Great Britain has a welfare budget problem and ministers have reported that they are planning to crack down on welfare cheats.
In a recent article, a No 10 spokesman was quoted as saying, “Getting the welfare budget under control is a key part of our long-term plan for the economy.” One facet of the coming crackdown will be credit checks. While they don’t usually check credit references—officials typically depend on tip-offs—that is all about to change. Prime Minister David Cameron wants to use bailiffs to seize high-value assets which would be resold to recoup some of these burdensome welfare losses incurred because too many welfare cheats bend and break the rules.
The spokesman said, “We want to end the something-for-nothing culture and deliver for people who want to work hard and play by the rules.”
While credit reference checks are possibly one way to identify welfare recipients who own valuable possessions, the Department for Work and Pensions might well be off on the wrong track here. Creditworthiness is a valuable trait in its own right and is not something that is just handed out—as if it were a welfare check. Building a strong credit rating takes time, and typically steady employment, as well as a reputation for paying completely and on time. To find out more about credit reports click here; http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/credit-rating.aspx
While some of Britain’s poor may have managed to game the system and attain expensive items on credit, this seems unlikely. One would suspect that someone on the dole with valuable items reflected on a credit report, probably recently came upon hard times, and therefore this plan seems more likely to add only further insult and injury to those poor souls already hit hard by bitter circumstance.
There are many ways to identify and control welfare cheats, but the best is through investigation and then if warranted surveillance. Is the recipient living a lifestyle that doesn’t seem to correspond to the means provided by the state? This is easily discovered through random home visits and conversations with neighbors. If the situation looks fishy then the chances are good that the subject has an employer who pays cash and never reports earnings to the government. This is easily discovered through surveillance of the family during the morning and/or evening hours. Private detectives are experienced at this game and paying a private dick for a few hours of work sounds like a pretty good investment in the long run when compared with paying for months and years of welfare.
One other way that welfare users beat the system is by operating a home business. No, not cakes, cookies, and lemonade stands, but illegal drugs, prostitution, and gambling. A sensible blend of investigation and surveillance will quickly identify those who are not only breaking the welfare bank, but also corrupting the youth, spreading disease, and making paupers of hapless gambling addicts—even further burdening the welfare system. Here again, is a circumstance where a trained P.I. is invaluable for surveillance of what is happening at the home as well as to investigate the possibility of assets owned under an assumed name.
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