in trouble with benefits ?

starving · 8 September 2005 at 11:28AM

i had a visit from the housing benefit and i think i'm in trouble.

basically the problem was that on my bank statement for a period of 2 days my balance was in excess of £3000 by £40.

how did this come about?

well i done something silly, i'm in a desperate situation finacially, so i used credit card i still have to gamble over the internet. fortunatley i won, i was paid by cheque which i then deposited into my bank account.

next thing my incap payment went in and for a period of 2 days i had more than the £3000 that is allowed.

i then sensibly used £2000 of the money to pay back my credit card.

this has left an excess of £1000 which was then used to pay off other debts.

now the housing benefit people are investigating me.

for 3 things

a) having a bank balance of over £3000 (although this was temporary)

b) having an income (the money was won by gambling)

c) for deliberatly disposing of my income (i.e. paying my debts off)

i need some advice please!!!

they have asked me for follwing information

1) provide proof of my winnings

2) bank statements from the time the winnings were paid

3) how i have spent the money

do i have to give this over ?

on the letter it says "if you have any problems giving us this infomation or you decided you no longer wish to claim benefit call us on xxxxxx" does that mean if i decide to no longer claim HB i dont have to give over the info ?

the reason why i ask this, is because i am planning to move out soon to live with my partner so if i can avoid this grief then this is an option.

i know my infringement of the HB rules is minor, but i am really worrried as i was recently a week late with a council tax payment of £12 and was taken to court over it. so i know they will try and send me to prison over this.

NixNoo · 8 September 2005 at 11:32AM

Starving - you should have the things they've asked for - 1, 2 & 3 yes? Come clean and phone the number to explain, if you do something about it immediately they should have a log of your call and be able to give you advice surely.

Good luck and try not to panick.

LizzieT84 · 8 September 2005 at 11:40AM

I have had extensive dealings with the benefits agency including being investigated. I have always found that being open and honest is the best way to go. Someone I know was investigated but not in a bad way at all. The agency were extremely friendly throughout and just asked for the information which he was happy to hand over. He'd been earning a bit of money over the internet... dribs and drabs really. They looked it over and decided that although it was over the allowed income on the weeks it came in it didn't represent a regular income and they were quite happy to accept the person was too ill to work properly so they were quite happy to let him continue.

Of course it depends who you get dealing with it. Some like to take the rules word for word and will punish people just trying to have a little extra to spend compared to those that are genuinely defrauding the state. Others will realise there's a little bit of give and take.

If you're open and honest and cooperate fully then you really should have nothing to worry about. At the end of the day the investigators are their for the benefit of everyone and protect the system for the good of everyone who relies on it.

Lizzie

Ted_Hutchinson · 8 September 2005 at 11:53AM

If what you have written is the whole truth and the amount in excess of £3000 was created by the payment of IB then you can explain that although you are aware that IB is paid in arrears you thought reasonably that you are allowed £3000 in savings/capital and sufficient money to enable you to survive to the next IB payment.

It is generally the case that benefits are disregarded as capital for the period to which they relate. In this case the IB is paid on the last banking day for the period for which it is due, however I think that should you take the matter to appeal you will win as the amount is relatively trivial and you can explain sensibly where the money came from, how the IB caused the account to go over the allowed amount and how you have sensibly spent the money.
I think you will be able to satisfy a reasonable Decision Maker by providing the necessary requested documentation. However I can see that should you not be willing to supply the information requested they may think there is more going on that you are willing to disclose.

Fran · 8 September 2005 at 3:22PM

I would have a word with Citizens Advice Bureau or similar as they may be able to help further.

tiger · 8 September 2005 at 5:37PM

how did the know that you are in excess of 3000 for two days? are you sure you are not just assuming that they are aware of this?
2 days 40 excess ? i dont think any one will investigate you for that. i mean by the time you went to report that you have 3040 in your bank you may already have spent it.give us the full story please.

fatbelly · 8 September 2005 at 8:26PM

Hi

Don't panic - you have done nothing to infringe HB rules but that may change if you don't answer their questions honestly.

(a) £3000 is not a limit for HB - it is £16000. Where the £3000 mark comes in is that above this level of capital they assume an income (of £1 per week for each £250 slice of capital). So you have a 'tariff income' of £1 here for one week. Big deal.

(b) you are not deriving an income from gambling - this was a flutter on which you got lucky.

(c) They cannot be seriously accusing you of 'deliberate deprivation of capital' if you paid off some debts in order to get a fraction of £1 extra HB (I think it would be 65p)

Just be honest and I think this will blow over. Let us know if it doesn't.

starving · 3 October 2005 at 1:43PM

tiger wrote:

how did the know that you are in excess of 3000 for two days? are you sure you are not just assuming that they are aware of this?
2 days 40 excess ? i dont think any one will investigate you for that. i mean by the time you went to report that you have 3040 in your bank you may already have spent it.give us the full story please.

i know by checking my bank statement, and in response to an earlier reply, i went over the £3000 limit due to IB payment.

anyway today is DDay for handing in the documents so will let evryone know what happens next, thanks for tyhe help so far

imanan · 3 October 2005 at 3:33PM

im quite intrigued by this,did you tell them you had over 3,000 or did they they access to your bank account?i know they ask for proof of your account when applying for benefits but surely they dont look at it throughout the year,do they??!!

LizzieT84 · 3 October 2005 at 4:47PM

What happens if someone is on benefits and they spend 3 years losing £100 a week on horses and then they start winning £100 a week for a year. In theory they are only getting back what they have lost and they wouldn't go over the savings limit... so would the benefits agency see that as an income?

starving · 5 October 2005 at 6:02PM

imanan wrote:

im quite intrigued by this,did you tell them you had over 3,000 or did they they access to your bank account?i know they ask for proof of your account when applying for benefits but surely they dont look at it throughout the year,do they??!!

i had a visit from a lady from the benefits office who asked me to show her my bank statements to prove that i was getting incapacity benefit

in trouble with benefits ?

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