Benefit Fraud interview with caution..help!

Marisco

Must agree with dktreesea's posts here! If the system wasn't so complicated, people wouldn't get themselves all over the place!!! If someone has never had any dealings with the DWP before, it's very easy to fall foul of the "rules"!!!!

twinkle1981_2

Marisco wrote: »

Must agree with dktreesea's posts here! If the system wasn't so complicated, people wouldn't get themselves all over the place!!! If someone has never had any dealings with the DWP before, it's very easy to fall foul of the "rules"!!!!

Amen to that! Looks like I may have ended up with an overpayment due to one person at the DWP saying one thing another saying something else. My head is pickled with it. So yes it is very easy if you have never claimed benefits before to fall foul of the rules through ignorance of the rules. One query I made of the DWP got the response 'I dont know to be honest'. Yeah very useful. If they don't know, what hope do I have?

real1314

dktreesea wrote: »

In his case he thought he could work up to 16 hours a week and still get the jsa, so he did just that.

Ok, so let's accept he though 16 hours was ok, but how much did he think he could earn? What if it was £50 an hour, therefore £800 a week?

For instance, I thought the disregard for income on the JSA was £20 a week for everyone. It's only from forums like this that I realised "that depends on....." Plus I thought this income was taken over a whole year, so if a person hadn't earned £1000 yet and
weren't likely to over the whole year

So, did you think in your first 4 weeks of claiming JSA that if you had 1 weeks work and got paid £250, that it would be ok?

Come on, let's face facts. If you get a payment of £70 JSA and then you get Wages of £120 in the same week, wouldn't you think there might need to be a slight adjustment?

Take off the blinkers :cool:

Oldernotwiser

real1314 wrote: »

Come on, let's face facts. If you get a payment of £70 JSA and then you get Wages of £120 in the same week, wouldn't you think there might need to be a slight adjustment?

Take off the blinkers :cool:

I completely agree.

Some benefits can be complicated but there's nothing complicated about signing a form which says you've done no work in the last fortnight when actually you have!

kelloggs36

Amanda_Adams wrote: »

No, because I told them clearly that I had a job doing holiday relief, and that my hours would be variable. I told them the date I started the job, and that my hours (if any) would be different each week.
There was never any change from that original statement that I gave to them.

If your hours change from week to week, then you have to declare the change from the previous time - ie if you worked no hours last time but this last fortnight you worked 2 hours, then there has been a change. What they are asking is in the last 2 weeks what has changed - you say nothing, but if you worked some weeks and not others, then your situation HAS changed. Basically, for every signing period you get to keep £10 of any earnings, and lose JSA for the rest of the earnings. The week you worked 20 hours, you were not entitled to ANY JSA - did you still receive the full amount? Have you always received the full £65.45 per week? If so, then there certainly has been an overpayment.

kelloggs36

cassieB57 wrote: »

most likely, someone who is 'on the ball' at the jobcentre or maybe the benefit delivery centre noticed that OP declared that she had started working, and that no declarations of work and earnings had ever been completed by her. Could have been uncovered at a review, or just by someone going through the claim.

With reference to whether she was asked if she had done any work; not everybody does, but I ALWAYS ask this every time; that way I never have to remember if I asked this person or that one. BUT I think the wording on the declaration form is that the customer 'has done no work unless I have told (the jobcentre) about it'. The OP could argue that she DID tell them about it (originally), therefore had misunderstood the requirement to declare any work or earnings every time she signed on.

Could also have been a GMS match - Tax and NI payments being made whilst at the same time JSA - it highlights all the cases and sends a load of them to the fraud officers to investigate. They will get the whole casepapers from storage and check for any declarations of work - if there is no evidence of the conversation taking place then the OP may well be in trouble. If she had told them, then there should be a note of it on her file - it will be her word against theirs. It may be that the conversation was highlighted, but as no work was declared they will use it as evidence that she knew that she should declare all work done.

If there is evidence of her declaring it, then it would be sent for overpayment calculation only.

DX2

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Basically, for every signing period you get to keep £10 of any earnings, and lose JSA for the rest of the earnings.

I thought the earnings was £5 for a single person, £10 for a couple and £20 for a lone parent?

WhiteHorse

real1314 wrote: »

Do you actually have any evidence of what you've put or is it just a wild accusation without any foundation?

Yes - personal experience and contact with DWP whistleblowers.

Like all places, there will be people who do things they should not do, it happens at Tesco, it happens at British Gas, it happens at National Express; but to suggest that such action is "commonplace" is ludicrous.

See above.

Mind you, if you agree with dogish that builders and golfers should claim DLA on the basis that they cannot walk, whilst other people on low incomes pay tax which these people steal, then I guess we all know what sort of person you are.

Which abuse probably tells us what sort of person you are.

real1314

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Yes - personal experience and contact with DWP whistleblowers.


See above.


Which abuse probably tells us what sort of person you are.

There wasn't any abuse stated, just a comment about people who agree with a certain viewpoint contrary to the one I've stated.

1. So, can you pass this "evidence" on / put it on here? Who did the "whistle-blowers blow the whistle to?

2. Evidence of these "widespread" / "common" abuses? Or is it just an internet claim?

3. Yep, I'm the sort of person who doesn't like seeing builders claiming DLA whilst earning a decent wage. i'd rather see DLA and the people that administer it going to those that genuinely need it.

Gosh, is that a little harsh of me? :cool:

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

We've just had to remove 72 completely off-topic posts from this thread (in addition to the ones removed at the weekend) so we could re-open it and let the OP get the help she needs. Please try to keep it on topic.

Thank you!

Andrea