Housing Benefit - Worried Sick

sephrenia

Hi all,

My hubby (t!t that he is) didnt declare that I had worked for three months this year to the housing benefit people and now they've called him in for an interview about it and told him to bring a solicitor. He doesn't seem too worried about it but I'm worried sick because without housing benefit we can't pay the rent and there isn't anywhere we could move to.

I know I should have been keeping an eye on the finances but I trusted him with all the financial stuff because I'm a full time uni student as well as us having two kids together which leaves me knackered half the time so please don't tell me off because I'm doing a good enough job of that myself!

It doesn't help that my stepdaughter (his daughter with his ex) has moved in with us and is at college as well so we're overcrowded to heck and if they get heavy handed we will be well screwed financially to the point of going bankrupt.

Any advice anyone can give? Would we be able to offer to pay back the overpayment but still get housing benefit even at a reduced rate? would we still be able to apply for a council house or would they laugh at us?

all replies gratefully appreciated

dmg24

They will not stop your HB, but they will make a small deduction from this to pay towards your overpayment. You should also be aware that they may apply an administrative penalty (a fine in effect), which will be added to the overpayment.

How old is your stepdaughter? Have you advised them that she is now living with you?

Try not to worry too much, but from now on make sure that you are all completely honest with them.

nissan25

Just explain it was an oversight and you are prepared to repay the overpayment in instalments.

Be sure to be honest as they will verify with your employer how long you worked for them and your earnings during this period.

They will then recalculate your entitlement leaving you to pay the overpayment.

(If you / or your husband were in receipt of any other benefits during this period you will have to declare it to DWP as the local authority will and this could be misconstrued as fraud with them too)

sephrenia

Thanks for the replies! I've told him exactly what you guys said and he's going to explain and offer to pay in instalments and hopefully this will all get sorted out

Seph
xx

Conor_3

He would do well to heed the advice about taking a solicitor. He will be interviewed under caution. Depending on how long they think you've been working and whether they think your husband did it deliberately, he can find himself being charged with benefit fraud. However, if he holds his hands up at the first opportunity and offers repayment, it should go no further. It's not in the councils' interest to rack up the expense of pursuing this when the benefit recipient is willing to reimburse the loss.

sephrenia

Thanks for the reply conor,

hubby dearest didnt do it deliberately, he did genuinely forget. He has a problem with his memory after receiving a heck of a kicking from some BNP thugs a few years ago when his neice married a Kosovan and that has led to him forgetting some stuff and not others and then forgetting the first stuff but remembering the second etc although, it is unusual for him to forget something as important as this.

I do have doctors notes to prove this and he is absolutely willing to stick his hands up and say he's sorry and we talked to a solicitor on the phone earlier so he has some backup in the interview.

Thanks again

fluffymovie

Hi there,

In all honesty, if they have called him in for an IUC, he isn't required to take (and therefore pay) a solicitor.

The council will already have evidence regarding time that you worked and probably your wages so unless he intends to dispute it, he doesn't really need legal assistance.

A full and frank admission is an investigators dream and if your husband is able to explain the issues he has around memory, they may well decide that it was not fraud but rather claimant error.

They will only go for an Admin Penalty if they believe fraud to have been committed and whilst you need to keep an eye on anything financial to which you are a party (benefit claims included) it wouldn't appear that this was anything other than an oversight.

Hope it goes ok

bothofus

Have a look on www.adviceguide.org.uk, they have lots of advice about the 'Interview under caution'. Worth reading x

leahc_2

Agree with the advice above - generally a lot of IUC's have people who are trying to be deliberately evasive and normally claim that the circumstances "didn't exist" (i.e. most people would try and claim that you weren't working when you actually were), so they will probably be appreciatitive of you offering to pay.

Slight hesitation as it can depend on the circumstances in which they found out that you worked for part of the year. It is, of course, always your responsibility to notify of a change of circumstances (CoC). It could be because another government body has notified them of the change, and it's also strange that it's led quickly to an IUC as normally you would receive a couple of letters asking you to confirm the details that they have received before they resort to this approach. I would ask your husband if he has received any letters about it.

However, as long as you are still entitled to receive HB / CTB they won't take it away. Further, overpayments (if initiated by the council) are normally "limited" to being deducted from your ongoing HB at a set rate, normally about £9 a week although you can find it from the Council. If it goes to Court, which is unlikely, they can also establish your rates. You may also want to check with your landlord as that element of rate previously paid by the Council will now need to be paid by you, obviously, so if you were receiving 100% HB before you need to start paying your landlord!