Hi, A long story short, I've been on JSA for a few years, HB and CTX relief too. But now I have to pay something for CTX under new ConDem rules. I couldn't afford to and got a high court summons letter. I went to Haringey council office on day of receiving the letter and filled in a I&E and made an offer of £3.50pcm. It's now been over a month and I've heard nothing back. I don't have the money on my PAYG mobile to phone up and spend £30 listening to a robot. The date on the court summons was last Wednesday. I sent an email a week before that to Haringey Council Tax email address saying I couldn't pay, please remove £125 court summons fee as it achieves nothing except to dig me deeper into my debt hole, and to confirm that they'd received my stamped I&E form. Still no response as of today. So my question is - do I need to keep chasing this up, as I'm scared I'll never hear anything until Bob the Bastard Bailiff knocks on my door and adds even more fees to what was originally only £90 arrears? (Currently now £215 - which when you are on JSA and have £4 left each week after utilities and essentials is a damn sour joke) Or can I just wait to hear from Haringey in due course? They always tell me they've posted letters which I've never received, but I realise this is no defence should it ever come to it. They have my contact phone, email and physical address. Thanks for any advice. I'm worried because having jumped through their hoops on Work Prog and JSA, I now understand how spectacularly stoopid the people they employ are, so if I leave it and wait to hear, I'll suddenly get a letter saying I now owe £4,000. It makes me so angry [removed].

I have been self employed for less than a year and was receiving full hb during this period. When I informed hb that I have started self employment last year , I was asked to submit a business plan for the next 6 months which I did and I showed that my income is expected to rise and even treble with this plan as I will add several parts of business strategies to earn more. However after 9 months I was offered a full time job with a great earnings and I phoned them immediately to inform them of this job. I was asked if I would continue self employment to which I replied that I am not too sure depending on the new job. I also sent my contract. Now after 2 months they have written to ask for payslips for new work, bank statements, all my invoices for self employment, if I am doing both etc. I want to end my housing benefit as with the new job I got I had to stop within 2 weeks as the pressure was too much. I did not receive payslips and reg payment I owed this company 3 years ago for money borrowed from them and they have retained the money. We have now decided that instead of full time I do contract work for them on a "when needed" basis. I have worked on and off with them and still no payslips or payments. I do not dispute as I know I owe them a big sum anyway. My second problem is family wise, I have a non dependant child who loves to come and stay over every time he wants, I told her that if she decides to stay full time, she will have to disclose his earnings to the council as I am on hb but she does not want to listen and refuse to give details of any earnings. Therefore I want to stop claiming HB and CTB and work at my leisure the number of hours I want in contract and self employed. What can I do, because I am stopping my claim I dont want to provide any bank statements , I can provide them with a part final account to see my business situation but I am tired to have to report all changes all the time and I am confident I will earn enough with my biz ventures as to not need benefit. Can I stop the claim now, whats the way of stopping the claim easily without any more details request. Thank you Therefore to solve all these matters, I

Please can anyone help/advise. I have no idea what to do next. My daughter left college in August 2013. She refused to claim Benefits due to the stigma created around benefits claimants by very clever Government psychology. She said she would be looked upon as a scrounger. Since August 2013 she has been to numerous job interviews all to no avail. On some occasions she has worked for nothing (Trial) only to be used as free labour. She is devastated and depressed. I am on the minimum wage and I struggle to get by. I have supported my daughter financially since she left college but things have gotten so bad I had to force my daughter to make a claim. She very reluctantly agreed and made an appointment at the benefit office. My Daughter is a slight, very timid and nervous 18yr old. At the benefits office my daughter met her so called advisor. Her ‘advisor’ was a horrible and nasty sort of womany type thing. This nasty person spoke to my daughter like she was a piece of excrement reducing my daughter to tears in a very short period of time. My daughter then fled the building in floods of tears without fulfilling her claim, vowing never ever to go back. She felt frightened, intimidated and humiliated. This advisor seemed to enjoy what she had done and shouted after her ‘well if you don’t want to claim then goodbye’. My daughter has now said she’d rather starve than claim and is now threatening to leave home so she doesn’t cost me anything. This is quickly turning into a nightmare. Is there any way around this? Can my daughter get her rightful entitlement without having to agree to the attached terms and conditions? My daughter is always seeking work but does not feel the need to prove this. She also feels that she does not need an advisor. My thoughts are that she cannot claim anything at all unless she agrees to the attached terms and conditions. This must be wrong. I have a very large extended family, 95% of whom are working and between us we pay a massive amount of tax. I find it sad that in order for my daughter to claim a tiny, tiny minute fraction of what her own family pays into the system, she has to agree to draconian conditions and if she does not agree she will have to go begging to a food bank. This system stinks.................... Thank you. A very worried Mother.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/20/people-stripped-benefits-charged-decision I remember writing a post the other day on one of the threads, and considered writing that the government could be even more obstructive and start charging for appeals - then I decided no, they wouldn't be stupid enough to even consider it, and I was wrong......

