Please help regarding housing benefit

dishmop

Oh, and dishmop...where else would they put your money but towards your rent?

Thats as maybe but the council said "you will get a refund, which will be repaid on ???date" Refund, being the operative word. I think most people would expect a refund to be refunded back to them and not into another black hole which they have to write to and ask "can you send my money back to me please" So I can put it in MY bank.
Now, if somebody told you that you would be getting a refund, would you not expect that money to be sent back to you?????Or paid back into your bank.. In a way it was paid back to me,,,,,, but they didnt give me the whole story did they? They didnt TELL me that I had to write and ask for it to be paid back to me. I contacted my local councillor about this and it seems as if they dont tell anybody that they have to write and ask for it to be paid back to them.

You're getting your housing paid for - why should they hold your hand as well?

Oh,, so sorry...
I dont expect them to hold my hand,
I expect people to do their job properly,
,, I expect them to tell me the facts....... and concidering they took 5 months to process the claim,, I think they might have offered some kind of apology, as during the five months when they did nothing I still continued to pay my rent, even tho I had no income, because I am not entitled to JSA benefits because I was self employed.... I bet they wouldnt have taken 5 months to do something if I had stopped paying my rent.

Macro_3

Lucy, surviving on gifts from family and/or savings is very common, and won't affect your claim. Gifts from family are disregarded (as long as they are genuinely gifts and not given in return for anything) as are savings below 6k.

Don't lie about where the money came from as they will ask for proof, and if you say the cash came from a credit card and can't produce a credit card statement supporting this then they'll realise that you're lying. Just tell the truth re your dad and the money you have/had at home. They may ask for a letter from your dad to confirm the amounts he gave you etc, and you'll need sign a statement re the cash savings, but it'll be fine.

Lucy82

I just think is it worth it? I'm up to date with my rent and CT so no outstanding depts to repay. I showed a bank statement when the benefits officer came to our house which shows that I had approx £200 but I thought that will they think it dodgy that I do have an account but also had cash savings that weren't in the account but I have put the rent in the account each month for the standing order, which will show on a bank statement.

I withdrew money a long time ago so no real trace of it, it was money that I have earnt and saved all these years I just wanted cash handy but I can't prove what I had 6 months ago in cash savings or what I have now, do you have to put money in a bank account? I know my Grandad use to hide it under his mattress years ago but that was because he couldn't get to a bank if he needed cash so it was easier for him.

Honestly I've been thinking all weekend should I just cancel the backdate tomorrow or will they think somethings not adding up and investigate me anyway? Then put a stop on my ongoing claim, send me to court inform my landlord who will then see us all on the streets. Sorry my imagination does run wild but I worry so much about things.

Macro_3

Lucy82 wrote: »

I just think is it worth it? I'm up to date with my rent and CT so no outstanding depts to repay. I showed a bank statement when the benefits officer came to our house which shows that I had approx £200 but I thought that will they think it dodgy that I do have an account but also had cash savings that weren't in the account but I have put the rent in the account each month for the standing order, which will show on a bank statement.

I withdrew money a long time ago so no real trace of it, it was money that I have earnt and saved all these years I just wanted cash handy but I can't prove what I had 6 months ago in cash savings or what I have now, do you have to put money in a bank account? I know my Grandad use to hide it under his mattress years ago but that was because he couldn't get to a bank if he needed cash so it was easier for him.

Honestly I've been thinking all weekend should I just cancel the backdate tomorrow or will they think somethings not adding up and investigate me anyway? Then put a stop on my ongoing claim, send me to court inform my landlord who will then see us all on the streets. Sorry my imagination does run wild but I worry so much about things.

Nothing horrible will happen. The ongoing benefit should be paid regardless, even if the backdated period has not yet been decided.

Requesting bank statements and proof of how you have supported yourself is an everyday request - it doesn't mean that they have any reason to doubt that you have been less than honest, just that they want to make sure that your financial circumstances are the same for the backdated period as on your application form. Since yours are, it's not a problem. Plenty of people keep cash at home, and plenty of people receive support from their parents when times are hard.

I know that claiming can be intrusive but please don't let the request put you off claiming what you are entitled to - at the end of the day you have nothing to hide/worry about, and that money could go towards replacing your little nest egg if you get it.

That said if you do decide to cancel your request, nothing will come of it.

Ambersuccubus

It would be a bit daft to cancel a backdate because you didn't want to be investigated if there was nothing to hide though...
the investigative side of our team were always the loveliest people - they have to be good with people to get hired on that side...it's only where claimants are lying/making fraudulent claims that things could get sticky.
As others have said, the backdate will not affect, one way or another, your entitlement now. If you can't prove entitlement for that period, you may not get the backdate - what have you lost but a little time (and some would say privacy, I guess, but they've already got your bank statements for now etc)?

Lucy82

Sorry forgot to add I filled a form in last week which asked when did I want my backdate from? Also could I confirm all the income that we were 'in receipt of at this time'? I thought this meant what we had coming in so I put my Husbands non means tested benefit and the Child Benefit and the amounts.

Then I had to write a statement as to why I never applied earlier fo HB & CTB.

I never put about my cash savings as I thought that it meant 'income that we had coming in'. So that is going to look bad as though I've tried to hide it. I didn't mention it either on my recent claim but that's because I only had about £20 in my purse.

Fire_Fox

Just stop panicking and tell the truth! Savings are not income, tho interest on savings is income. In future you should keep your bank statements, IIRC it's six or seven years.