Incapacity Benefit -- visit from Compliance Officer - why? what?

TOBRUK

What I still don't understand is why they sent out a fraud officer to see me when any overpayment they may have made was down to them?! They only had to check through my details with the other part of their own department to get all the 'up to date' details!

He didn't want to see any of my bank statements - which I handed to him!! All he did when he was here was to read through the letters I had received from the IS office and the DLA offices!!

travelodger

... all of which letters they have copies of.

It costs a lot of money to send members of staff out on visits. I hate to think what they are wasting over a year on these silly visits that tell them nothing! Millions?

dmg24

travelodger wrote: »

Thanks.

On the jobcentre website it states clearly that you ARE allowed to work, and you do not need to seek permission to work, and you need not declare your earnings if they are up to £93 a week for the first year, then £20 a week from then onwards, indefinitely.

They cannot suddenly change these rules during a visit to just one person.

£93 a week taken over a year is £4,800. I only earned £500 so that is well under the limit.

In my second year I can earn £1,000 but have only earned £155.

You have misunderstood the rules. The weekly earnings limit cannot be averaged out over a year. Therefore if you have earned £625 for three hours work, averaging over £200 per hour, you will have earned over the threshold for the time period in which you worked those hours.

I also imagine that they will be querying the amount in comparison to the hours you are saying you have worked - the rate that you quote would give an annual income of £400,000 if working full time, and this does sound very unrealistic.

TOBRUK, whilst CC Officers do deal with fraud, they also make home visits for less serious issues where it is felt a face to face meeting would be more suitable. Nothing to worry about in your case.

hayley11

You might not need permission to do permitted work but you do need to check with your personal advisor that it's within the rules.

Taken from direct.gov website:

"Although you do not need permission to do Permitted Work, you must check that the work you want to do is allowed under the Permitted Work rules. You should discuss this with your personal adviser."

It sounds like you are really unclear about the rules regarding IB. Might be an idea to make an appointment at the job centre to speak to your personal advisor and have them explained to you again so you don't end up in trouble.

travelodger

Hello DMG

"You have misunderstood the rules. The weekly earnings limit cannot be averaged out over a year. Therefore if you have earned £625 for three hours work, averaging over £200 per hour, you will have earned over the threshold for the time period in which you worked those hours."

What is the threshold? I don't understand.

So, what should happen or ought to happen about my earnings then? Here are the details:

I was paid £500 in October for a two-hour lecture. Then in March, which was after my first 52 weeks, and into my 2nd year, I was paid £125 for an hour's public talk.

They don't know about either of these fees I received. If I tell the officer next week, what will happen to me? I am really worried now! I didn't think I was doing anything wrong as I didn't work more than 16 hours in any one week, only 2 hours and 1 hour.

I am keen to abide exactly by the rules. How could I or how can I now do this?

dmg24

travelodger wrote: »

Hello DMG

"You have misunderstood the rules. The weekly earnings limit cannot be averaged out over a year. Therefore if you have earned £625 for three hours work, averaging over £200 per hour, you will have earned over the threshold for the time period in which you worked those hours."

What is the threshold? I don't understand.

So, what should happen or ought to happen about my earnings then? Here are the details:

I was paid £500 in October for a two-hour lecture. Then in March, which was after my first 52 weeks, and into my 2nd year, I was paid £125 for an hour's public talk.

They don't know about either of these fees I received. If I tell the officer next week, what will happen to me? I am really worried now! I didn't think I was doing anything wrong as I didn't work more than 16 hours in any one week, only 2 hours and 1 hour.

I am keen to abide exactly by the rules. How could I or how can I now do this?

The threshold is £93.00 a week. You need to contact the JCP and declare your earnings. However, as you are being visited on Wednesday it is really too late to do this, so get all of your paperwork together for when they visit. They may allow you to repay your IB for the periods in question, and/ or they may impose a penalty. Your IB may also be suspended whilst they investigate. This all depends on how serious the CC Officer views the situation to be.

It is pretty clear that these visits are far from silly, and do in fact save the taxpayer millions in reclaiming incorrectly claimed benefits.

travelodger

Thanks DMG. I think the best thing would be for me to not tell them at all, but turn down all future requests to give talks. No point earning money once or twice a year if it loses me my benefit.

I have another talk coming up this September, with a fee of 200 euros. I could ask the officer what happens about that, and see what he says. If it turns our that they CAN spread it over the year then I can safely declare the other two.

The visits DO NOT save the taxpayer millions. The same result could be had via a phone call, letter, or calling people in for interview.

For example, just because the officer comes to me next week does not mean he will automatically find out that I earned £500 last year and £125 this year! It's not written across my wallpaper!

dmg24

travelodger wrote: »

Thanks DMG. I think the best thing would be for me to not tell them at all, but turn down all future requests to give talks. No point earning money once or twice a year if it loses me my benefit.

I have another talk coming up this September, with a fee of 200 euros. I could ask the officer what happens about that, and see what he says. If it turns our that they CAN spread it over the year then I can safely declare the other two.

The visits DO NOT save the taxpayer millions. The same result could be had via a phone call, letter, or calling people in for interview.

For example, just because the officer comes to me next week does not mean he will automatically find out that I earned £500 last year and £125 this year! It's not written across my wallpaper!

Now it is you that is being silly. If you do not declare income, that would be fraud. They will find out in the end, they always do, and then you will be prosecuted. You clearly have no idea of the resources that the DWP have available to them.

travelodger

There is no way they could find out about that money. It is actually impossible for them to do so. You are being extremely silly if you think that rules that allow people to earn £4,800 are going to be used to prosecute someone for earning £500. I am certain that they will allow money to be earned other than in weekly dollops. You just don't understand that there has to be some flexibility for people in my situation, who can command a gigantic fee for giving a talk once a year rather than slaving away for £6 an hour, 20 hours a week.

dmg24

travelodger wrote: »

There is no way they could find out about that money. It is actually impossible for them to do so. You are being extremely silly if you think that rules that allow people to earn £4,800 are going to be used to prosecute someone for earning £500. I am certain that they will allow money to be earned other than in weekly dollops. You just don't understand that there has to be some flexibility for people in my situation, who can command a gigantic fee for giving a talk once a year rather than slaving away for £6 an hour, 20 hours a week.

I trust this money never hit your bank account, and was paid by your employer/ client to a fictitious name and NI number? No, I didn't think so!