I have recived a letter asking me to come in and do a interview under caution

kingfisherblue

I have had three compliance interviews in two years, although none were under caution. Two of them were because I do voluntary work - they thought I got paid to run a Brownie unit, even though I had provided a letter from my commissioner confirming that I do not get paid and that I am a volunteer.

The third came about as a result of a malicious phone call. The caller said that I had been bragging on the school playground that I had been 'creaming off' money from the Direct Payments that I receive for my disabled son. Apparantly I had said this rather loudly, so that others could overhear, to the very person I pay to look after my son!

I explained to the officer that I did receive Direct Payments for my son, and that I did employ somebody, but everything is audited by the council regularly. It is all in a separate account from my own current account and I have all the paperwork. I pointed out that I do not use phrases such as 'creaming off', but also that I'm not stupid enough to brag to someone that I am, in effect, taking money that is meant for her wages! I offered to supply the paperwork for the Direct Payments so that the JobCentre could conduct an investigation. The officer declined and told me that it was obviously a malicious call. They had suspected this anyway, as my employee had also been reported, on the same day, for benefit fraud. We were both found to be innocent.

So yes, I can see why you are concerned, but I found the officer to be polite and clear in his questions. He listened to my answers and realised that I was telling the truth. As he told me, all allegations need to be investigated. It was unpleasant recceiving the letter, but I knew that I didn't have anything to hide and I didn't find the actual interview to be the ordeal that I had imagined.

I hope that this helps a little - you have nothing to hide, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Good luck x

jctski

sharski wrote: »

This rule regarding DLA is only recent (August 09) - prior to that, JC guidance was to swap LP onto ESA.
DWP did not, it seems, consult the right 'legal' people & from August 09, any LP whose IS will be coming to an end due to the age of the youngest child & who says they are too ill to go on JSA, will remain on IS & claim IB credits instead.
You can actually appeal & ask for this to happen - DWP are expecting a small number of LP to appeal once word gets out!!!

Hope this helps!

Wow, thank you for that piece of advice there x

jctski

kingfisherblue wrote: »

I have had three compliance interviews in two years, although none were under caution. Two of them were because I do voluntary work - they thought I got paid to run a Brownie unit, even though I had provided a letter from my commissioner confirming that I do not get paid and that I am a volunteer.

The third came about as a result of a malicious phone call. The caller said that I had been bragging on the school playground that I had been 'creaming off' money from the Direct Payments that I receive for my disabled son. Apparantly I had said this rather loudly, so that others could overhear, to the very person I pay to look after my son!

I explained to the officer that I did receive Direct Payments for my son, and that I did employ somebody, but everything is audited by the council regularly. It is all in a separate account from my own current account and I have all the paperwork. I pointed out that I do not use phrases such as 'creaming off', but also that I'm not stupid enough to brag to someone that I am, in effect, taking money that is meant for her wages! I offered to supply the paperwork for the Direct Payments so that the JobCentre could conduct an investigation. The officer declined and told me that it was obviously a malicious call. They had suspected this anyway, as my employee had also been reported, on the same day, for benefit fraud. We were both found to be innocent.

So yes, I can see why you are concerned, but I found the officer to be polite and clear in his questions. He listened to my answers and realised that I was telling the truth. As he told me, all allegations need to be investigated. It was unpleasant recceiving the letter, but I knew that I didn't have anything to hide and I didn't find the actual interview to be the ordeal that I had imagined.

I hope that this helps a little - you have nothing to hide, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Good luck x

Sorry that happened to you, its awful isnt it, that people are being malcious like that towards others, why do they do that? I am trying to calm down here, I just dont cope too well with stress, it makes my illness flare up, even tho I am sooo tired right now, I know I wont be able sleep, too much going threw my mind right now, thank you for sharing your story and for your help x

kaya

if you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about :-)

zzzLazyDaisy

Does your ex pay rent/mortgage and council tax at his own home somewhere else? Is he on the electoral roll there?

A similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago (it was my brother who was staying with me, when I came out of hospital, but similar circs). I sent copies of his tenancy agreement and council tax bill for his own home, and they closed their file.

jctski

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Does your ex pay rent/mortgage and council tax at his own home somewhere else? Is he on the electoral roll there?

A similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago (it was my brother who was staying with me, when I came out of hospital, but similar circs). I sent copies of his tenancy agreement and council tax bill for his own home, and they closed their file.

Hi
yes he pays a mortgage and he is on electoral roll
Thanks x

I

jctski

Thank you all for replies so far, but I am feeling pretty bad, so need to rest, will pop back in morning to see if further replies are left on here xx

Shelldean

Is your ex the father of either or both of your children???

I only ask cos thats what stuffed us up..... I had one DD by my 1st husband then I had twins and a DS by partner. After DS was born we'd split, however I was really struggling with 4 kids under 6 ( yes stupid i know but not what I planned) Ex popped in from time to time but i was sole carer for this period.
I was also suffering severe PND, youngest was about 6mths and I'd already been given a childminder for 3 hrs a wks for the twins ( had also suffered PND after their birth)
To get the youngest under same childminder I had to have a visit from Social services. So round she came and was totally scathing and left bascially telling me I was a danger to my children. granted I wasn't great but I was no where near a danger to any of my children. I was also told they'd be placed on at risk register, remember this was supposed to be avisit to see if I could get 3 hrs of childminding. This really was the straw that broke the camels back, i totally rboke down and called ex at work crying and wailing he coudln't understand what the problem was couldnt even understand me. So came round staright away. He dealt with the kids, ran me a abth put me to bed and then he stayed, he stayed for about a month in total, just giving me a chance to get back on my feet and sort myself out. Being in such a state never gave a thought to my benefits:eek: Till a knock on front door and there she was the lady from the fraud team. Some kind soul had thought that cos I wasnt in a fit state to tell them EX was staying they would!!!! He had none of his stuff at mine bar a few clothes and he was sleeping on a matteress in the babys room. I offered to show her this but to no avail. As we was both parent of child in the house and we shared things like shopping, cooking washing etc Then we MUST be a couple. nothing I could do or say would sway her. EX couldnt prove he was living elsewhere as he was kipping on his parents sofa. Lady said of course his parents would say he lived there!!!!

Benefits stopped straightaway as did HB and CT.

As it happen we had the last laugh on the sneak who shopped us, over 11 yrs later we're still together and are now married. It was just the shove we needed to sort our relatinship out,

Shelldean

oh lord I've made it sound awful, but I just ant you to prepared for any questions they may ask you

NASA_2

sharski wrote: »

This rule regarding DLA is only recent (August 09) - prior to that, JC guidance was to swap LP onto ESA.
DWP did not, it seems, consult the right 'legal' people & from August 09, any LP whose IS will be coming to an end due to the age of the youngest child & who says they are too ill to go on JSA, will remain on IS & claim IB credits instead.
You can actually appeal & ask for this to happen - DWP are expecting a small number of LP to appeal once word gets out!!!

Hope this helps!

Needs new 'legal' people methinks because there are a few loopholes that need to be closed. I believe the rules are being tightened for the next phase so that a repeat is not on the cards.