Hi I have received a court summons today for the 11 march for a court hearing for benefit fraud. I really am petrified Nd don't know what to do I cannot afford a solicitor I'm really struggling to live and already paying back the overpayment .... I owe 5000 income support I'm paying 20 a week bAbk and 5600 housing benefit and council tax I'm paying 18 a week back ... It offers A early plea of guilty but I don't know what to do can someone help me fill in the form? It also says the fine will need paying on the day but I have no money!!! Will I go to prison I have four children and did commit this commence but the circumstances were the reasoning know this is no excise and I am truly sorry I don't know what to do please help me I'm going out of my mind

...no mention of Council Tax Benefit (yet). This will make the bedroom tax look benign in comparison! Lose your home at the stroke a low-paid jobcentre worker's pen, with ramped-up sanctions targets to meet or the jobcentre worker is also out of a job. Mass homelessness for 100000's possibly millions of people. http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/part-time-workers-to-face-housing-benefit-sanctions/#comments

Hi, Im a little worried on whether i need to declare my partner to WFTC and CHB if i do this does anyone know what will happen? Will my money stop?, Will they want to know his income?, will there be a history check? Has anyone been through this situation, if so can you give me some advice. Thanks Emma

Five disabled social housing tenants have lost their Court of Appeal bid to have benefit cuts for those with spare bedrooms ruled unlawful. Judges said the court could not intervene in the government's "controversial" housing benefit changes - dubbed a "bedroom tax" by critics. Lawyers for the group had argued the regulations applying in England, Wales and Scotland failed to reflect the accommodation needs of disabled people. They said they planned to fight on. The court also ruled against two lone parents who claimed the government's cap on the total benefits paid to families violated human rights laws and common law because of its impact on vulnerable families. More ...

