"Interview under caution..."

DonutUK

Ok...i have just got home (i work away all week) and found a letter from my local authority stating that they wish to interview me under caution regarding suspected benefit fraud, specifically that i failed to tell them of a change in circumstances.

1st problem is that i work away all week and cannot make their weekday interview.

I was claiming benefit for approx 2 months before starting a new job in the first week of the new year.....i told the job centre that i was starting work and phoned the local authority "hub" and informed them of the same.

Apparently the message never got through to either...as the job centre managed to "lose" my returning to work form and therefore cut my benefit off 3 weeks too early......still arguing over that one.
Also, it appears now that the local authority continued to pay housing benefit and council tax benefit well in to March...i started work in January.

Now, partly my fault as i don't really keep that close an eye on my finances....all my bills are direct debit, and my rent is done by standing order. So, i wasn't aware that they were paying me the benefit.....as far as i was concerned i have notified them that i was starting work, end of the matter i thought.

It looks like typical local authority incompetence in that the "hub" person obviously hasn't recorded my call correctly.

Where do i stand with this "interview under caution".....obviously i don't want to get prosecuted, but likewise i am not going to start taking days off work to sort out their mistakes!

Dovah_diva

DonutUK wrote: »

Now, partly my fault as i don't really keep that close an eye on my finances....all my bills are direct debit, and my rent is done by standing order. So, i wasn't aware that they were paying me the benefit.....as far as i was concerned i have notified them that i was starting work, end of the matter i thought.

It looks like typical local authority incompetence in that the "hub" person obviously hasn't recorded my call correctly.

Where do i stand with this "interview under caution".....obviously i don't want to get prosecuted, but likewise i am not going to start taking days off work to sort out their mistakes!

I think you're going to have bite the bullet and attend. I really can't believe you never noticed you were being paid HB & CTB. They may have made a mistake, but so have you.

epitome

Dovah_diva wrote: »

I really can't believe you never noticed you were being paid HB & CTB. They may have made a mistake, but so have you.

I can, some of us do not look at our accounts very often we just use debit cards for groceries etc.

I can go for months even a year without looking at my bank statements, if I get paper statements through the post they remain unopened.

If I was you OP, I would write a reply saying you are happy to attend on a weekend, and why you cannot attend at any other time. I would also include a statement written of what you did, and that you wish to repay the overpayment. Or if they wish they can send you a list of questions that they have and you will answer each one in writiing. I don't believe they can compel you to attend an interview.

And to respond to FBaby (below this post) It is partly his fault, because he exercised his duty under the law, he informed both the council and the DWP that he had started work. The DWP stopped the benefit and would have informed the council who should have stopped the HB based on the communication from the DWP, so the council actually ignored 2 communications that his JSA was stopping. There is fault on both sides but the majority of the fault lies with the council IMHO. And I would not say that the small amount of fault OP holds is suffiient to bring charges of fraud.

FBaby

It is not 'partly' your fault, it your fault full stop. If it had been the other way around and you had twice the amount of your direct debit going, would you accept it because it wasn't your fault you didn't check?

It is incompetent not to check one's account at least monthly especially when you seem to have more money in your account that you expect.

tomtom256

Did you start paying full council tax when you started work?

Did you log the date and time of the call? Most councils can check there records of calls received going back about a year or so.

And you never received any bank statements or checked your balance for over 3 months?

I would explain the working away issue and ask if you can get a late Friday appointment if you can get away early to sort it out or early Monday depending on if you live away also and travel etc.

Most councils will automatically prosecute you if you fail to attend 3 interviews.

nannytone_2

maybe people who work and get a liveable wage dont need to check bamk avvounts.
thos that live on benefits/limited incomes, usually know almost to the penny, how much money is in the bank

real1314

2 different phone calls, to 2 different organisations, and neither resulted in them getting the message?
I'm not saying that councils and jobcentres don't ever makes mistakes, but it seems improbable.
Presumably OP can show his phone records with details of the calls, and can demonstrate that they haven't used the money that's been credited?

bloolagoon

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/57245711#Comment_57245711


Could it be because you were working at the time?

FBaby

nannytone wrote: »

maybe people who work and get a liveable wage dont need to check bamk avvounts.
thos that live on benefits/limited incomes, usually know almost to the penny, how much money is in the bank

]

Which world are you living in? I earn a good income as does my partner and we both check our account balance at least once if not twice a month. It's nothing to do with how much you earn, it's to do with making sure there are no odd transactions and keeping an eye on how much we spend. We are fortunate that we don't have to write down every single transaction, but that's a far cry from never checking our account. Totally irresponsible behaviour considering how prevalent fraud is.

DonutUK

bloolagoon wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/57245711#Comment_57245711


Could it be because you were working at the time?

I was made redundant from that job following the accident referred to.....hence my claim for benefits.

Thanks for looking though.

bloolagoon

nannytone wrote: »

maybe people who work and get a liveable wage dont need to check bamk avvounts.
thos that live on benefits/limited incomes, usually know almost to the penny, how much money is in the bank

You need to know if your bills can be paid, mortgages and rent are expensive and you need to understand you have funds to cover these high bills.

It's nothing to do with income, its financial responsibility - the lack of happens regardless of income levels and appears in various forms.