Stupid mistake, now DWP compliance interview

[frazzledmind]

I am a pensioner and full-time round the clock carer to a close disabled relative. I receive no benefits apart from the usual state pension. The disabled relative I care for has severe care needs and is unable to work, they receive PIP and ESA.

 

Upset and frustrated by lack of interest on my life savings I started reading info on savings on the Martin Lewis website. To maximise interest it is recommended to open several of the top interest paying current accounts - which I did. I had money over so accounts were also opened in the person I care for's name (all my money, paid directly to accounts from my bank account).

 

The relative I care for has now been called for compliance interview with DWP, no reason given.

 

Could what I have done have triggered this? I didn't even know about the savings thresholds and can't believe what I have done and how stupid I have been. I feel ill, my anxiety is through the roof and I have felt ill since the letter arrived. I fully understand this was a ridiculously stupid thing to do, there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to cheat the benefits system, the benefits system wasn't even thought about!

 

We're talking about maxing out the current recommended currents acounts.

 

Could someone please advise the least damaging way to explain this to the DWP?

[frazzledmind]

Also, is it illegal to open a bank account on behalf of someone else? thanks

[Nystagmite]

You have to be honest with the DWP.

 

Compliance means they don't believe it's something overly serious. (ie, there's no real evidence you've done something wrong)

[jason2723637]

"(all my money, paid directly to accounts from my bank account)."

 

 

not an expert but common sense says the savings are yours not the relative you are caring for its just going into their account - from your bank account (as an analogy bit like having one persons benefits going into some one else's account which is permissible)

[mikeymack2002]

What you are doing to this relative is wrong. If you want to maximise your savings then you should open any financial accounts in your name ONLY.

 

Even though this is your money and you have decided to maximise it then have the decency to do so in your name only. Martin Lewis would NOT recommend using someone else's name and their financial standing to obtain interest would they?

 

Also I would suggest that you also have something to hide because your actions are NOT in the interest of the person who you care for is it?

 

Does this person even know what you have done yet? The question you should be asking is why am I opening a bank account that is in the name of someone else for financial gain. You really should not do this as it really is not the right thing to do. Then you have to consider that any interest could have tax payable on it and you wouldn't be paying it.

 

Also have you informed DWP of your other bank accounts as this has to be declared. Then if not you have failed to notify the DWP of a change of circumstances yourself. This could cause you issues if the decide to check you out too., but since you are using someone else's accounts this could of course look much more serious than it actually is.

 

Finally you may want to read up on the law regarding taking financial advantage of a vulnerable person. Then there is the code of practice for carers this you must read..

 

I to am seriously disabled and I have sacked carers for a lot less. Please consider what you are doing and make arrangements to keep your financial affairs separate from your relatives..

 

Please take note this comment I have made above is about what you are doing it is wrong and unethical it could be seen as criminal please stop. Be a great friend and carer and don't risk it all for a few measly pennies. Blood is thicker than a bank balance....

 

I will post links to my points shortly

[mikeymack2002]

Just to add a link for you as you are a carer see here >>https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/overview

 

Then read in full from the link at the bottom of this reply..

 

 

'21.2 Financial abuse the facts'

 

 

Financial abuse is the inappropriate use, exploitation, or misappropriation of

 

 

property, possessions or financial resources. This would include theft, deception,

 

 

false accounting, fraud, exploitation or pressure in connection with wills, property,

 

 

inheritance or financial transactions. It is always a crime but is not always prosecuted.

 

 

For the full explanation see here>> http://www.solihull.gov.uk/Portals/0/SocialServicesAndHealth/SLPG_21_Financial_Abuse_December_13.pdf

 

[Shoelover]

Also, is it illegal to open a bank account on behalf of someone else? thanks

 

Why did you not open it in your own name?

[jason2723637]

few things to add after reading other comments -

 

I assumed your relative KNEW you opened a bank account in their name?

 

and savings is one thing (as you mentioned savings threshold) but interest that you earn on those savings is income which is something diffrent (forgot to mention that earlier) though this income is yours not your relatives as your using their account ie "all my money, paid directly to accounts from my bank account."

[mikeymack2002]

Money laundering comes to mind as does financial advantage of a vulnerable person.

 

To be honest this is wrong in so many ways. Not only that it's a family member they are disabled and this person is taking advantage of them. If DWP find out then this could backfire on this poster and they could face investigation.. now that would be poetry in motion...

[jason2723637]

"Also, is it illegal to open a bank account on behalf of someone else? thanks""

 

btw how do you open a bank account in another's name don't you need the person (whose 2 identity documents ie passport/driv lic would be used) FIRST to give verbal consent and/or their permission to the bank in question before such could proceed?

 

unless you can do it online like a trader account

[Shoelover]

"Also, is it illegal to open a bank account on behalf of someone else? thanks""

 

btw how do you open a bank account in another's name don't you need the person (whose 2 identity documents ie passport/driv lic would be used) FIRST to give verbal consent and/or their permission to the bank in question before such could proceed?

 

unless you can do it online like a trader account

 

I dare say a carer would have access to ID. As said carer has represented themselves to be someone they are not, and I dare say it's to take advantage of an offer, then there's an offence there.

[Lapsed Workaholic]

Frazzledmind,

 

Laying aside the ethics of your actions for the moment, which I agree sounds dubious to say the least, why did you not put all the money at your disposal into the accounts you opened in your own name?

 

You say that you had money left over after opening your top interest bearing accounts in your own name. Does this mean that there was a fixed limit on the amounts you could put into those accounts? You need to be able to fully explain this and somehow justify your action.