Hi All, I need some help. In October 2011 our rent at our privately rented property was increased. Unfortunately our landlord wouldn't give us a new contract which is specifically states in the regulations for Housing Benefit we need to produce to amend our records. As we couldn't obtain this document we decided we would rather underclaim what we was owed and keep our payments the same. Big mistake!! In September 2012 my wife started part time employment of 6 hours a week term time only which was perfect around dropping our 2 girls to school. When we recieved the wage slip we notified HMRC to correct our Tax Credits, when this document came through detailing all her employment details we took this to the local council to scan a nd send to the Benefits Dept for Housing Benefit and issuing us with a receipt. Our benefit changed slightly but not as much as we expected and we thought that is great that the government are actually supporting young families getting back to work. We continued along until the following April when I myself was organising a huge community event which attracted 15000 visitors and bringing tens of thousands of pounds into the local economy. In March I was acculmating a large amount of documents for the event and had a big clear out, which we got rid of a lot of old documentation including the receipts as I believed as it was some 7-8 months old we wouldn't need it and if there is a problem, the council would have copies. In April we received the renewal document from the Housing Benefits to our year ahead. At the time just weeks before this event I was under huge pressure from the council to meet all the safety criteria, I overlooked this letter somewhat and assumed that the local council had inputted all the data correctly into their system. A few weeks after the event, my wife got her hours increased. This was great and really helped us out financially. When her new payslip came through again we notified HMRC and the local council. We then got a letter from the local council asking for more information. As we have always done previously this was returned promptly as we have always provided them with everything they've asked. It now became apparent the original documents we provided for them were never received and didn't get from the front counter to the relevant department, not only this there was now no trace of any receipts to support my story. A secret investigation was launched where letters signed by a "Fraud Investigator" was sent to our employers, I'm sure you can imagine what opening a letter signed by that would cause in a place of work? I was invited to a formal interview which I had to take annual leave for, the day before the meeting, having all this stress over Christmas, one of the investigators phones to say the person doing the meeting has to rescedule to due personal commitments. I refused this and the interview went ahead later the next day that originally planned, allso to top it off one of the investigaters arrived 30 minutes late (I like to know what would have happened if I was that late). It became apparent they couldn't prove or disprove we provided the information so instead focused on me overlooking the renewal form. Which I admit in hindsight was foolish of me to accept the council would input the data correctly which lead to an overpayment of £2000. We spoke with CAB who confirmed the overpayment but our Housing Benefit had been stopped and CAB said this shouldn't have been as we still qualify. It also became apparent that our change in benefit after we notifed the council was because HMRC notified them of a change in our circumstances but unlike on every other occasion they decided not to act on this occasion. Because of ironically a large back payment from the council and some support of our in-laws we was able to pay the overpayment back in full rather quickly, and this was something the Investigator said would go in our favour. I have now received a response from their investigation saying they now want to fine me an additional £1000 for my error. I admit openly I should have paid more attention to the renewal form, however the same council was placing me under huge pressure at that time for unrelated topics and I also feel the council should shoulder at least half the responsibility for the overpaymen t in the first place as they was made aware by both ourselves and HMRC and failed to act. The stopping of Housing Benefit brought the family to its knees and caused us to rely on my now maxed out credit card to pay for our food and every penny we had and what we can borrow went on paying off the outstanding as fast as we could on the advise on the investigators. I'm worried this further fine will cause of even further financial hardship. Are the council right or can I do something? I can't fight this as the CAB put us onto a solicitor who said we don't qualify for legal aid as we are both working and wanted hundreds of pounds to just attend the formal hearing. HELP?

