Benefit Fraud

inspirespirit

My neighbour is being investigated for Benefit Fraud. She is absolutely beside herself because she cannot see what she has done wrong.
She has 5 children. Her eldest who is 17 started a level 3 College course in childcare. After a couple of months she started to get stomach pains. Her mum thought it was the stress of the course and she therefore changed courses to an IT course. The pains continued and she was eventually admitted to hospital and had her appendix removed and acid drained from her pelvis. due to being soooo poorly when the operation took place it took a long time for her to recover. Due to the realisation that it was physical and not mental causing her illness they decided (as working with children was her original career choice), that she would go back to college this September to study Childcare but at level 2 so it would not be so stressful. In the meantime she managed to procure a voluntary position helping out with kids in a small permanent baby/child fairground park. At 17 she also had a long term permanent boyfriend who stayed overnight at weekends. She has apparently been reported for
(a) not being at college whilst her mum was claiming child benefit and tax credits and
(b) working with children (albeit voluntary)
(c) having her boyfriend stay over.
Has her mum actually done anything wrong? She is absolutely beside herself with worry and is convinced, after the fraud interview, that she is going to prison and her kids will be taken off her. they have suspended her Income Support which is obviously giving her major stress and worry about feeding her kids.
Can anyone give me advice to give her please.

HappyMJ

a) could be a problem early admittal should be ok
b) not a problem depending on number of hours etc...
c) as long as bf is staying over as a non paying guest every now and again such as weekends then it's not a problem.

Benefit fraud is a crime but the sentence is almost never prison. It'll just be a small fine plus court costs and victim surcharge and a repayment of the overpaid amounts. Courts and magistrates don't see it as a serious crime.

inspirespirit

Thank you Happy MJ . That is extremely reassuring. Apparently, my neighbour's ex husband, who is behind with his maintenance payments, saw his daughter 'working' at the local countryside centre which has a few kiddy rides and assumed, wrongly, that she was being paid (although she has since found out that she is actually able to work up to 24 hours per week without it affecting benefits). he has reported her to the benefits agency. I really don't know why they are even investigating this. It has put my neighbour in an extremely detrimental position where she is worried sick about money and her kids. I will now reassure her after your reply. Thank you.

benefitbaby

She has apparently been reported for
(a) not being at college whilst her mum was claiming child benefit and tax credits this may be a problem if she officially ended her college course (as this is something that is required to be notified to HMRC) but if initially it was set to be a temporary break due to ill health and the plan was to return then this should not be a problem as long as she told HMRC when it was clear she was not going to return. The daughter must be a full-time student for child tax credit and child benefit to be payable.

(b) working with children (albeit voluntary) this would not have any impact on Mum's benefits due to the limited hours involved.

(c) having her boyfriend stay over again whether your friend's daughter has her boyfriend stay over should have no impact to benefits.

It sounds to me like your friend needs to provide evidence of her daughter's illness, hospitalisation and period of recovery.

If the only issues are those raised in your post then you can reassure her she is highly unlikely to go to prison. To charge/convict your friend with the criminal offence of benefit fraud they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she knowingly, or with dishonestly failed to disclose something she knew would affect entitlement to benefit.

Even if they were able to show this the sentencing guidelines only call for imprisonment if their has been premeditation, a lengthy period of offending or a large sum of money was involved.

McKneff

First of all, reassure this lady that she is not going to go to prison and her children will not be taken away from her.

It does happen but not normally under these circumstances. It is the blatant fraudster who get the book thrown at them so tell her to stop worrying.
She should go and just tell the truth as she sees it. If she is completely sure she has done nothing wrong, then if she has, she has not been aware of it. If she has, she may have to repay some but really, its not worth making yourself ill over it.

How does she know about a, b, c, and d. They dont normally tell you this till you go for your interview.

She may well have claimed inadvertantly but the boyfriend is not an issue if he is just staying overnight and not paying anything towards the household.

inspirespirit

McKneff. She had her interview the other day which is how she knows what she is being investigated for. She has plenty of evidence re her daughter's illness. Doctor and hospital admittance.... no problem to prove this.
She is worried that, despite her truthful explanations, the benefits interview has suspended her Income Support whilst investigating. She did send a letter to them in April explaining her daughter's illness and the fact she was in hospital, yet they have still stopped her money.
It is all very odd. I can't see what they need to investigate. I'm her next door neighbour and can vouch that the boyfriend only stays over at weekends. He has a full time job and lives with his mother and stepfather.

benefitbaby

She needs to go see a legal aid solicitor who works in criminal and social security law. The solicitor will be able to get the DWP to explain where they are at and push to reinstate IS.

Could your frined get a statement from the daughter's voluntary work position to confirm her hours and also a statement from the parents of the boyfriend confirming that he resides with them?

McKneff

The daughters boyfriend is irrelevant. It could be a different matter if it was the mother's boyfriend so I cant see that being a problem.

All she can do is wait Im afraid.
Could she look for work to get some cash coming in.

inspirespirit

McKneff wrote: »

The daughters boyfriend is irrelevant. It could be a different matter if it was the mother's boyfriend so I cant see that being a problem.

All she can do is wait Im afraid.
Could she look for work to get some cash coming in.

she is working two days a week voluntary at her boy's school. she is a qualified NNEB Nursery Nurse and is hoping by doing this voluntary work she will be in with a chance of getting a term time only job a a Teaching Assistant. Apparently the Income Support people also said they would decide if voluntary work is appropriate in which case they may decide she should have been paid for it and will stop her money for that!!!! She came out in tears and now doesn't know whether to stop her voluntary work. She is in bits.

benefitbaby

inspirespirit wrote: »

she is working two days a week voluntary at her boy's school. she is a qualified NNEB Nursery Nurse and is hoping by doing this voluntary work she will be in with a chance of getting a term time only job a a Teaching Assistant. Apparently the Income Support people also said they would decide if voluntary work is appropriate in which case they may decide she should have been paid for it and will stop her money for that!!!! She came out in tears and now doesn't know whether to stop her voluntary work. She is in bits.

Am I understanding correctly that it is your friend doing the 2 day voluntary work - not her daughter?


Only work done for payment or expectation of payment counts for IS, there must be a real likelihood of getting payment. So, I think it is arguable that the DWP are being a bit far fetched to say that your friend 'might' get a job in the future so this would count as 'work in expectation of payment'.

UNLESS the nursery has said that if your friend completes one month voluntary work successfully they will hire her... this has a different conotation indeed.

So I suppose it will depend on the intention of your friend and the nursery.... and indeed how many hours she was volunteering, this is because if the DWP do decide the work was in expectation of payment IS can only be paid if working LESS than 16 hours per week.

If it is the daughter and it is deemed that she is working full-time for payment or in expectation of payment then DWP may try to argue that she has ceased to be a qualifying young person and as such no CB or CTB payable.

Your friend needs to see an appropriate solicitor as this is not straightforward and she may inadvertantly admit to something she just doesn't understand.

Dunroamin

How old is her youngest child?