MSE News: Single parents sent 'threatening' letters demanding proof they live alone

FBaby

I get that checks need to be done, however a bank statement is very personal

Do you realise that everyone's movements are being monitored many times a day with cctv? What's so personal in a statement that a total stranger who doesn't know you at all would find shocking? And even if they did, what does it matter as long as that information is not used against you, in which case if it was, you could take them to court anyway? What could be there that is so personal that it would become an issue for someone else to see? £50 spent every day at the liquor store, cost to chat up phone lines? The reality is that those people reviewing bank statement will look at 100s of them and quickly get bored with it. All they will care is looking at anything that would suggest someone else is paying for essential bills or payments are going somewhere that wouldn't be expected for a single parent (so if anything, subscription to a dating agency would go in their favour )

but sending out letters saying that they have 'evidence' that someone is living with you sounds like an accusation

It is an accusation, it is a supsicion based on potential evidence. Nothing wrong with that.

patanne

I would think that although it may be sensitive putting the supposed co-habitor's name in the letter is a good thing. At least you know what they are getting at. After all it could be the previous tenant or owner of your property or your landlord. With so many financial things being dealt with online now it seems quite likely that something has been left registered at an old address.

p00hsticks

restless6 wrote: »

I wouldnt be worried about being asked to prove i live alone, because i do live alone, apart from my children of course.

and how exactly would you go about proving that ?

seren77

I have no objection to anyone checking up on anyone's details re benefits. However, the letter from Concentrix could have been worded in a more sensible way. It states that they have 'strong evidence' that I am not single. My partner died ten years ago. We had no joint finances or benefits. I assumed some idiot had tried to shop me because my adult son lives with me. I didn't realise (until I saw this thread) that it's a generic letter they seem to be sending out to a lot of people. I rang Concentrix immediately, got through straight away, explained that I live alone apart from my children and they said that was fine and not to bother sending anything in. I had a letter 2 days later saying they had completed their check and that I didn't need to take any further action.

restless6

p00hsticks wrote: »

and how exactly would you go about proving that ?

I pay all of the biils and they have only ever been in my name. I can provide documents to show this.
I have child support letters to show i am not with children father.
There are no other persons using my address for any reason.

Ok, short of having a person hiding in a cupboard, i can demonstrate by paperwork there is no one here but is it possible to 100 per cent prove that no adult lives here apart from me?

I think if the suspected adult named in these letters is checked by their national insurance number to see where they are registered for tax and other bills etc and they are showing up linked to an address then yes the 'single' person should prove they aren't there.
otherwise they could be claiming money they are not entitled to.

dori2o

It's so very easy t get caught up in this.

A case I dealt with before Christmas was a single woman with 2 children, she was living alone but had allowed her boyfriend to use her address for certain things such as a catalogue.

It automatically puts this person into a link with the single parent. The account may not have been in joint names but now the CRA has a record that this person has a financial product from this address.

It's that simple.

In this case the boyfriend was able to provide bank statements and his driving licence to show he was living elsewhere and only using the address for convenience (he didn't want his parents to know about the catalogue apparently).

dori2o

tedsd wrote: »

'Do you realise that everyone's movements are being monitored many times a day with cctv? What's so personal in a statement that a total stranger who doesn't know you at all would find shocking?'

No problem at all so long as they are kept securely. I would look into the organisation's reputation first and would rather send them directly to HMRC.

Ted

The problem is as far as the law is concerned you are sending them directly to HMRC.

This company is working as an agent for HMRC and as such they are bound by the same security and privacy regulations that HMRC are bound by.

As i said earlier many people cried with joy when staff were culled from the public sector, HMRC has lost more than most other departments, so what do they do when the majority of the same people are then demanding that checks are done on tax credit claimants. There simply are not enough staff at HMRC to do them anymore and so it has to be tendered to the private sector.

It's the same with debt recovery, HMRC now use private sector DCA's to recover debts.

This has been brought on by the will of the people, and yet now these same people believe it's wrong that they should be targetted.

Kind of ironic really isn't it?

Cate1976

I can think of a few scenarios where a single parent is still financially linked to their ex or living with opposite gender for legitimate reasons:

Joint mortgage and neither can afford to pay it on their own so both names still on it.

Single parent living with family and opposite gender is a family member.

Ex still has something registered to the address whether deliberately or they've forgotten to change it.

I'm glad HMRC are trying to catch those claiming fraudulantly but the unfortunate consequence is many innocent people are in a situation of having to prove they are single. I guess the biggest problem comes if the single parent is no longer in contact with their ex for whatever reason. They can in theory prove all household bills are in their name easily but proving where the ex lives would be difficult. One possible could be searching the electoral register and paying to view the full address and print it off.

Poppie68

p00hsticks wrote: »

and how exactly would you go about proving that ?

I would think that the genuine claimant's that do truly live alone would be able to provide proof that the person in question lived elsewhere.
The problem being is that this bunch of fools Concentrix don't seem to want to let you know who 'you are living with'....it seems to be a closely guarded secret!

corbyboy

Any chance we can see the actual content of the letter?

Does it say "please send us proof you live alone" or does it say, for example, "please send us your most recent gas bill"?

Quite an important difference.