Hi, i'm new here, so please bear with me. I probably haven't put this post in the right thread, benefit fraud, so will look there if its moved. I just can't seem to see how to start the thread in there. So, as per u tube I have stuffed it here. Its been almost two years since I was called into dwp office (not under caution). They said they had a flagging system in place that tells them when someone has more savings than supposed to. I believed the amount was £16,000, as my mother had mentioned this. how did their flagging system not tell me at £6,000? So anyway, I have severe crohns disease with medical (liquid feed pump) tube through abdomen into stomach as its very bad and I've had a lot of intestine removed. I have this going for 20 hours per day and I can't move around with the pump as it weighs 5kg. I've had crohns since childhood and am now 50 years. I also have arthritis of many joints, and also mental health problems. I suffer extreme fatigue and muscle weakness due to copious amounts of loo visits and also vomiting. Anyway, I live in rural areas and the hospital is a 100 mile round journey, but i'm pretty much housebound. I receive full DLA and ESA and live on my own. I saved £20,000 for a campervan with loo to allow me at least to get to appointments as I cannot go on public transport due to my condition. So I confessed this to DWP lady, and she phoned me up the next week and said adjudicator said I could use the money to go and buy one. Well, due to my health this took 4 1/2 months to do. problem is I just can't get out the house and stay out. its physically impossible. I mean I would love too but.... They did however stop all my benefits and Council demanded money back immediately, so there went quite a bit of my savings. I had to live on the money and pay rent/council tax in the mean time. Actually it was my mental health support worker who phoned me up and said there looks to be a suitable one just a mile away. Naturally I went to see it and bought it as it was suitable, if a bit old! so having bought it I could sign back on. Now, I did appeal against the overpayment, because it says you can. My 'appeal' went to Glasgow twice. took 16 months! in the end dwp workers who refuse to communicate anything on the case gave me glasgows number. I phoned them and they only deal in Scottish cases. i'm in Cornwall. I was very upset. obviously my physical and mental health had suffered badly enough. It doesn't help to be sensitive does it? wish I could be an uncaring WTF attitude person, but i'm not. So I wrote a strong letter to dwp and complained at the way they were handling this. I had sent a lot of evidence in as to why I saved and of course thought it necessary to save for something suitable to my disability. I simply cannot squat in a country lane anymore. my joints won't allow this, I can be on a loo for up to an hour at a time, its illegal to pee and poo in public, also its probably indecent exposure too. But moreover, i'm vulnerable. Its scarey being in that state in public. Also due to the physical joint issues with muscle weakness and the medical stuff attached I just can't change my clothes in an ordinary car if I've thrown up, the feed has leaked all over me, or I need to change my clothes because of an ooopsie. I'm afraid they do happen. I hate to bang on about this, but actually by not allowing me to save all my money for a disability aid, and earners can save what they like for their needs, I feel breaches my human rights. I listed my human rights, like not allowing others to see my body when I don't want them to, private life, humiliating and degrading experience, but they don't want to understand that. They still demand every penny back. However, one other point I am contesting is that I received a letter from the debt management team that states that 'in some cases you may not have to repay it, for instance you thought you could have it and spent it'. yes, I spent it because they told me I could. This I got verified by a lady at CAB. I didn't want to misunderstand the phonecall about the adjudicator, so didn't touch my money at all, expecting them to have frozen my account, until I had got it verified by someone else. I am more than capable of misunderstanding what is being said, or written, etc due to mental health issues and strong painkillers and fatigue. I had a tribunal in Plymouth, which I so tried to get too, but unfortunately was experiencing a very bad day, one which I would not normally have gone out the house in case i'm a danger to others on the road. So I phoned and explained and they postponed it. Later another appointment was made, but that was cancelled because dwp had not complied with evidence required by the judge. so now i'm waiting all over again. stress! stress! stress! So, I would like your opinion on the letter that states I may not have to give it back. is this legally binding or are they allowed to discriminate as to who gives money back and who doesn't? Do you think I will end up in court, i'm so worried, what if I go to jail? really crucifying my mind over this. it has exacerbated my health believe me. I feel like suing the sods at dwp! , I wish I knew people to communicate on this subject but I really don't know many, and they don't want my worries on top of theirs too. I also wish i'd found this forum a couple of years back. just to add to my worries I now have another form from atos who didn't need to see me last year, and dwp had written to my doc cos its in my medical records so they do know my actual health. I know I get 15 points on both physical and mental aspects. is it a yearly form to fill in or what? Now I just need to worry that I've written too much for you to want to bother with, but if you have, i'd just like to thank you. luv Diane