 

I reckon the crucial question that the DWP will want addressing is whether or not your reason for doing what you have done was to prevent questions being raised about your own financial position. For example, if you are in receipt of pension credits or top-up, would the interest accrued from those accounts affect any of your own benefits?

 

I don't think your 'close disabled relative' has anything to worry about. From what you have said his/her involvement seems to have been unwitting and certainly unlikely to lose or gain by you increasing the interest on your savings. Or will s/he?

 

What you have written so far would suggest that you are being deliberately evasive. You have not said what the relationship of this 'close disabled relative' is to you. You are even being coy about identifying the 'person' as male or female. For example, do you live together as a couple without declaring it?

 

The answer to the above questions may well determine whether or not fraud has been committed. The penalty for fraud could be anything up to 10 years in prison.

On the plus side your savings should accrue as you will not be spending much of them in jail.

[mikeymack2002]

To be honest I think the lack of replies will allow this post to disappear from the front page so I will be making no further comments on this thread, time it went away me thinks?

[martin2006]

i have seen many a post in reply to peoples issues (which can appear dubious to say the least) on this site, in almost all of these replies the site team has been very quick to establish that the posters will NOT be judged for their actions.

The OP here is a pensioner who naively set up accounts, i doubt there was ever any intention to commit any kind of fraud and as the OP has said they have acted stupidly, probably only in not realising what the implications would be for the disabled relative.

 

The OP has probably now gone because of the judgemental lambasting and talk of prison received from some posters.

 

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!

 

Treat the OP as having made a silly but honest mistake and offer them help or disable your keyboard!

[Shoelover]

I think the o/p can safely not worry about prison. The compliance officer will not be remotely interested in the savings if you can proove they don't belong to the relative.

[antone]

Aye, it's just a little premature to be suggesting that the OP will be going to prison. Yes, it does appear that he or she has been rather foolish, but let's not be judgemental (it's not what we're here for - if OP wants to be scolded, there are plenty of other sites available for that) and try to keep the advice neutral and factual. And let's also not speculate about hypothetical other bad things that the OP might possibly have done.

 

That said, this doesn't look particularly good. It is definitely possible that the Compliance review has been triggered by these extra undeclared bank accounts in the claimant's name, so it's time to start sorting this out.

[frazzledmind]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

 

It's my son I care for (he's an adult). The only benefit I get is state pension, I don't receive any other benefit - I used to receive carers allowance but that stopped when I started to receive my pension.

 

The reason I opened accounts in my son's name was solely to maximise interest. The top-interest paying current accounts pay much higher interest than savings accounts/isa's. You are allowed to put between 2 and 5 thousand in them. I opened accounts in my name and had money over, when I say 'over' there's only a handful of current accounts offering good interest and only one account per name so that's why I put it in his name (approx £8 k). If you were to put that £8k into an ISA or savings account you'd get about 2% interest. Put in the top paying current accounts you can get about 5%. I had no ulterior motive other than to get good interest. I thought I was being a savy saver how wrong was I....

[mikeymack2002]

frazzledmind

 

 

Thank you for your prompt and candid reply. Yes you did not think through properly with your savings. DWP data share and often check a claimants financial standing, this includes checking the claimants credit file to see if there is any other issues, like different bank account/s and the like.

 

 

As you can clearly see now this you have now seen to have been the wrong thing to do. What may concern you is the amount of capital you have and whether or not you are above the threshold for declaring it. I am not asking for you to disclose the amount but to let you know that there is an lower limit, So I think you may need to see whether or not you have any capital you need to declare.

 

 

For your information the DWP does often check with credit references agencies to find undeclared bank account/s, this is to stop a fraudulent claim. They may then call the claimant in for an interview for them to explain what, where the money came from and so on. Please bear this in mind and act accordingly in the future.

[martin2006]

Ok frazzledmind

A quick check on the levels of savings allowed for ESA is a maximum of 6k, this is probably what has triggered the compliance check.

If you are able to show that you transferred the 8k into your sons account that may suffice and may give you a route to explaining that this was an oversight on your part and had no idea of the implications.

One very important question will be "was your son, despite his disability, aware that you had opened accounts in his name?".

How you answer this may be crucial to how they proceed.

Above all else, be honest with them when the time comes to explain.

I dont personally think you will have a major problem if its explained correctly but that is just my opinion.

It looks like its an honest mistake to me.

[Shoelover]

Which benefits is he on?

 

I think you have been niave & foolish but I don't think you intended to do wrong or cause harm.

 

Are you able to provide a paper trail to back up what you have said? If so I'd recommend you take it to the appointment with you,

[frazzledmind]

Ok frazzledmind

A quick check on the levels of savings allowed for ESA is a maximum of 6k, this is probably what has triggered the compliance check.

If you are able to show that you transferred the 8k into your sons account that may suffice and may give you a route to explaining that this was an oversight on your part and had no idea of the implications.

One very important question will be "was your son, despite his disability, aware that you had opened accounts in his name?".

How you answer this may be crucial to how they proceed.

Above all else, be honest with them when the time comes to explain.

I dont personally think you will have a major problem if its explained correctly but that is just my opinion.

It looks like its an honest mistake to me.

 

Yes the money went direct from my current account.

 

"One very important question will be "was your son, despite his disability, aware that you had opened accounts in his name?".

How you answer this may be crucial to how they proceed." Could you explain further please?

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Edited November 30, 2015 by frazzledmind
spelling

[martin2006]

Yes sure, it would look very bad if your son knew nothing about them as a credit check may have been carried out without his knowledge or permission, that has te potential to lead to fraud and money laundering investigations however innocent it may have been, is that any clearer frazzled? Its not an attempt to scare or worry you i just think you need to be aware how it might look in the worst case scenario

If he knew you were doing this its a much more favourable position to be in