benefit fraud tribunal

tinahi1468

i'm hoping someone can help me, my mum was recieving income support for her and my sister but last july her benefits got stopped as she was wrongly accused of benefit fraud. She attended the job center to have a interview under caution they was accusing her of living with my elder sisters ex boyfriend (old family friend) while claiming as a single parent.

my mum appealed against this and after 8 months of waiting finally went to the tribunal yesterday. When she got there the dwp didnt turn up with there evidence, so the judge said she will have to come back in another 2 months. Is there anything my mum can do for money while she is waithing she has been told to sign on but she wont recieve any money. all she is getting is £45.oo child tax credit. and is ther anyone she can complain to about the way she has been treated.

When she went for help at citizens advice a few months ago all they said was someone has got it in for her at dwp and theres nothing they can do, but there must be somewhere she can go for help thankyou and sorry about the long post .

[Deleted User]

Has she tried welfare rights for help(contact via local council)?Personally i think this is outragous,they cant be bothered to turn up(possibly as they had no evidence)and now she faces another 2 months with no benefits,if it were me i`d also contact my MP

olias

If they didn't turn up, the judge should have thrown their case out IMO

Olias

singlehouseholder

can't she simply submit a further claim?

As for the CAB telling her some-one has it in for her, that really is poor advice, the CAB should really know better!

welshmoneylover

what about getting a job?

Voyager2002

Yes, her MP should be her next port of call.

She should also write to an adjudication officer in the office where her benefits are administered, stating that the unreasonably long delay in dealing with her case is causing "exceptional hardship", and pointing out that there are children involved.

There used to be an official called the Parliamentary Ombudsman who had powers to intervene in this sort of case. Ask your MP if s/he would be willing to refer your case to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, since you need an MP's support to access this service.

Trasthmatic

Usually if one party doesnt turn up the Tribunal will rule in the others favour, however if the missing party was not informed in time or at all with the date of the hearing (and this happens more than you would think) the usual course of action is to postpone.

[Deleted User]

welshmoneylover wrote: »

what about getting a job?

Are you in possession of ALL the facts that allow you to give such brilliant advice:rolleyes:

tinahi1468

Thanks for all your advice i will get her to contact the mp and i will look into welfare rights. As for getting a job she has applied for loads of jobs but she hasnt had any luck, there is even a waiting list for both tesco and sainsburys around here. She would work anywhere but there not many jobs about at the moment.