hi it's a bit of a complex situation. I split up with my husband three and a half years ago and moved out into a rental property. I had to pay my rent and our mortgage as he wasn't working. He wanted to keep the house and I was trying to be a nice person as I knew he didn't want to split up. Our arrangement at the time was that he would get a job and take over the mortgage which would free my income to pay my rent and bills. I took our youngest son with us. After a year and a bit it became apparent he was still not getting a job. It became impossible for me to manage paying my own rent and bills and his/our mortgage. I went to the council at least three times and practically begged them to house me. They refused saying I owned a property. I explained I did not want to live back there because we had split up and they said they couldn't help me. Financially I had no option but to move back into the marital home. I have my own bedroom and use one sitting room. he has another bedroom and use of the other living room. As soon as my circumstances changed, I notified tax credits that I was moving back in but we were not reconciled and we were not a couple. I also wrote to the Council Tax department, querying would I need to pay full council tax as when I was on my own in my flat I had the benefit of having a 25% reduction due to being single wage earner. I explained I didn't really feel it was fair I was now going to be liable for a higher rate of council tax in a property I could not make full use of due to us being split up. Council tax told me they would split our council tax 50/50 and I would be liable for half. I thought this was fair and said thank you. Since then I have claimed our youngest on my tax credits. We haven't claimed him twice, not has my husband claimed him as a non-earner, which would potentially have got us more money if we were committing fraud. We've been reported by a family who hate us because they are trying to get my daughter's baby taken off her (they are her ex boyfriend's parents). My husband had an interview a few weeks ago and now I have received a letter asking me for interview under caution, stating they have reason to believe I may have 'aided and abetted' a fraudulent claim! We have completely separate bank accounts and have notified each agency every step of the way that the only reason we are forced to live in the same house is because neither of us can afford to rent privately and the council won't house either of us because they just say we own a home we can live there. I feel like they have told us to live together, and are now trying to say we're committing fraud by living together! We are both dating new partners and have dozens of witnesses to the fact that we do not have a 'relationship' of that kind. I even took my new partner to my granddaughter's christening recently. Although I KNOW I have not done anything wrong, I am still worried about the interview under caution as anyone getting such a horrible letter would be. I am afraid if anyone believes such allegations I will lose my job. I already resent my husband because I keep pushing him to get work as I struggle to keep everything together financially on my own, but he has never given me any of the unemployment benefit he gets and I would have paid full council tax if the council's response to my letter had told me I had to. We cannot sell the house for at least another year as our youngest son is still at college and when I consulted a solicitor they said a judge would not enforce sale of property until youngest is out of full time education. We have also had problems with our daughter which has meant I have had to try to put off discussing things like divorce until now. I have sent him emails asking him to file divorce paperwork as he is unemployed and it would be free for him to do so whereas I would have to pay about £400 which I just don't have. Does anyone have any idea of the sort of thing they will ask me? and any advice gratefully accepted. thanks.

Please can someone tell me how much housing benefit I could recieve if say I found a bedsit studio flat with 1 bed and I'm a single person claiming JSA in London

I have just been awarded ESA WRAG with a 12 month prognosis based on mental health. I am likely to appeal for support group. Unfortunately i may not be able to live with my dad for too much longer as his girlfriend is pressuring him to sell up and move in with her before the end of the year. If this happens would i only be entitled to the shared accommodation rate of housing benefit (~£67 a week where i live)? Due to severe soial anxiety any form of shared accommodation wouldn't be viable. If this is the case then there would be a shortfall of about £30 per wek between that amount and the lowest available properties; though if i were to get support group (far from assured even though i believe i have a good case) then with the enhanced disability premium added that would be £22.55 added which would make it manageable (i know that some landlords won't house benefit claimants but that's a problem for another day). Thanks for any help.

I was claiming DLA for bipolar disorder. i have been working for DWP too. I got interviewed under caution by fraud department in the summer. I have now been summons to appear at the magistrates court. they say I failed to report changes of circumstance. Looking at it now I can see things changed, but I didn't complete the form, I just signed it, my mum filled it in. So I had no idea what was on it. I am appealing the DLA decision, trying to get at least lower. I suffer with depression and mania, and am suicidal. does anyone have any idea what will happen, what kind of punishment I will get. If I get a criminal record, I will never get my life back on track. I about to be sack from DWP too, losing my house because I'm bankrupt, and we can't afford to stay on one wage. I am so frightened and need some advice. I'm seeing a solicitor on Thursday. Its for about £7500, overpayment from Jan 2012 to July 2013, I started paying back this month.

I received a letter today from a benefits fraud officer regarding my student income. I contacted my local housing benefit department some time ago informing them that I was intending to commence a course as a Student Nurse and I was told that this would make no difference to my claim as I have 3 dependants. I was also informed by the tax credits office that I did not need to declare my change in circumstances as I am a student and not going into full time employment. Please could you advise me on what I should do as I am very concerned that the information that was given to me was inaccurate, the last thing I want is to get into any trouble and I am worrying myself sick with this as this is something that would prevent me from becoming a nurse. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Kindest Regards Mandy

