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"It's estimated that twenty-two billion pounds of taxpayers' money is effectively stolen or lost every year through fraud and error - a sizeable chunk of that is benefit fraud - money that could end up being taken out of the pockets of those in genuine need.

In this Panorama Special, Richard Bilton uses undercover cameras to expose people on benefits sailing yachts and driving Bentleys. And he follows fraud investigators as they tackle the rising tide of benefits cheats using fake identities to steal millions."

From BBC Website

It's all very well saying a 'sizeable chunk'. This then gets read as 'most' or 'the majority'. In truth 1% of 22 billion would represent a 'sizeable chunk' to most of us. Focusing on 'benefit cheats' distracts from obvious inefficiencies in the collection of tax revenues and reinforces right wing ideology at the same time.

I wonder when Panorama will do an extensive investigation into all the companies and individuals who make vast profits in the UK, but thanks to off-shore accounts pay very little tax in this country? I'm thinking Tesco, BP, Vodafone... actually the list is almost endless!

The more programmes like this,focusing on the minority of bastards who abuse the system,the more the public hate people on benefits. Which is exactly what the government wanst so it can do away with welfare payments completely. Go ahead and watch, but just think of the people who genuionely need help who are suffering because the govt is cutting their money off.

""It's estimated that twenty-two billion pounds of taxpayers' money is effectively stolen or lost every year through fraud and error - a sizeable chunk of that is benefit fraud - money that could end up being taken out of the pockets of those in genuine need".

This seems bollocks. Last year Cameron stated that the Department of Work and Pensions was losing ?5.5 bn to benefit fraudsters and error. THe DWP later clarified that their estimated fraud figure was ?1.5 bn and the remainder was payments made in error. ?1.5 bn represents 0.7% of the total benefits bill.

Now call me cynical if you like but I find it highly unlikely that Cameron would have deliberately underestimated the figure for fraud - hardly in his political interests.

And the sort of figures that get bandied around for tax avoidance for example, where companies are using loopholes which the Revenue and Customs never envisaged to be used? - ?45bn a year!

Panorama - go figure!

Cheers
D

I'm sick of these programmes. A tiny proportion of people cheat the system. How many drive Bentleys? One?

Why don't they make a programme about the millions stolen in subsides by Greek farmers or the enormous amount of our money wasted by councils.

In the three Abrahamic religions you're born a sinner and commanded to be well. Right from the very off they have you down as a miserable, wretched piece of dirt - but you can rise above that if you grovel, be forever thankful, servile and stay mute. Billions have fallen for it over the centuries and politicians will try and emulate it what religion has done so well whenever they're able.

Then there's the more obvious 'divide and conquer'. Get the low-paid and unemployed bickering amongst themselves and blaming one another for their hardships and they aren't turning their anger and frustrations out on the Gentry and Bourgeoisie.

I just watched this, and the guy with the pad in Croydon, the farmhouse in France, and the two yachts, was certainly taking the piss whilst claiming Incapacity Benefit. They even showed the DVD he made of himself sailing the Atlantic.

I am a bit critical of the programme, for presenting as 'evidence' of Benefit fraud, people playing golf and one guy working on an allotment though. The golfing people were probably just blaggers, but the person on the allotment may not have been. He might have been, but they needed to show more evidence. Not all people on Incapacity are on it for something physical, and as part of a persons rehabilitation from mental illness, for example, a persons counsellor may suggest they do part-time voluntary work, work part time on an allotment, or something similar, in order to get back to normality. I thinks it's called 'therapeutic work'

The people out playing golf were most likely blaggers though as I say. The alloment person, possibly not. They should have told us what the person, each time, was on Benefit for, then we might have been able to establish whether they were defrauding the Benefits system by doing that thing or not.

Gordon Gekko said that money "is not lost. Merely, transferred"

It all comes back to the same thing but it does make you wonder where the world is going when you got the corruption in the police, the banks, the politicans and the dishonesty of the public.

Theres never a dull moment on planet Earth. A nice place to visit but you have no choice but to live there.