Customer compliance interview for undeclared benefits (I think)

Yasmin25_2

***undeclared savings I meant


Today I received a letter saying that I have to attend an interview with a customer compliance officer at my local job centre. I have been on benefits over the summer and plan to stop in a fortnight once college has started back up. I have been on JSA twice before and never received this letter. Its a joint claim between me and my boyfriend as we live together and he isn't invited to the interview, just me as I am the main claimant.

I've been told to bring a bank statement and any evidence of savings/ISAs that me or my partner might have. I have none of these but I have just been informed today that my boyfriend actually has an ISA! He says he has around £6000 in it now and didn't know if he should have declared it or not. I am raging because when I asked him when filling out the form, he didn't tell me he had any savings. He said he has never put it down on his forms for previous applications for JSA.

He doesn't think the interview is anything to do with that but I'm not so sure as it is highlighted that we should bring evidence of savings/ISAs if we have any and not the rest of things such as property, other savings etc.

A few days before I received this letter, we applied for JSA to cover our housing benefit arrears as we got into arrears as our application took about 4 weeks to process and we literally had no money for rent between that time.

I am now worried sick that I am going to get into serious trouble because I never knew about his ISA. What exactly does the customer compliance team deal with? All I can see online is fraud.

Does anyone have any experience with them and the interviews?

I'm going to be a nervous wreck until this interview on Wednesday.
Should he call up on Monday and declare it? If I call up my local centre will they tell me exactly what the interview is about?

I am absolutely raging but also really worried he will get into serious trouble for this, such as jail or I might get into trouble.

Thanks

jacques_chirac

It is a bit late to declare it now! Take all the information with you and explain your partner is a numpty. Depending on whether the amount takes you over £6,000, you may have to pay back any overpayment and receive a penalty. On the information given, you will not be going to prison.

Can we confirm that this is not an interview under caution?

You mention being at college - are you in between courses, or do you have children? Have you declared your student (or not) status to the JCP?

Yasmin25_2

Thanks for your reply

Yeah I can confirm it is definitely not an interview under caution thankfully.

Yeah the job centre know we are both going back to college in the next few weeks and that we just in-between college courses at the moment over the summer and no we don't have any kids.

benefitbaby

Only capital over £6,000 will affect the amount of JSA you are entitled to so the best thing you can do is add up all you/your boyfriend's savings and see what this comes to.

For every £250 (or part £250) you have over £6,000 then your JSA is reduced by £1 so it may not be as bad as you think. May I suggest your boyfriend make good on any overpayment or penalty as he has the savings and he did not disclose!

Just explain what happened, that you didn't know your boyfriend had the ISA, that you are fuming angry and provide them with the savings info.

Usually customer compliance is used to weed out the potential fraud cases from the 'oversight' or mistake cases so try not to worry too much.

Yasmin25_2

I hope re-paying is all that happens to him. I'm dreading in case it gets sent to the fraud team and then to court.
I'm hoping I'm just worrying over nothing as usual!

MidnightHour

Very few cases are taken to court, it costs too much for a start, and most cases are due to ignorance and the sheer difficulty of claiming.

This is the UK, after all.

benefitbaby

Fraud cases occur when there has been dishonesty with intent - this is not the case here... remember this is your claim (not your boyfriends), you did not set out to defraud, it was a simple mistake so I highly doubt they will persue this further. You may end up with an overpayment - depending on the amount of cash in the ISA - that you have to repay and you could be given a civil penalty of £50. But I would hope that your boyfriend would do the decent thing and give you the money from his ISA for you to use.

Yasmin25_2

Thanks everyone, you have calmed my nerves a little. Still can't help thinking the worst though!

My boyfriend said he will pay for any re-payments off his ISA. He said I wont pay a penny.

samroo

Are you sure you are eligible for JSA if you were always intending to return to college after the summer break.

If you can receive JSA payments, wouldn't all students be claiming over the summer?

Yasmin25_2

Yes students who are studying part time at college or uni can apply for JSA over the summer while they wait for their courses so start up again. It is just students that are doing full time uni courses that can't apply over the summer, I'm assuming because they will get money from their student loan and because they are still registered as a full time student over the summer whereas those at college aren't because their course is finished.

sammyjammy

Yasmin25 wrote: »

Yes students who are studying part time at college or uni can apply for JSA over the summer while they wait for their courses so start up again. It is just students that are doing full time uni courses that can't apply over the summer, I'm assuming because they will get money from their student loan and because they are still registered as a full time student over the summer whereas those at college aren't because their course is finished.

Its no different for college students than it is for Uni students, the difference is where a course has come to an end and you are going back to college to start a new course, this sounds like the situation you are in. You won't get taken to court as its not in the interest of hte public purse, depending on the exact amount in his account there may not even be an overpayment.

Of course nobody knows what the interview is about we are only surmising.

I find it strange that with savings in the bank your boyfriend allowed you to get into arrears with your Housing Benefit, I trust he'll now be clearing these arrears.