Benefits Overpayment.. Interview Under Caution Help?

simone2109

Hi

This is my forst post and I really just wanted some advice/points in the right direction...

I claimed IS for the first time in Dec 2008 This was the first time I have ever claimed benefits or any form and was entitled to IS,HB and CTB. In Feb 2009 I was offered a job which I promptly took! I called the JSO on the 13th Feb to advise I would be strating work on the 16th Feb and what did I need to do.. They gave me my tax credit calculation and said I needed to sign off IS and would send me a letter with an appt to come in!

I put a tax credit claim in on the 16th Feb and waited for the letter from JSP! I never received any letter and presumed I was entitled to some sort or run on as I vaguely remembered the woman saying when I claimed that this is sometimes the case anyhow TBH I just didnt think! I left it and left it and left it until I said to my mum I think its a little weird how they are still paying me! This was in May. My mum quickly said I better ring them and sort it ASAP!

I called the IS hotline and told them I had started work and the dates! And again thought nothing more of it! They stopped my IS payments and I believed all was sorted. I then received a letter in Oct 2009 for an Interview Under Caution! I knew straight away what it was about and went along and told them everything above! I understand it was completely my own fault and that I did not follow anything up! I just presumed WRONGLY that because id rung JSP and put a claim in for WTC everything would cancel out and that JSP would send me a letter to go sign off IS which of course it didnt!

I have now in May 2010 gone BACK onto IS as I have been made redundant and am 17weeks pregnant. Last week I received my letters saying how much the overpayments are and that my HB and IS will be reduced by this amout each week.. Which is fine.. I understand it is my mistake and it needs to be repaid! However all the letters say this does not affect any criminal proceedings... Does this mean they are/ will prosecute? How do I know? Do I just wait? I am not disputing having to pay it I am just terrified of getting a criminal record and/or going to prison as I eventually want to teach!

My IS overpayment is £630
My HB overpayment is £950

Im just scared and confused and dont know where to turn to next.. Who do I contact to find out about further action? Is it likely they will prosecute? I fel so stupid and naive! I will definately be keeping ALL records of who I speak to and sending recorded delivery letters to every dept when I go back to work!

Fang_3

It means exactly what it says. You will have to wait to find out. But it seems unlikely that you'd go to prison, but frankly ignorance is not a defence and you took money knowing that you were not entitled to it. You stole that money. You broke the law so it's very rich of you to now worry that you might get a criminal record, because guess what - record or not, you are a criminal.

I'm just wondering why now you are only starting to pay it back? And by you, I mean the rest of us. You've known about it since at least October, and have obviously been working, so why not? Why have you left it to the rest of us to pay back money that you stole from us?

simone2109

I am not trying to use ignorance as a defence! I know I was in the wrong which I have stated several times. I believed I had done everything I needed too which now I know I didnt! I thought ringing the JSP was ALL I needed to do! As soon as I found out that this was incorrect I rang IS nad cancelled my benefits. I did not wait until they found out! I am only now paying it back as I have only just been asked to pay it back! I have been waiting for their decision!

I understand you have your opinion Fang but what I really need is some advice as to who I contact next or how long I wait! I did not intentionally defraud the system I THOUGHT I had done what I needed and once I knew I had I TOLD the benefits again. They did not catch me nor did I just keep claiming! You say that you are paying my overpayment back however I did not choose IS I was made redundant at 17 weeks pregnant! So have little choice but to claim. These are boards are meant to answer questions and offer advice!

Welshwoofs

Honestly there is no advice anyone can give you and nothing you can do. They'll decide in their own good time what action they intend to take and once they've decided, they'll let you know. It's pretty unlikely they'll prosecute IMO as it isn't massive amounts and you're pregnant and unemployed.

bestpud

I know prosecution cannot be ruled out but tbh I think it is likely they will just ask you to pay it back.

You could go along to your local CAB and ask them to help you contact the departments involved and see what is happening.

Tbh, it is a long time since October when you had your interview and it's not unreasonable to expect some sort of decision by now imo!

Do whatever is required with regard to the overpayment but you can also ask the CAB to help you negotiate that if need be. Once you have a repayment plan, don't default on it - tell them instantly if you are struggling to pay it for whetever reason. Because it's so important to keep up repayments, I think it would be useful to ensure you set up a realisitic one from the start.

