Hi everyone! I've been unemployed for a few years, and a few months back the DWP ( Ramsgate Benefit Integrity Centre) sent me a a large booklet to fill out, stating my finances, shares etc. Effectively, it was like a new claim form and I filled it out the same as I had done a few years ago. I ended up getting my benefits reduced because my shares, which I've previously declared, have gone up in value, and I received a letter from them confirming I would be deducted so much. So everything seemed sorted etc, or so I thought... A few weeks later, I received a letter from Ramsgate Benefit Integrity Centre asking me to send them 3 years worth of bank statements! Is this reasonable of them to ask this of me? How can they expect anyone to go into their bank, and ask them to print out a nearly forty pages of statements? Thanks in advance, Andy

Hey everyone. I received a letter today from DWP claiming I owe them £400. I rang them up and they said it was a Social Fund loan and it dated back to September 2011, that it was done via a Girocheque and that it was taken out so that Gas and Electricity could be payed for. I know for sure that this is not mine because I have never had any correspondence with DWP until the letter mentioned and at the time that this dates too I was 18 and beginning University and as such have not been able to even claim benefits in the first place and therefore would have not been able to make a claim for a Social Fund. They gave me the number for the Social Fund helpline so I can get in touch with them tomorrow. I have done a little research and all articles have said that I should tell them to prove that I took this loan out which I know they won't be able too for the reasons above. I just wanted to know if there are any other steps I can take? Thanks in advance

Hi all, I received a letter out of the blue requesting repayment of a social fund loan I thought had been paid off. The debt must date back to before 2003 and it was being taken from my benefit at the time I was ill. I am currently at University and have no income other than a bursary which pays off my bus fares and gives me a small income to use for food whilst on placement. That said my partner is working and we have joint claim for tax credits which I am worried they will try take money from. My partner is refusing to pay towards the debt and I have very little money to offer even though I don't believe the debt is as large as they say it is. What can I do.

Hi all, My sister attended her interview today with he DWP compliance officer. They wanted to see her because she negligently failed to inform them of her savings when she claimed benefits. I honestly think she's losing her mind because she keeps forgetting things and lands herself in trouble. She has zero understanding of the benefit rules (I'm no expert) and never knew how much savings or capital one is allowed to have before qualifying for benefits. She has worked her whole life apart from this 16 months. Anyway, the DWP want full bank statements during the period she was on benefits, theres's definitely been an overpayment. She claimed for around 16 months. She's now told me she will refuse to bring bank statements and will voluntarily offer to repay all the benefits she's received. Is this even possible ? She is now working and just wants to get on with life. She's worried they will take her to court so she just want to repay everything rather than stress. What do you guys think? Can she just offer to repay everything to make the DWP go away? She doesn't know the full amount but given her high rent , income support etc, I'm assuming it's around £17K. The whole family is stressing about this as we are worried about her wellbeing. Many thanks for any imput.

Please can anyone give me some advice or reassurance? My wife's daughter has this morning received a letter from DWP dated 26th August that her IS has been stopped as of 7th August. This was not so unexpected as she split with her partner on that date and he moved out officially on 15th August. What was unexpected was that when she called them to find out what to do about a new claim she was informed that she should not have been receiving any IS at all since they moved in together in July last year and they are reviewing her case. She must also make a fresh claim. The woman on the phone did admit that my stepdaughter had told the DWP at the time (she actually had assistance from some sort of family support worker to fill out the forms and has a benefit award letter stating 'Benefit paid for you and your partner' meaning they definitely did know) but she also said the DWP had made an error and she should have been denied IS altogether. She is disabled and has 3 dependent children all under 8 and is now unexpectedly skint as she didn't realise some of the payments she had thought were being made into the bank weren't! She now has to wait for this review to happen before she receives any more IS. To cap all that off, her recent new HB and CTB claims have also been put on hold whilst the matter is resolved, she moved into a new rental property on 16th July and still hasn't received a bean meaning she is already £1700 or so in rent arrears. Questions:- 1. How long is this DWP review process likely to take and is there any way to push for a speedy resolution? 2. Is it likely she will be asked to repay this 'overpayment' by the DWP? 3. Is it likely she will be asked to pay back some or all of the HB and CTB that she received for the previous period when they were living together. 4. What is likely to happen with this new claim for HB and CTB after the DWP review is complete? Would her HB payments be affected for the new property i.e. reduced payments? Many thanks in advance, worried stepdad and landlord!!!

