HELP What is a customer compliance officer @Job Centre

lesandflynny · 3 May 2008 at 3:03PM

Hi...

Friend is very worried about a letter so I wondered can anybody help ....

she got a letter today "Invitation to office interview" then goes on to say

"we need to see you to discuss a query that has arisen concerning your claim to benefit. It is essential that you attend this interview as it may affect your benefit................. the rest of the letter looks standard and asks her to bring id

Facts: She was self employed and has only recently (1 month) claimed income support... only just in receipt of payments etc she is driving me mad worried....

Anybody any ideas what these letters are, are they standard... what is a customer compliance officer etc etc.

vicki_b · 3 May 2008 at 3:55PM

a lot of people have reported that this is just routine however i got called into a customer compliance officer meeting+discovered my neighbour had tried reporting me....

sarebear_2 · 3 May 2008 at 4:40PM

my husbands compliance officer visit was because someone had reported him foe benfit fraud .:mad: luckily for us it was total rubbish. Good luck with it.

lesandflynny · 3 May 2008 at 6:22PM

Has anybody else been invited to a meeting with a customer compliance officer.... what are their roles, there is no way she can be questioned for fraud, so could there be another explaintation??

Thanks

kelloggs36 · 3 May 2008 at 6:35PM

It is a fraud investigator. If it is a case where they were considering prosecution they would be interviewing her under caution, but that doesn't look like it will be the case here. It sounds like there is something not quite right about her claim, or there are suspicions about it and they want to interview her about it to determine whether she has a legit claim or not.

lesandflynny · 3 May 2008 at 9:57PM

Thank's.... I have passed on all info and have suggested she phone them.

She cannot imagine what suspisions they might have but I have tried to re-assure that if she has nothing to hide not to worry.

It is a very blunt letter and I know these things tend to make people worry. I remeber my Nan getting something about bailiffs & court action from the LA. It turned out she owed them 83p (their mistake in calculating her DD payments) but she never slept for nights until she confided in her daughter who immediately called and resolved things (oh, yes she gave them a roasting for intimidating older folk too (;>)

Ciao x

lilac_lady · 4 May 2008 at 2:49PM

vicky b said that her neighbour had reported her. How do you find out who reports who? Thought it was all confidential?

healy · 4 May 2008 at 3:42PM

lilac_lady wrote: »

vicky b said that her neighbour had reported her. How do you find out who reports who? Thought it was all confidential?

I dont think you can find out who reports who. It is all confidential. I dont know what happened in vicky bs case maybe she guessed or the Compliance Officer let it slip.

dippy3103 · 17 May 2008 at 10:23AM

It is confidentail who made the report- they are very often anonymous anyway.

ronson49 · 15 April 2009 at 2:38PM

Im opening this bad boy up from the dead.

I would like to share my experience of this as i did come to this exact post (via google) and it didnt answer my questions yesterday.

Today, having been for my interview. It turns out that complience officers are essentially fraud investigators. However lets make it clear that they are not. They are there to inform you of the legality of your claim to make sure you are not commiting fraud knowingly.

Lets take for an example, A Male and a Female living together in a flat. One of them works full time the other does not. This male and female must be judged by the job centre that they are not living a life similar to that of a married couple or civil relationship.

In other words, its not the job centres job to prove you ARE a couple, it is your job to prove to them that you are NOT a couple. You might be staying with your cousin, or perhaps your male friend... You need to prove you are not gay as well.

I do not understand how to prove otherwise. If Boy A and Girl B share the livingroom then that seems to be classed as similar to a married couple. If that is used against you then you have no leg to stand on surely? I mean, i cooked dinner for 6 friends in Uni so automatically the job centre would class me as a Gangbanger with multiple relationships.

So it seems the only thing left for Boy A is to move out and be alone otherwise Girl B will need to pay for Boy A's upkeep..... It is crazy.

So back to the topic,

They will explain to you the law and give you time to think about it, if you are sure you are ok, then you proceed to the next interview stage where you are questioned and a statement is sent to a descision maker. Following the above story "Hmm do i think Boy A and Girl B are in a relationship?" and if they decide you are then your benefits are stopped.

At any point in the process, you could change your cicumstances, stop claiming, find a job and so on. You are allowed to appeal the descision one time only.

So is there anything to worry about? Well not from a legal point of view, If i refuse to comply then it prob will end up a fraud investigation (same power as the police apart from arrest). However, if you comply and are found to be incorrect by the end of the process, then you will lose your benefits.

In my case, it seems i have no way to prove i am not a couple so as i write this my future has went from bad to completely dire. Cant expect the flatmate to pay for me being unemployed so it seems come the end of the month, ill be pretty much homeless with not a penny to my name.

Thanks for the help Job Centre Plus

hanny83_2 · 15 April 2009 at 4:23PM

Jobcentreplus look at much more than whether a boy and a girl share a living room together when deciding if two people are LTAHAW/CP. All sorts, from what neighbours make of their 'relationship' to bank accounts and loads of other things. Jobcentreplus recognises that mixed sexes live together purely on a flatshare basis.

Also, we can get the Police to make arrests on our behalf if we need to get someone in for an IUC who is refusing to do so.

HELP What is a customer compliance officer @Job Centre

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