minister so aptly illustrates.

Of course if you call people and ask them point-blank if they are concerned about benefit fraud then – presuming they don’t simply tell you to mind your own business – it is more than likely they will answer in the affirmative. But, if instead you asked people what their most pressing concern was at the moment, how likely is it that 2 in every 3 people would mention benefit fraud? Or even think about it at all? The whole thing is so clearly agenda-driven, it’s like they’re not even trying to hide the fact they have an agenda any more!

You can see how ludicrous it is from the fact that half the respondents said they thought the government should use money recovered from cutting housing benefit fraud to fund affordable housing. The government already has more than £1.3bn to spend, so why haven’t they already allocated money for affordable housing?

Certainly, if affordable housing were available, then bona fide housing fraud would be much less prevalent. That raises another issue, which is how much of the money claimed to be “lost” each year can really be attributed to actual fraud and whether it really is prevalent, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Just a few things that many people are concerned about right now include:

• War in the Middle East
• Tensions in Eastern Europe
• Worldwide poverty and hunger
• Hardships brought on by austerity
• Cuts to the NHS
• Increased costs of education
• Government corruption
• Ever-increasing police powers
• Wasteful prosecutions
• Overcrowded prisons
• Increased privatisation and out-sourcing

How could anyone reasonably be expected to believe that concerns about housing benefit fraud trump all of these issues in the minds of the great British public? Or perhaps it is just that the media has done a really outstanding job of beating this issue up so thoroughly that people really are concerned about this issue. That just doesn’t seem very likely.

It is disturbing how much importance the government and the media tend to place on the results of surveys and polls, quite often ignoring signs indicating people really do feel strongly about issues such as petitions and protests. In fact, the usual response to protests is hostile, often sending in the police to knock some heads together, even when the protest is composed of mainly teenagers peacefully sitting in a circle.

The lesson to take from this is that the authorities are keen to know what people think as long as the information is collected quietly from random anonymous people (who may not even be UK citizens) and can be manipulated to suit an agenda. Should you be brave enough to state your opinions in public, you are likely to be met not only with scorn and ridicule, but quite possibly violent force. Even knowing the futility of it, some MPs heroically join forces with protesters. It’s easy to be cynical, but we’ll know it’s for real when one of them gets tasered or arrested along with the rest.

But setting aside all matters concerning the credibility of these kinds of survey reports, what I really want to bring to your attention is the way this word “fraud” is being bandied about by the government and the media.

Fraud is a very strong word. It implies intentional dishonesty on the part of the accused, and it is also a serious crime that usually attracts a custodial sentence for those whom are found guilty of it. The media and the government like to use this word because it is emotive and liable to provoke strong reactions from readers and viewers.

The great problem with the use of this emotive word to describe the general problem of losses incurred through the housing benefits scheme is that those losses cannot solely be attributed to fraud. Remember that fraud is a crime, and crimes require proof. But do the authorities send you a nice polite letter to say, “Dear Mr Bloggs, it seems you may have made a mistake…” No, they do not!  They send you a quite nasty, impersonal, computer-generated letter telling you that you are being investigated for fraud, and that is simply disgraceful conduct.

It is not good enough to say that because some people are actually guilty, this can justify the enormous insult and damage to reputation that honest people incur as a result of the accusation and the frequently ensuing publicity. Nor to justify the attempt to manipulate public opinion on an issue that in reality no ordinary person really cares about for more than two seconds at a time, despite what certain opinion polls may try to suggest.

This is not idle commentary based on conjecture, either. The government’s own published data on the issue clearly shows that the amount overpaid due to error (including administrative errors) is almost twice the amount overpaid due to deliberate fraud. Yet we do not see headlines screaming “Elderly Man Makes Innocent Mistake” or “Computer Bungle Causes Overpayment”… no, no, no!  We see something like: “Pensioner Accused in Housing Fraud Scandal”.

There are other gems in this data too. For example, it can be seen that even though housing benefits account for the majority of overpayments, it actually accounts for only about 5% of the total expenditure on housing benefits. In other words, it is a drop in the ocean, because the other 22.7 billion pounds is going where it is supposed to go.

You can’t even trust the amount given as the total figure lost due to overpayments, since not all “overpayments” are genuine. Many people when told they have an overpayment simply pay up, and there are also situations where people do stand up to the system but fail and this is often because they did not understand how to present their case, or did not have sufficient knowledge of the law to put forward an adequate argument in their favour.

When you put it in perspective, we’re being told that less than 2.5% of claims are fraudulent. Does that sound like an out of control problem to you? Something that 66% of the population should be seriously concerned about?

The vast majority of claimants are honest, and fraud is extremely rare. Don’t be deceived by tricky pollsters and glib politicians who exploit these non-issues as a means of diverting attention away from their other shameful antics.

More than 63% of all overpayments are due to error, and not all of the amounts considered to have been overpaid are correctly assessed. Many people accused of fraud are guilty of nothing more than honest mistakes, and this is not surprising given how complicated the forms are and the fact that many recipients have mobility problems and other such things that could make it difficult to lodge forms on time.

The computer doesn’t understand these things and it doesn’t care. But at Hylton-Potts we do care about helping you avoid an unjust prosecution or having to repay money that you don’t rightfully owe. So if you are accused of benefit fraud, you know where to come for help!

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