Hi, I've just received a DWP letter stating they've received information suggesting I had capital over £6000 whilst claiming JSA. They are asking for my bank statements for the times I was getting benefits. I have only one concern and that is I borrowed £2010.00 over the period of one month from a kind friend and those deposits are showing on my bank statement. Is borrowing money classed as fraud whilst on benefits? Should I have told them about it? still owe some of the money. I definitely don't have anything anywhere near £6000.00 so I am not worried about that side of things. I assume when they say capital they mean money am I correct or not? This is the first time in my life this has happened to me and I am both worried and confused my stomach is churning. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I have not got anyone to talk to about it so I came on here. Has this happened to anyone on here? Thanks.

Hi Just received a note from the DWP suggesting I close my ESA (WR(contribution based )) and claim Pension Credit ( I am 63 and a half) I only receive a NI contribution from ESA plus Pension Credit so it makes sense I phoned DWP and they say if I close ESA I will not have to have any medical or take part in work related programmes I have checked with former colleagues ( at the CAB ) they confirm that the info is correct Just seems to good to be true any one had any experience of this

Thought i would post up my experience with the DWP this morning as a lot of threads on this subject never seem to finish with a solution. Last week i received one of those compliance invite meetings which i had this morning. like most people you spend the week worrying about it as their invite is sort of in your face compliance. It seems someone had taken a comment off my face book profile page and sent it to the DWP fraud hotline web page link. The allegation was that i was claming housing, council tax benefit, and ESA when fully fit This was totally bogus and malicious. The advisor at the benefit office said even the fraud team took it as malicious but as a report had been made they had to go through the motions and investigate. The result was no further action and that this happens all the time This investigation officer was polite and courteous and totally different from my previous experience with a JSA advisor. She even said i need to apply for another benefit to top up my allowance. All i am going to say is if you ever get one of these compliance letters, do not panic. Be honest and be yourself as they have seen it all before. She said if they suspected me of being naughty they would already have the information needed and that it would be a tapped interview.

Hi All DWP said I was overpaid income support for a period of 6 years and want £4500. I panicked and signed off and have been off benefits/unemployed for 2 years but DWP have sent annika and now fredricksons letters threatening legal action etc. My question is that the debt is from 2006-2012 and would like to know if this claim is partly statue barred as I am in Scotland and was told that the statue barred limit in Scotland is 5 years not 6. Can these debt collection agencies or DWP still take legal action as claim goes back 6 years. I believe the amount the DWP wants is incorrect and want to try to get the debt down to something more managable? Thanks Hopefully!

...Are they legit or has someone got access to private information and is using it? I did have a text when I applied for JSA but I have been on ESA a few weeks now and never got anything until a few minutes ago which is strange unless the system had a fault and the message was delayed. It basically said: "Your ESA has been awarded. We will confirm this by letter. We need fit notes/medical certificates in order to pay you"

Hi all, hope you can help. My sister has been invited to attend an interview with a compliance officer at the Jobcentre. I rang them on her behalf and was advised this was due to undeclared capital but they would not give me the full details. When she claimed Income Support, she forgot to mention some money in her account, over £6k and I can imagine this is the reason for the interview. She is really worried and is feeling suicidal. She has never broken the law and this was definitely not intentional given her mental state. This is the worst thing that could ever happen to her as she has suffered from years of depression and anxiety ( she is still taking anti depressants ) and has just gone back to work and signed off benefits. She also has children with special educational needs and is worried if they will be taken away and so on. My question is, if she offers immediate repayment of any overpayment, will they still take her to court ?. She is in pieces and is even considering leaving her job. Also , how is this type of interview conducted, is it the same as an Interview under caution? . I am working and not able to go with her at the interview and am worried she will have a breakdown as she can't stop crying. Any advice would be really appreciated, many thanks. Liyanne

Sorry guys but here is yet more of our civil liberties, human rights being taken for the crime of being sick, disabled and unemployed. When is this unjustice going to stop? "In today’s scary news, it has emerged that the DWP are claiming the right to enter the home of people in receipt of a variety of benefits, demand to see their ID and financial documents, and interrogate them for an hour or more. All without prior warning."..................more @ http://glynismillward189.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/dwp-demand-access-to-your-home-documents/ Is this the british values david talks of?