Hi Folks New on this forum so forgive me if I am asking something that is a well trodden post. Lets set the story so far: About a year ago I had a patchy employment history, first year of self employment an all. So I was signing on and off JSA and Housing Benefit like a yo yo. Anyway I had been defering payment, a dca was after me for the money, I disputed the money with the debt collector and now its been passed back to the council. I have written to the council requesting a breakdown of the housing benefit which they have oblidged. Having looked at the amounts and weighed my options I have decided to pay. Can anyone show me a suitable template letter to ensure they cancel any negative remarks on credit reference agencies and come to a final settlement? Eg not adding on dca or other legal costs. Ankh

Hello to everyone on this site and I hope someone can give me and a friend some much needed advice. I am a landlord of a property and have rented my property out to a women who has 2 children since 2001.I was very good friends with her step father who I have known for 20 years. The property was pretty run down and as I have been on a low income for a number of years agreed to let my friend keep up the maintenance on the property in return for a lower rental charge. I have a small business and he agreed to turn the garage into a storage/office space for me with the agreement that I paid for all of the materials. I visited the property regularly and my friend often came down to the office to chat and have cups of tea etc. In 2012 the lady complained of Rats getting into the property through the kitchen that had not been renewed for years and asked if I would renew the kitchen as she was terrified as were her children . I agreed and again my friend did some of the work along with a friend of mine from where I lived. Over this time I got to know the lady a little more and we got on quite well and we started seeing each other socially. In this time that I had got to know her it came to my attention that she had some issues around cleanliness and she opened up to me about her mental issues that had been on going over 20 years. This was centred around being obsessive with various things and being a hypochondriac It turns out that she had been thrown out of three doctors in the last year and was taking tablets like they go out of fashion. Through all of this a quite liked her and felt for her with these issues and our socialising grew and we were seeing each other more and more. We spoke about living together but as she had 2 children and these issues I was unsure although we got on quite well her son lived in the property and was unwilling to contribute to any of her bills etc even though he was working. I suggested that she asked to help or move out and he chose to move out. She had informed the Social security that he was living their and the lady had to find extra money to put towards the council tax payment, again he would not contribute so he moved in with his grandmother. I stupidly agreed to stay at the house as she was scared of staying their with her younger daughter with no man in the house. I used her sons bedroom and helped her out financially when I could although she was responsible for her bills etc.. This went on for over a year and I then insisted that she had to gain work if our relationship was to continue. She gave out 50 CV`s and her metal history kept being a barrier to her finding work.One morning bang bang on the door and in came the police etc.We were taken to the police station and interview seperately under caution where we both gave the same staement (the truth) and subsiquently 6/7 months later the DWP have written to her saying she has had an 8,600 overpayment and she has to pay it back. We dont know if they are going to prosecute on top of this and she is worried as she has no money and is struggling to find employment because of ther mental state.She has sen numerous doctors etc about her condition and is on lots of medication.She even failed the drugs test in the police station. My character is very good as my work is working with disabled young people and ex offenders with re-abillitation. We were silly and i should have known better than to stay at the property although i spent most of the week at my own house.She is petrified and inconsolable and although she has Recieved this letter is still worried they will proecute her. I am also unsure if they will prosecute me futher down the line.Any advice or help would be a massive help to us.

I came across these figures. Benefit fraud may be a pain in the backside. However there is a need to keep things in perspective. Interesting figures; £120 billion-tax avoided, evaded and uncollected (Tax justice and PCS estimate) £30 billion-tax avoided, evaded and uncollected (HMRC estimate) £16 billion-benefits unclaimed (HMRC estimate) £1.4 billion-benefits overpayments due to error (DWP estimate) £1.2 billion-benefit fraud (DWP estimate) So why do our newspapers and politicians concentrate their firepower and venom upon benefit fraud?

