Benefit Investigation

publicsectorworker

tomtom256 wrote: »

Why not just open a basic account that has no credit scoring attached, most banks, the post office etc offer these.

They ask for statements as it's fairer and owing to the onus of proof. If they had provided them with no redaction, the matter would have been sorted, however they have tried to hide outgoings/deposits from the account, hence why FIS would have obtained there own copies.

They would have also checked if any other accounts exised that had been ommitted by accident.

As to the relationship and th fact that they are not claiming is relevant, as there may sufficient evidence to suggest living together etc from the statements and other possible evidence obtained.

They may open basic acc now but as it is they didnt because the thought credit score would prevent.

How would living together or not be relevant when theres only one benefit claimed and no ct or hb.

starrystarry

publicsectorworker wrote: »

How would living together or not be relevant when theres only one benefit claimed and no ct or hb.

It wouldn't be relevant if only contributions based JSA was claimed. But that benefit only lasts for 6 months. If this person was claiming JSA for several years it must have been income based JSA. For that benefit, it may be relevant if he/she was living with someone as their income would be taken into account.

publicsectorworker

Pippin12 wrote: »

There's a very real possibility that this will end up in court and your friend will be fined and have to pay the money back. 'Editing' the bank statements was a very bad move as it looks like they're still involved in attempts to deceive the DWP - whether rightly or wrongly. The best advice is just to come clean and tell the truth about EVERYTHING, give accurate copies of all bank statemnts and hope their co operation leads to some leniency (that's a long shot though).

it was a bad move but they are not still deceiving or doing anything except waiting for something back. how long can it take to get back one way or the other.

publicsectorworker

starrystarry wrote: »

It wouldn't be relevant if only contributions based JSA was claimed. But that benefit only lasts for 6 months. If this person was claiming JSA for several years it must have been income based JSA. For that benefit, it may be relevant if he/she was living with someone as their income would be taken into account.

there is no partner. if you are a single person claiming only jsa and living with someone who isnt a partner and meeting terms of jsa and claiming no other benefits why would any one elses income be taken into account.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

publicsectorworker wrote: »

there is no partner. if you are a single person claiming only jsa and living with someone who isnt a partner and meeting terms of jsa and claiming no other benefits why would any one elses income be taken into account.

So is this other person they live with who isn't a partner the person they have the joint bank account with?

publicsectorworker

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

So is this other person they live with who isn't a partner the person they have the joint bank account with?

sorry if its not but there is no attempt to claim to be single when they are not if thats what you mean.
they live at the same address. they dont live with each other as partners and if that was a line of enquiry it would be easy to prove it wasn't the case.

Jobseeeker

publicsectorworker wrote: »

there is no partner. if you are a single person claiming only jsa and living with someone who isnt a partner and meeting terms of jsa and claiming no other benefits why would any one elses income be taken into account.

It wouldn't be but as they have tried to edit the bank account it will look like they have something to hide. Is this two flatmates with a joint account for household bills? They should have just explained that.

nannytone_2

if it was a joint abbount for bills, then no other money would be going in or coming out.

the fact that they reside in the same property and have a joint bank account will appear suspicious, even if it is totally above board.
by trying to hide information, they have flagged themselves up and should expect a thorough investigation to be carried out on their claim and living circumstances

starrystarry

publicsectorworker wrote: »

sorry if its not but there is no attempt to claim to be single when they are not if thats what you mean.
they live at the same address. they dont live with each other as partners and if that was a line of enquiry it would be easy to prove it wasn't the case.

It's like pulling teeth trying to get information out of you. If you want people to help you you'll need to be more forthcoming. You've been asked several times what the relationship between these people is but you never give a straight answer. You just keep telling us what the relationship isn't. The questions you're being asked here are nothing compared to the questions that your "friend" will face during the investigation. I hope your "friend" is a bit more forthcoming than you've been.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

So do they jointly own the property? Or jointly rent? Or does she live rent free in her 'friends' property?

If I was dealing with a claimant and discovered an undeclared joint bank account with a person she shared the property with and when she provided evidence of the bank account she decided to black out loads of transactions that would certainly set a fair few alarm bells ringing.