A close friend did not get enough points on an ESA ATOS medical in April 2013. She put in appeal forms on time, along with all the medical evidence she could. She had leg and foot issues causing mobility problems, severe gastric problems and PTSD. She got her first tribunal date on 7th January. She got all worked up, went along and found the DWP hadn't sent anyone. She was told the tribunal would be adjourned. In the intervening months she has had many hospital appointments, started specialist psychotherapy for the PTSD which has mentally made things worse, had a gastroscopy confirming her stomach issues as well as finding more issues. She has had an MRI and knee surgery and now been diagnosed with further issues requiring treatment and probably further surgery. All of these things she has supplied info and evidence to the DWP and tribunals service. Today she went for another tribunal only to be told the DWP had once again not attended. The two people on the tribunal said there were over 300 pages of evidence in her case and they couldn't read them all. They have adjourned this again. As you can imagine, my friend is now in a right state. She has turned up twice hoping to resolve this and just been sent off again. She has not been able to get any help with this appeal from her local council welfare rights who say they are too busy, though they have helped her claim PIP. She was awarded low/standard rate mobility for this, though she has been told to appeal as she only need another couple of points and they have made blatant mistakes on the medical decision. Is there anything she can do? If she hadn't turned up they can make a decision against her, but the DWP haven't turned up twice- with no reason given. Every time she has sent them more evidence, the DWP have just sent back a standard letter saying they have looked again at the decision and will not change it. How can they just get away with doing this to a blatantly ill person? It's worse than ever and she is cracking with the strain.

DWP via Dca's and debt management have been chasing an oveayment dating back to 1990. I I don't dispute there was an overpayment but that I repaid what was requested (it took 3 years!) and didn't hear anything until 2007 when contacted by dca who I stupidly paid money to until I realised they couldn't tak we court/leg loopal action. I submitted a sar with no response and a formal complaint of maladministration by dwp asking for the case to be closed. Dwp apologised for the fact that they had thoroughly searched for my file but could not locate it but clarified that the oustanding amount is left from when i came off benefit in 1996 and further payments could not be recovered. I have not been on benefit since 1990 and the payments were made whilst i was in full time employment. They stated because i had made a payment to the dca in 2007 that the case could not be closed. Due to family illness and bereavement i have only just started to deal with this due to dwp contacting me to say they are considering a dea . Is there anywhere I can go from here? DWP cannot provide any information as they cannot locate the file despite their own retention guidance stating it should be available, I don't want a dea but don't want to start a payment plan for something I think I have already paid.

Hi. I received a letter yesterday from JCP dated from 29th July saying my sick note ran out 25th and they havent received one from me but I was at my GP's on the 18th July and she gave me a sick note up until 15th August. I posted the sick note recorded delivery and have checked and it was signed for on the 25th. The only thing is, I think I sent the sick note to the wrong department but to the correct building. I will be ringing tomorrow but what if they havent and never receive the sick note I sent? Can they stop my claim? Im really worried about this and its really playing havoc with my stress levels. Any info/advice? Thanks.

Hi, I am really confused and worried about this situation - if anyone can have a read and let me know initital thoughts would be really great, I've been single since last year and been claiming council tax single person discount since we parted. I was working up until August last year and then went onto income support as have 2 very young children and found it too difficult to work/look after etc on my own. One baby 13 month,the other 2.5. The local council recently have been saying that they believe my expartner is still residing at my address, he is not, he has severe mental health issues and we went our serperate ways last year. He does however has lots of contact with the children which he visits mainly at my home (he is a little unstable to take them off on his own) I have explained this to the council but they say because his bank etc are still registered to this address, they have to assume he is still living here. This is my first confusion - how do they know who his bank is? They said they ran a credit check on him but I thought you had to get authorisation from the person whos the account holder to do this? They said they ran a credit check and found' lots of' accounts registered to this address. Bank, sky tv - that's it I think. NEXT - I get A letter from the DWP (department work and pensions) saying the need me to go over there for an interview. I must my take bank statements. In the interview they warn me that someone has 'made an allegation', has reported me. Not many people apart from close family and friends know that I am currently receiving benefits so I don't believe its anyone I know. It sounds to me like to council called up. NEXT - my ex who is currently on the local council housing register, loses his banding, so where as last week he was quite far up the list for getting a council property, he now is 'not eligible' at all. This is devastating for him as currently sofa sofing and was hoping to get sorted soon. The sad thing is the only places he can crash are people who drink and smoke a lot and being round that situation is just not good for him. I just dont understand whats going on but I feel as though they are talking to each other and rather than telling me the truth just cutting all the benefits and ex partners eligibility for housing. The thing is that my ex partner is not in a good placed, recently diagnosed with a mental disability he is struggling to cope, We are still friends and I support him as much as I can but there's only so much I can do. He desperately needs housing as it is impossible for him to live with anyone else. I feel really angry , I know they have people ripping them off and they need to make their checks that fair enough, but they know his situation and they know my situation,but they have stopped my single person discount - unnecessarily, and they have take my ex off the housing register which is unnecessary. It just all seems a little odd!?