I just went in for a compliance interview baffled, and was shocked that someone has accused me simply for having a boyfriend. In this day and age they actually think if you are seeing someone then they are financially responsible for you whilst you are looking for a job!!! I am actually living with my dad but stay over with my boyfriend a few times a week which apparenhtly means I am breaking the law. I know it's my dad's ex girlfriend who has a grudge against me, she promised to ruin my life and has tried all sorts. In the interview, out of the blue, the officer told me I should be spending my benfit money helping my dad more with his bills not spending it on myself. Are they allowed to tell you how you spend your JSA? The fact she said that suggests for sure it is my dads ex making the allegation as its what she would mention. I was also asked if me and my boyfriend ever go on holiday, what right do they have to ask that? As it happend we haven't been since I have been looking for a job but we used to a lot, another thing my dads ex would have brought up. Does anyone know......will they now follow me or `monitor' my boyfriends house to see how often I go there? Will they come and search the premises? I'm a newly qualified social worker so I desperately can't afford to get a criminal record. I am adamant that I do not actually `live with' my boyfriend, the fact is, all the bills are in his name, the tenancy agreement, all my post goes to my dads and I have a dog who is not allowed at my boyfriends and is on the tenancy agreement for my dads place. My boyfriend doesn't provide for me even one penny, so as far as I am concerned I am innocent but will they see it like that? I'm worried sick.

I am a 25 years old student whom been accused of fraud by claiming housing benefit and receiving student loan as well. Let me tell you my story and I am completely been honest here. I only been in the UK for more than 8 years ever since I left my country for a reason I do not like to share it here, I started uni in 2009 to 2010. In my second year I moved into a new property in late 2011 during the summer I clamed for housing benefit. I am a disable student I have dyslexia I have a problem with reading and writing. Somehow when I made my housing benefit I missed out that question where it asks me where there I receive housing benefit or not. I was working part time and I was not aware of that full time students are not entitle to receive housing benefit and I do not have to pay council tax. I have been paying the shortage of my council tax for more than 2 years. Now the department of fraud has found out that I was receiving housing benefit as well as receiving funds from student loan. They are now putting me in trouble by accusing me that I have failed to declare or informing housing benefit. I am really scare as they might consider me as criminal I have never committed a crime in my life. If they consider this as a criminal record there here you they will spoil my life as I wont be able to find a job and no one will employee me. I appreciate if someone could advise me what to do I am really stressed out, I don’t know what to do I cannot even study. If things will not turn out in my favour I will be stock on Job seeker allowance for the rest of my life. Please if you have any information about this kind of nightmare situation please help me any advice will be crucial. Thank you

HI. I just received letter from council saying my HB was overpaid from 2010(!). How they can do this? I always keeping them inform about my incomes. (ive got all documents with their stamps with dates). In 2011 I was taken to Tribunal because they said they overpaid from 2009. Now they trying charge me again for this period. Please can anybody tell me how is it possible - maybe Im wrong. How many times they can charge me for 1 period? and how long back they can get with overpayments? I just want add - I call council and they said that somebody probably didn't put details proply in past. their mistake (as before:() Many thanks

So a year ago I was taken to investigation for benefit fraud. Told them that I had obv made a mistake was very young I did write them a letter but never followed it up. Was to stressed to open letters and due to having no money in the house ended up taken a part time job to support my mam who I care for which is why I was claiming cares allowance. The over payment is 5400 in total which im paying back. I have a solicitor who has told me they dont have enough evidence and to plead not guilty to dishonesty and failure to notify a change im circumstances. I eent to court on Tuesday to have it agurned for 3 weeks while my solicitor writes to theres to try and get an administration charge rather then takem it through courts they agreed and have bailed me. Im so worried what are people's thoughts on what could happen next??

Today, totally out of the blue. I've received a letter from the council titled: Suspension of housing benefit and council tax support I'm currently on ESA for mental health issues and have no reason as to why they would suspend my housing benefit? The letter reads, I refer to your claim for housing benefit, I must inform that your claim has been suspended on **********. This is because we require a full update of your current circumstances? My letter also includes me to return the following that apply to myself; Proof of Earnings Non-Dependant Income Proof Of tax credit Proof of employment and support allowance Proof of all Capital I'm really confused as to why this has landed on my door and for what possible reason? Maybe it's my illness kicking into over drive, but it's really got me worked up? Nothing has changed, I'm still the same as I was when I first claimed. The only change I've made to my claim; getting the payments paid to me and not my land lord which was completed the week before xmas, I received a cheque. Please help me regards

