Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

In some ways I think HBC should be congratulated on catching 193 cheats. On the other hand why didn't they prosecute them :confused:


£78,000 council tax fraud uncovered at Hyndburn (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

in answer to yer question NO. whilst its good cheaters are caught, end of the day its their job to sort it, n i can think of much bigger stuff they done ****** all about fer years.;)

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Does anyone know if they charge interest on the repayment ? Might get myself one of these loans if they don't :D

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

The way I read that - they simply compared the electoral list with the households where persons were claiming to live alone.
This shows naive stupidity on the part of the persons who committed the fraud, and leads me to ask -

1.- why was the electoral list not checked at the time the claim was made, and anually thereafter?

2.- what is being done to detect the households who claim this 'single person' reduction and have had the sense to make the electoral list show them as living alone?

A lazy fraud excercise which should not have been neccessary

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Each week we read in the local press the names of those prosecuted, and fined, for not paying their television licence.

Perhaps if the council had the determination to prosecute these fraudsters, the Observer could have produced a full colour suplement for it's readers.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

yeh whatabout "Hyndburns Fraudsters" next year?:D;)

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

....and all their friends and families could vote for them, and the winner could be announced as the main, front page, story.;)

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Tip of the iceberg,Next stop Housing Benefit Fraud.
Though you do realise it could close two more pubs.:hehetable

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Quote from that link ---

Talk about damned if you do, damned if you don't :mad:

I think all fraudsters should be targeted and caught. I also think all 193 should be taken to court and prosecuted for fraud. It would make a lot more people think twice before trying it themselves.

So to answer the question Dave, yes they should be congratulated, I know it is their job to catch them but it is nice for us honest tax payers to read about the Council catching fraudsters.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

I wonder if anyone on here will admit to getting caught committing this fraud?

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

So which way are you swaying?

As for prosecution, is fraud not a criminal offence and should the cost not come from the Crown Prosecution Service?

The fraud should be reported to the Police, how many times do the Council ask us to report things like public nuisance and vandalism to the Police?

Is it do as we say not as we do?

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

The costs of this investigation will be one junior clerk's wages for one day at most.
When I was at DHSS this type of check was regular practice and that is why I say that it should have been made annually as a matter of course, and not wait until some have got away with it for years.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

It often follows that the person defrauding Council Tax, in this way, is claiming to be single for several other things as well. If any of them are on Income Support they may well have made a single claim and the same applies to Tax Credits. HMRC, these days, works closely with Councils and the DSS/DoE and this type of fraud follows a recognisable pattern. There may be much more money to be recouped than the reported Council Tax figure.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

That depends on the standard of education achieved by the junior clerk.Now my experience tells me that an amoeba could do a far better job.

Sorry to say it yet again but the standard of education and experience in this country has fallen to that of America -Yo-My man.It's a disgrace!!:jimbo::jimbo:

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

i would think more of these council fraud investigators if they also went after people who are harder to catch, lets face it, a 10 year old could have worked out the discrepancy between the electrol list and community charge payers claiming to be single.

how about having a pop at the self employed who under declare their income both to the inland revenue and to HBC, to my mind this class of people are just as bad as people defrauding the social, but you never hear of them being prosecuted do you?
just a thought:D:D:D

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

I didn't get done for fiddling, but I did have a very bad few months when they wrongly accused me, but wouldn't accept that their system wasn't infallible,
in the end even the boss of their department said they had been over zealous in their attempts to prosecute and the figure I was accused of was far less than the average these people caught weren't prosecuted for.

Allow me to say the full sordid tale of incompetence in any other business would have meant someone's job for that gross cock up!

:mad:

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

So should we be congratulating them over this fraud issue?

I think yes we should.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Only if they had gone that step further and passed them onto the courts, I've no objection to the guilty being prosecuted, but the way they also treat the innocent, is beyond the pale!

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Oh yes you do den, the revenue and customs do prosecute on a regular basis, a fact that I'm think West Ender may agree

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

It's good that this money is to be repaid, but why aren't these fraudsters to be prosecuted, and fined?

Hardly a deterrent to anyone else thinking of making a false claim.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Yes they do prosecute quite a lot. Others are dealt with by way of fines and penalties, it depends how much they've tried to get away with. It's really what HMRC is about nowadays, Compliance, they're mainly geared up to making sure everybody complies with the Law and they're very thorough about it.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

'The 193 residents were interviewed and ordered to pay back the money, some of which dated back years.'

It might be that you are tougher in Cheshire than we are here in Hyndburn, as there's no mention of any prosecutions in the local press.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Oh I'm only talking about Income Tax, I don't know anything about what the local Council does with Council Tax fraud.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

You need a licence to operate a tv!:eek: You gotta be kidding. Is there some sort of test to take on how to operate a remote.:confused:

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Unfortunately not Eric. For a couple of years Busman was hounded for not having a TV licence despite the fact that he didn't actually have a TV!

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Still suppose is nowt to what they are owed by bad payers ... £1,500,000.

Hope they don't come after me .. kept my son on the electoral register for a few years, even though he has lived in Manchester since he was 18 (8 years ago) .. and paying council tax over there. Being stupid like, always considered Clayton was his home basically, but not legally. When I knocked him into touch ... realising may have problems 'cause was claiming 25% single occupancy, the collector of the electoral form commented that they never compared the two so wouldn't have been a problem anyway. How wrong were they.

Hope they will not see this and investigate ...LOL

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

why? they aint prosecuted!! like others said, weres the deterrant in that?:confused:

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

I find the thread rather interesting. At the student accommodation I lived at last year, the university automatically registered you, people were still registered there after they moved out, as they failed to register elsewhere during that period. Now you can remain registered at several addresses, and in local elections you can vote in more than one area. As for general elections you are obviously only allowed to vote in one location. Could anyone help explain how its checked that you don't vote in two locations for a general election?

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

I agree, more jobs for lawyers.

Oh wait, that wasn't the theme you were going with was it...

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Interesting point as I am also registered in two. At least we are still equals Mr Barratt.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

nah blaze yer superior, you have changed flags.;):D good point though cyfr, maybe summat you can look into.

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Although its its a sick bird (illegal) :Dto vote at two locations at a general election, I would think it would be very easy to vote twice. After all who is going to check to see if Joe Bloggs has voted both here in Hyndburn and also, in say London. The only time this would be followed up is if there where suspicions of this happening, i. e. if our Joe had been bragging about it down the pub with his mates and was reported to the returning officer. However there maybe things in place to invetigate this type of thing, maybe if Greg reads this he may have an oppinion on the matter, as it is something that would affect him at the election

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

They should name and shame the cheats as they do with tv licence dodgers and other miscreants !:p

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

How did you manage that Blazey? They collected my form the day before lads went to uni. They werent put on mine, but given a form so they could sort it out down there. :confused:

Re: Should We Congratulate HBC ?
 

Coudn't agree more lindsay, can't see any difference between people who don't pay their TV liceance and those not paying their council tax, but there again we're forgetting the European Human Rights Act:rolleyes: