Unannounced visit - Investigation Officer from Council

dacouch

woodbine wrote: »

no but he was therefore driving with no MOT and no insurance as a lack of the first invalidates the second

No it does not

[Deleted User]

dacouch wrote: »

No it does not

i stand corrected,even though it wasnt done in a nice mse style :rotfl:

Dovah_diva

Utterly depressing that there is an entire extended family, including a young girl, who appear to be content to live entirely on benefits for the foreseeable future. None can read or write and only one working, but earning a low wage. IS any of the family (Mum, sister, wife?) at college? Anyone even attempting to learn to read and write so they can get a job and support themselves?

If not, this really should be stopped. This family could potentially be a huge drain on the benefits system for years and years.

pinkladyof66

Dovah_diva wrote: »

Utterly depressing that there is an entire extended family, including a young girl, who appear to be content to live entirely on benefits for the foreseeable future. None can read or write and only one working, but earning a low wage. IS any of the family (Mum, sister, wife?) at college? Anyone even attempting to learn to read and write so they can get a job and support themselves?

If not, this really should be stopped. This family could potentially be a huge drain on the benefits system for years and years.

Oh I so agree with you here however this is just one case of many, they have no intention of learning our language whilst living in our country... Yet quite happy to take our benefits... Yes I agree soemthing must be done.. I agree too, someone on DLA is able to just up sticks and go on a long flight abroad for 5 months... seems as if he is fitter than what we are made to believe. Makes my blood boil....... I doubt poster will come back and advise of the end result ..... See these threads all the time:mad:

jetplane

This really is not that unusual an occurrence and the LA staff will be used to it. They will establish the dates of travel and recalculate the benefit or reduction, issue a new bill which may or may not be altered following any appeal process, and then the father will arrange to repay what is owing. As housing benefit has not been mentioned I would assume that the house is owned.

The father is the claimant therefore it is his responsibility no one else's the fact that he uses his son to manage his affairs is neither here nor there, unless he is his appointee for benefits. The LA allow 3 months after a death to notify changes therefore the reason they are visiting is that the 3 month is now 5 month+.

The only question I would have is if the family knew where to get help to claim the benefits (the Councillor) then they had the knowledge of where to go to ask what would happen if father had to extend his stay?

Not referring to the OP as such but it is not unusual to have a family where the parents do not read or write English, the younger wife may have moved to the UK for the marriage and may not be expected to learn English. A 16 year old daughter would probably not be allowed access to her fathers mail. It is also expected that the father would attend India for a funeral and these visits are often extended.

So the parents receive Income based pension credits, DLA, Child Tax credits and Child benefit for their daughter. They are entitled to the maximum Council tax reduction that their LA allows with no non dep deductions for their working son. The son receives his earnings, working tax credit, child tax credit and child benefit for his family. My second question is why does no one claim Carers Allowance as the daughter or either wife could be eligible, even the son depending on how low his wages are.

There are two issues was the father entitled to benefits for the period he was abroad and has he paid his liability under then new council tax scheme since April.

jetplane

pinkladyof66 wrote: »

I agree too, someone on DLA is able to just up sticks and go on a long flight abroad for 5 months...

The flight will make special arrangements for a disabled person and someone may have traveled with him. His family will look after him while he is abroad.

SHIRAZ

As I read it the op's Dad was only away for so long as he was taken ill whilst he was there. He wasn't on a 5 month holiday...

Dimey

Wow - I would be a useless Benefits investigator. I believe everything Rahmandanel says. It sounds genuine to me.

I think she panicked about the unscheduled visit because of a natural fear of authority and not wanting to have mistakenly done anything wrong.

I can see how she twigged about the 13 week rule after another poster mentioned it. Its quite normal for Indian families to visit for long periods when they do get the opportunity to visit extended family in India. (Sorry this was on such a sad occasion.) And as Father got ill, that would have extended the visit.

Given the reaction of Posters who know what they are talking about here, I hope Rahmandanel will phone the Council to tell them she's realised why the investigator wants to visit and explain by phone. Tell the council she will supply death certificate, flight ticket stubs & invoice and Doctors certificate from India.

I guess the important bit is the dates overseas and the council will just work out the re-payment from there in addition to doing a thorough overhaul of Father's total benefits package.

Rahmandanel, don't forget to tell the HMRC Pensions office about the 5 months overseas.

Dimey

Dovah_diva wrote: »

Utterly depressing that there is an entire extended family, including a young girl, who appear to be content to live entirely on benefits for the foreseeable future. None can read or write and only one working, but earning a low wage. IS any of the family (Mum, sister, wife?) at college? Anyone even attempting to learn to read and write so they can get a job and support themselves?

If not, this really should be stopped. This family could potentially be a huge drain on the benefits system for years and years.

I thought this was normal in the UK now.

This is what successive governments have chosen to spend our tax & NI on instead of - for example, the NHS or apprenticeships or regenerating employment in northern cities.
They want this country to be a welcoming benefactor to people from all around the world, funded by money from generations of UK workers.

[Edit - I might be wrong but I think the policy was started by Labour's Tony Blair after he was elected (because it wasn't on the election manifesto). He called it the Multi-Cultural society. Successive governments continued it.]

I've never claimed benefits, nor has anyone in my extended family and we are not wealthy by any means. I wouldn't know where to start. There seems to be an art to using the system.

When I was made redundant with a few years to go till retirement I phoned the Benefits office to see if I could claim anything. I got such a hostile reception, I couldn't face being treated like a criminal if I visited the office so I gave up the idea. I live off my savings in a frugal lifestyle and do casual work when I can get it. Works fine.

Dunroamin

pinkladyof66 wrote: »

Oh I so agree with you here however this is just one case of many, they have no intention of learning our language whilst living in our country... Yet quite happy to take our benefits... Yes I agree soemthing must be done.. I agree too, someone on DLA is able to just up sticks and go on a long flight abroad for 5 months... seems as if he is fitter than what we are made to believe. Makes my blood boil....... I doubt poster will come back and advise of the end result ..... See these threads all the time:mad:

Many people who claim DLA work full time, quite legitimately.