Good Evening all, I am new to this forum but wish I had found it years ago! Some fantastic advice on here... I will explain my situation and if anyone can offer any advice or help it would be much appreciated... Sorry its complex! I am an NHS student and receive a bursary while I am training. My husband and I started a business in April 2012 after he was made redundant about 6 months earlier and found it impossible to get any work. We have children whom we pay for childcare for. We are in receipt of HB CTB CTC and WTC. After the first year of business we just about broke even (£600 profit) before any salary could be taken for either of us. At a meeting with our accountant before she prepared our books she advised that one of us account a notional salary from the business. It was decided that £5200 would be accounted through the books for my husband. We were to receive nothing in cash as the company simply had no cash. This was basically to use some tax allowance for that financial year and the money would be drawn in a future year where the company was able to pay something but against the tax allowance for 2012/13. This appealed to both of us as we are hoping to get a mortgage after I qualify and it would mean that the books wouldn't be accounting one larger sum in a single year - instead it would be split over the books for two years. We decided that it seemed sensible but I said that I would have to check with HB, my bursary, tax creds etc first... as we wouldn't actually be getting any money from the business we could not afford for it to affect any bursary or benefit as we wouldn't be able to meet our outgoings. I phoned all relevant places and was advised by all that if we were receiving nothing in cash then it wouldn't affect anything. tax credits were the only place that advised that it would be accounted but said as it was below £6000 it wouldn't affect the amounts we received. Now fast forward to October 2013... I was asked to provide the profit and loss for the company 2012/13 which I did and they responded saying two things... That the profit and loss showed that I wasn't a director of the company - I am and have provided proof of this, only one director has to be named on the profit and loss That my husband received a salary of £5200 I disputed this and yet again told them that it was notional and that we did not receive any cash as the company was only £600 in profit. They then asked me for all tax credit award notices since 2012 - I have these and am taking them to be scanned on Monday but they show the notional salary of 5200. I am unsure of what they are trying to establish but have a horrible nagging feeling that the notional salary should have been used in calculations (simply because it is for tax credits). I know I have definitely discussed it with people in the processing centre but as it was brushed off as unimportant have never followed it up. Anyone any stance on this... as they are dating back to April 2012 they are wanting £7000 back???? Do HB record their calls as I feel this is probably the only way I can prove that I have discussed this. Laura

I have received a letter asking me to attend an interview under caution in relation to a benefit fraud. Alledgedly living with someone as husband and wife and fraudently claiming income support and housing benefit. I am a single mother to 5 children and do not live with anyone. The childrens father does visit my home regularly, almost every day. He is here to see his children and helps me get them to bed at night because first and foremost he wants to be a good father and secondly because 2 of our 5 children have disabilities and it is incredibly hard for me to deal with, I have no family nearby to help so he is my only source of help at all. He makes no financial contribution to my home apart from paying child maintainence as he was instructed to do so by the CSA. The only thing that may we may be doing wrong, but I am not sure hence asking for advice, is that he pays my rent directly from his account to my landlord every month. The majority of this sum is actually he mainitainence, the remaining sum I then give to him cash so he is not paying more than he should be and my rent is covered. We do this because I am not always able to get into town to deposit the money into my bank account, by him paying it direct I have one less thing to worry about and find time to do (which would ultimately result in me paying my rent late). He does visit our home a lot as I have said, one of the children with a disability only sleeps a few hours at night and never sleeps before midnight. He would help me bath the children and get them into bed, he would then let me go to bed for a few hours and get some sleep. Once our child falls asleep he would wake me to tell me that he is leaving, sometimes this could be 3am. I understand that to someone outside the home this may look like he lives with me but all the bills in my home are in my name and paid by me (aside from the rent which I have explained), he contributes nothing except the CSA money. I would appreciate some help in telling me how the investigation is likely to go once I have given them my explanations. Thanks