benefit fraud.

buttonmoon52

a good friend of mine has recently commited benefit fraud this has been caught onto since his ex wife informed the DWP. needless to say I have a word with him about this and that its unacceptable.

He has since got himself very worked up and stressed. He says he had a small job where he earned 7k over the space of a year, his benefits totalled 12k for he and his young daughter.

The fact that he shouldn't have been working while claiming has got him very worked up as hes not sure will he have to pay back the whole 12k?

when he did a benefits calculator it claimed that if he was earning 7K he would have still got around 10k in benefits had he notified the DWP, something he was not aware of.

Will he have to pay back the whole 12k of that years benefit or just the difference (such as will the investigator work out what he would have been entitled to and he pays the difference plus the fine)

hope this all makes sense. while I know he's done wrong I just want to ease his mind over Christmas.

RuthnJasper

I'm not sure what people will advise, really. I am afraid that he has zero sympathy from me, Chrimble or not.

His daughter, on the other hand, I am very sorry for. I hope that she has an OK Christmas.

Further guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/benefit-fraud and here: http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/Fraud_bribery_and_money_laundering_offences_-_Definitive_guideline.pdf.

Perhaps if he grovels, he may be able to repay it in instalments, but that's up to the Benefits people and the law, I believe.

w00519772

I would hope that he would have to pay it all back plus a fine. In installments to make it affordable.

keaton

I'm not sure how much is paid back, but there us generally a 50% fine. I think if your not receiving any benefits its payable in full. But I may be wrong.

marleyboy

He will have to pay back every penny he has defrauded. Regardless of any prison sentence he gets. He deserves everything he WILL get.

keaton

marleyboy wrote: »

He will have to pay back every penny he has defrauded. Regardless of any prison sentence he gets. He deserves everything he WILL get.

While I agree the op'sfriends actions are very wrong, I don't think your comment really answers his or her question nor do the comments of what a bad person the friend is, yes they did wrong, but that's not what the thread is about. From my understanding if the op's friend had contacted the DWP they would have been entitled to benefits, though at a lesser rate.

Whether the op's friend would have to pay every penny of the benefit or just the extra amount I'm not sure.

ceecee1

Depends on which benefit he was receiving and whether his weekly wages (less any disregard) would completely wipe out the amount of the benefit. Or, if he was working over 16 hours a week then no benefit would have been payable and the whole lot will need to be repaid.

TELLIT01

It's possible that a calculation will be done to determine what benefits he would have been entitled to had he declared his income from the start. It's likely then that he would be expected to pay back the 'overpayment' and will also be hit with a fine equal to 50% of the overpayment.

keaton

ceecee1 wrote: »

Depends on which benefit he was receiving and whether his weekly wages (less any disregard) would completely wipe out the amount of the benefit. Or, if he was working over 16 hours a week then no benefit would have been payable and the whole lot will need to be repaid.

I've never heard that before about it depending on what benefit a person is receiving, what's the difference in punishment between the benefits,?

dippy3103

keaton wrote: »

I've never heard that before about it depending on what benefit a person is receiving, what's the difference in punishment between the benefits,?

None., but he may have a reduced entitlement to some of his benefits. The amount he would have been paid had his true circumstances been known will not count towards the overpayment.

ceecee1

keaton wrote: »

I've never heard that before about it depending on what benefit a person is receiving, what's the difference in punishment between the benefits,?

Different benefits have different rules governing work and income