Hi, First post and all, so if its in the wrong place, please forgive and relocate I spend 2 (Thur/Sat)days a week doing voluntary work at the salvation army, I have aranged this on my own after my Mandatory work placement, I have been there since February. I was told by the assistant I work with on Thursday that she had received a call from someone saying they where from the DWP on Monday (the day I have a interview with them) and that they where checking what days I attend and how much I claim to make sure I wasn't claiming expense twice (Not stupid enough to even try that). now of course she gave the information out which I think is a breach of the data protection act. I just want to get it all straight in my head about who was in the wrong, before I take things further. Was the DWP wrong to ask for this information knowing it is in violation of DPA ? Cheers

DWP loses at European Court http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28158483

I have been trying to locate the correct address to send a Data Subject Access Request to the DWP and I am not having much success. I am after information from all departments from past 40years maybe so not sure how I would go about ensuring that the information covered every benefit etc. Has anyone had success with this and if so, what timeframe did they go back to? Was the information legible or are they like the banks in so much as provide some but not all? Appreciate any assistance or addresses please. Shelley

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27927842 The memos say that ESA "is not delivering more positive outcomes for claimants" than incapacity benefit did. That might be because 750,000 potential positive outcomes are stuck waiting assessment and others have been scared off the system entirely The payment's costs are expected to rise by £13bn by 2018/19, the documents say, warning the increase is "one of the largest fiscal risks currently facing the government". Id be more inclined to say corperate tax evasion is a bigger fiscal risk.... The benefit is becoming a "long-term destination" for too many people, it says, and more people than expected are becoming eligible for it. Maybe that is something to do with how the disabled and unemployed are treated by the job center...... This is thought to be partly due to restrictions on jobseeker's allowance leading to an increase in ESA claimants DWP not fit for purpose

A friend of mine had a 13:00 appointment with the DWP. When he got there, he was told the appointment had been changed to 10:00. They claim to have sent him a letter, but he did not receive one (I know this as a fact - we live at the same address). Now they are threatening him with sanctions. While he was there, someone else had the identical problem and received the identical threat. What can my friend do?

Hello all, i'm new to forums and here and just looking for a little help and advice. Today after picking my mail up i have received a letter from Department for Works and Pensions, telling me that their records show i owe them just over £15,000. I was shocked and horrified, at first thinking is this some sort of joke. But the letter is short and looks genuine. the letter tells me that if they don't hear from me from a certain date for repayments they will accept this as my choice and issue no further reminder letters. The next step would be to recover the amount from contacting my employer or asking a debt collection agency. I have not been on any form of benefits for about 18 months now as i got dismayed and lost with the whole system in general a nd managed to get by where i can. I have no fixed address and not employed. Do i make contact with the DWP to resolve this by entering into a contract as to speaking to them? Is there anything they can do in my current circumstances? I'm lost and speechless at the moment sorry.

30 years ago I acquired a DWP overpayment. I was paying it back in drips and drabs. A few years ago a debt collection agency kept ringing and threatening me and demanding more and more money even though I wasn't working or signing on. After some enquiries, I found out that the debt was probably statute barred, I sent them the statute barred letter and they stopped hassling me. I am now getting letters from the DWP saying DO NOT IGNORE, you must make a payment by .... .. If we do not hear from you we will consider taking one of the following actions: a) recover this money directly through any earnings you receive via your employer; b) recover this money through the courts; c) refer your case to a private company for repayment collection. You may have to pay additional costs if this happens, and your future credit rating may be affected. I am very worried about them contacting my employer as it could affect my prospects with them. I wouldn't mind paying back an affordable amount of the money to stop them hassling me - I'm on low wages so it wouldn't be much but am worried about doing this because of reactivating the statute barred issue. Any advice greatly received.

