'Disabled' man showed off fancy dance moves

Sep 11, 2010

LONDON: Terence Read is the sort of person who should inspire admiration. The 61-year-old is a picture of perfect health: At a recent dance competition in Manchester, he twirled his partner on the dance floor in a routine that included the Charleston and jitterbug.

Unfortunately for him, a secret agent from Britain's Department for Work and Pensions was also present.

And for good reason: According to government records, Read can barely walk and has claimed about &pound20,000 (S$41,400) in disability benefits over the past decade.

So the dance contest ended up badly: Read was arrested and sentenced to 12 months of unpaid community service.

According to official government figures, welfare fraud costs the British taxpayer about &pound5.2 billion a year.

The biggest obstacle to fighting fraud is the fact that Britons do not have to carry identity cards; verifying their claims or even their names and residences can be difficult.

But British commercial organisations can collect plenty of personal data about people.

The country's credit agencies - used by banks and credit card companies to assess the standing and honesty of potential borrowers - hold every detail about a person's spending patterns, as well as the property he owns or rents.

So the government has now tied up with these agencies, which will be paid a percentage of any fraudulent claim they manage to uncover.

The government has also resorted to more original methods to detect fraud.

Kim Stokes, who claimed &pound15,000 in social security benefits as a single mother of two young children, forgot this tiny detail when she posted on Facebook pictures of herself with her 'hubby', with whom she claimed to be 'very much in love'.

Unfortunately for her, government inspectors also have Facebook accounts and noted her profile.

Nobody pretends that such measures will eliminate fraud, although the government hopes the amount of publicity given to these cases will deter future transgressors.

But the public remains furious about a different problem with welfare abuse: that of public housing.

Under Britain's laws, the local authorities are obliged to provide a roof for anyone who is homeless in their area, even if the person is a foreigner applying for asylum. Hundreds of thousands of such claims are made each year and the local authorities often end up housing them in hotels or expensive commercially rented properties.

The claimants carry no responsibility: The more children they have, the greater the property they are entitled to.

And, to make matters worse, some of those who get public housing subsequently sublet their property to others, and make a profit.

A National Fraud Initiative - a data-matching operation run by the government - is now designed to catch such cheats.

But the results remain insignificant: only 75 fraudsters were caught in the last three years.

JONATHAN EYAL

Spending cuts around Europe

A protester's sign reads: 'Grandpa, grandma at work, young people unemployed, no thanks'. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE- PRESSE

BRITONS are not the only ones feeling the pain in Europe. In Dublin, Athens, Madrid and Paris, it is the era of smaller government, with public sectors being pruned and welfare spending reduced. Here is a brief look at the experience of four other European countries.

IRELAND

The first to take the bitter medicine. The Emerald Isle has been called the poster boy for deficit cutting, as it has pruned spending, benefits and salaries with remarkably little resistance from its unions or people.

Its budget deficit has come down from 14.3 per cent last year to 11 per cent this year, but at a huge cost. Public sector salaries have fallen by 13 per cent. The economy has contracted.

Unemployment is now at 13.7 per cent, prices and rents are falling, and the country is experiencing brutal deflation.

GREECE

The government has been much more rigorous in slashing spending than many had thought possible. Officials from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union have been full of praise.

Civil servants have seen salaries fall and perks disappear, but unemployment is rising sharply. Households and businesses remain deeply pessimistic. Few believe that, despite all the hardship, the country can avoid defaulting down the road. Others believe the cuts have gone too far.

SPAIN

Public sector wages have been cut and infrastructure projects postponed or abandoned. The country is cutting spending when unemployment among young people is at 41.5 per cent.

Some say that reducing demand, with so many out of work, flies in the face of conventional wisdom. There are signs that the Spanish government is wobbling over the extent of its austerity package. It recently announced an extra €500 million (S$852 million) for infrastructure projects next year.

FRANCE

This week, its reforms faced a stiff test on the streets, with unions protesting against the plan to raise the retirement age to 62. President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the changes are non-negotiable.

But governments have buckled before in the country, in the face of street protests. The problem this time round is that investors will be watching for weak nerves.

A concession on pension reform could indicate that the government lacks the will to enforce the €40 billion austerity package.

BBC NEWS SERVICE