Other than that, I'm not sure you can do a lot but wait.

I'm sure you will feel much better once you know the damage, whatever it is, but until then there's no point getting stressed about it imo.

caela_2

Fang wrote: »

It means exactly what it says. You will have to wait to find out. But it seems unlikely that you'd go to prison, but frankly ignorance is not a defence and you took money knowing that you were not entitled to it. You stole that money. You broke the law so it's very rich of you to now worry that you might get a criminal record, because guess what - record or not, you are a criminal.

I'm just wondering why now you are only starting to pay it back? And by you, I mean the rest of us. You've known about it since at least October, and have obviously been working, so why not? Why have you left it to the rest of us to pay back money that you stole from us?

Dude, ctfo. It's not YOUR money as you claim, it's money from the benefits system. Once you've paid your taxes, it's no longer your cash to say what should be done with it. This person has quite clearly admitted their mistake and you're still throwing stones at them. It's easy to assume your benefits are being updated when they're not and this person is paying it back now, so let it go. Gosh. Lol.

caela_2

I think it's best that you contact these people and clearly explain the situation. Tell them how you notified them (giving dates etc.) that you had gone back to work etc. and since you had started claiming WTC, assume they had updated their records, being part of the same department. See what the rules are with the IS, they must have a section somewhere explaining what to do if you do find employment and need to inform them. Put something in writing perhaps, without admitting liability, saying that you have made the IS aware that you have been overpaid and are in the process of paying this money back. It was a simple mistake.

caela_2

simone2109 wrote: »

Hi

I put a tax credit claim in on the 16th Feb and waited for the letter from JSP! I never received any letter and presumed I was entitled to some sort or run on as I vaguely remembered the woman saying when I claimed that this is sometimes the case anyhow TBH I just didnt think!

I called the IS hotline and told them I had started work and the dates! And again thought nothing more of it!

It sounds like they should have contacted you - you said you were waiting for a letter? I would need to know a little more about what IS is, is it for incapacity?

cattie

As you have already been to the IUC, dwp should have contacted you by letter to inform you whether they intend to take any other action other than wanting you to repay the overpayment. The letters can often take up to 3 months to be sent out, but as you have been waiting for so long, I would advise you to contact the office where the IUC was carried out to see what the outcome was in case the letter went astray.

It is standard terminology to say that a repayment won't affect any criminal proceedings, so don't let this frighten you too much.

It is extremely unlikely you are going to be prosecuted, so try not to worry on that score. The most likely outcome is that you will just have to repay the overpayment, with no tarrif (fine) on top, seeing as you weren't deliberately making a false claim.

Do be aware that if you gained a council tax benefit that you shouldn't have at the same time as the benefit payments were being made, you will need to contact the Council Tax office to own up & offer payment. Otherwise, you risk being investigated by the council for council tax fraud as DWP share claimants data with council tax offices.

AsknAnswer2

That's a generic letter. An overpayment and criminal proceedings are dealt with seperately. As someone else pointed out, prosecution can never be ruled out by anyone on a forum. However, in my experience, given the sums of the overpayments plus the circumstances in relation to the fraud, I think it is unlikely that a prosecution would take place. That doesn't mean it won't happen. It's merely my opinion based on my own knowledge.

This is the sanction policy.

enabledebra

I agree. It is very unlikely that they have or will decide to prosecute for fraud.

Moreover, I would seriously consider visting an Advice Centre to challenge whether you need to even repay the IS overpayment. For an IS payment to be recoverable from the claimant they need to show that you did not disclose the material fact that you had started work-you say you did tell them. If they failed to act on this info (and you can convince a tribunal that you did tell them) then you need pay nothing back let alone worry about a prison sentence.

HB have different rules about when overpayments can be recovered and from the information you have given it seems likley that for at least part of the period in which you were overpaid you knew that this was happening (HB can recover if this is the case whereas IS cannot).

As to the moralists who will argue you should repay the IS regardless- thems the rules and if you think they should change talk to your MP- please don't judge someone for doing (legally) what they can to avoid hardship. Save your wrath for the millionaire tax dodgers who remove umptenth x infinity more from the system intended to support all of us by paying reptilian accountants who know the tax loopholes-not out of hardship but out of greed.