Hi there, I hope you can help me. I am a single mum and have been since my son was 3 months old (he is now 2 years old). I claim Income Support (which is only £46 a week now as they are stopping money from it for debts), Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit as well as Housing Allowance and Council Tax benefits. On saturday I had a letter through saying I am being investigated for alleged benefit fraud and have to attend an interview under caution on June 3rd. It doesn't say what I have been accused of exactly and I am miffed. I do not know. I have thought of 3 possible reasons but I didn't think they would be benefit fraud and still don't so I don't know... They are as follows. My son's father is not allowed near us, there is a court order preventing him accessing his child (for bloody good reason!) but he does pay money into to my bank by direct transfer every week or two. He is well off and it is usually around 100 a week (when he sends it, sometimes he sends nothing for 6 weeks) but I read somewhere that maintenance money from a parent does not affect a claim for IS. I probably should have told them but I was worried they would think I was letting the dad see my child and call social services (they're the ones who obtained the court order and it took a lot to convince them I have nothing to do with the ex. Which I don't). Could the money he sends mean I have been committing fraud and not even known it??? 2) I had a girlfriend for around 10 weeks last year. She had trouble with her home situation and I let her stay with me for just over a week while she got herself sorted. She was only staying over, we weren't living together.. It was only a week.. Could it be that? Or 3) My mum is a cleaner at a nursery. She works one hour an evening there. On fridays for the last 3 weeks I have done her one hour shift (for free) while she baby sits my son as she then has him over night and it gives me a break. I didn't get paid for it I just did it so she could babysit and I got a restful sleep. It amounts to 3 hours in total and even the lady who works with my mum will say I didn't get paid and just helped her hoover and get the place tidy. Could it be that? I only did it for the first time 3 weeks ago. As far as I know I haven't broken the law. I possibly should have told them about the money from my ex but it says online that it doesn't affect a claim for IS so I didn't think it would matter... Any advice?? I don't think I have time to find a solicitor as I have no childcare and it's not going to be easy sitting in a solicitors office explaining while stopping my toddler wrecking the place..

Hi all, I hope i've posted this in the correct place, please move it if I haven't. at the start of this month I received a letter from DWP stating that I owe them around £250 (I can't remember the exact amount off the top of my head.) and that they needed me to pay this back or make an agreement to pay by the 25/4/2014. The letter said that I had previously been written to explaining why I owed the money and that was it. Nothing else on the letter. I telephoned them and spoke to a lady on the phone who said that i'd had 6 crisis loans that hadn't been repaid. I told her that I would need to see evidence of these debts before I made any payments so she reeled off a list of dates to me. (1 was in 2002, 2 in 2003, 1 in 2006, then another 1 or 2 in approx 2009-2010). She also gave me a list of the amounts but wasn't "allowed" to tell me which amounts coincided with which dates. They are all periods when I was on the 'dole' and I vaguely recollect getting the crisis loans and then no money being taken from my benefits but it was a long time ago and I had a bit of a weed problem back then so my memories of the times are a bit vague. (with the exception of the '09-'10 one as that was when my son was born.). I asked the woman on the phone why it had taken so long for them to attempt to reclaim the money as I had been on JSA multiple times since then and more to the point, why would they allow me to have multiple crisis loans at one time before others have been repaid, she just fobbed me off with some excuse that I can't remember. I stumbled upon this forum as I was doing a bit of research on a different matter entirely for a friend of mine and discovered a section about "Statute Barred" and I was wondering if this would apply for the majority of the loans. Obviously, the ones that are within 6 years wouldn't be covered by these but the majority of them are more than 6 years old and potentially should be covered. I didn't make any arrangements to pay, although I did ask for documentation of all of the money owed (which I haven't received) and I said that I would be back in touch. I have been working for approx 7 months this time around and on barely minimum wage, my rent + CSA payments take up approx 60% or more of my wages (depending on overtime worked and bonus for hitting targets) so I really can't afford to be paying money out if I don't need to be. Any help on this would be appreciated. Regards, Daro