Housing Benefits Investigation

hamidg84

Hi

1 - I have been claiming housing benefit/council tax since 2011. I was company director when applied for the benefits based on low income.
2 - I always renewed tax credits based on P60.
3 - My wife started working in Jan 2015 and we called up HM Revenue and informed about this change. Also received benefit revision notice from local council in Feb 2015.
4 - We have 3 children all under 7.
5 - My wife was gets all benefits into her account and spends them wisely.
6 - She saved 13K over the past 5 years from these benefits and put in saving account with the intention that it's kids money and we will take them on holidays once they are little grown up + prepare them for grammar school.

Issue
In these 4/5 years we never informed council for change of circumstances e,g this saving and increase of salary by £125 per month in 2014.

We now have been asked to provide wages slips since 2011, personal bank statements and various other info.

I'm so scared and gone into stress due to this issue. We have never had intentions of committing to benefit fraud in any way. We even kept benefit money in bank account.

I need to know if we have committed to any criminal offense? If council thinks they have overpaid, they can take back. It's Govt money and we have kept it well safe.

We have nothing to hide. No money has come from other sources into our accounts. Everything is full black & white.

Please advise.

HappyMJ

hamidg84 wrote: »

Hi

1 - I have been claiming housing benefit/council tax since 2011. I was company director when applied for the benefits based on low income.
2 - I always renewed tax credits based on P60.
3 - My wife started working in Jan 2015 and we called up HM Revenue and informed about this change. Also received benefit revision notice from local council in Feb 2015.
4 - We have 3 children all under 7.
5 - My wife was gets all benefits into her account and spends them wisely.
6 - She saved 13K over the past 5 years from these benefits and put in saving account with the intention that it's kids money and we will take them on holidays once they are little grown up + prepare them for grammar school.

Issue
In these 4/5 years we never informed council for change of circumstances e,g this saving and increase of salary by £125 per month in 2014.

We now have been asked to provide wages slips since 2011, personal bank statements and various other info.

I'm so scared and gone into stress due to this issue. We have never had intentions of committing to benefit fraud in any way. We even kept benefit money in bank account.

I need to know if we have committed to any criminal offense? If council thinks they have overpaid, they can take back. It's Govt money and we have kept it well safe.

We have nothing to hide. No money has come from other sources into our accounts. Everything is full black & white.

Please advise.

You have committed an offence and will be required to repay the overpayment possibly with a penalty. That penalty could be a monetary penalty or it could be a prison sentence. You personally claimed the money which you were not entitled to so they can take action against either one of you.

The council have overpaid benefits and could freeze your accounts so if you need some cash I'd be withdrawing some of it now so you can use it over the next few months whilst the investigations are carried out.

I'd think seriously about getting some professional advice. This could cost a couple of hundred pounds but will help you present a case showing any mitigating circumstances.

Why were you not spending the money? Housing benefits are supposed to be used for paying the rent? Were you paying the rent with it? Child tax credits should have been used to put food on the table, clothe your children and pay the bills. How was this being done if you were saving the money? They might suspect you had income from other sources and that other undeclared income was used on the essential bills enabling you to save the tax credits.

missbiggles1

Why didn't you declare your savings when claiming means tested benefits?

marleyboy

It's only a criminal offence if you knowingly defrauded the system. Its the difference between withholding the relevant information or not being aware of its relevance.

Without any doubt they can and likely will reclaim any losses back from you but it needn't mean a criminal conviction, it all depends on your circumstances.

missbiggles1

marleyboy wrote: »

It's only a criminal offence if you knowingly defrauded the system. Its the difference between withholding the relevant information or not being aware of its relevance.

Without any doubt they can and likely will reclaim any losses back from you but it needn't mean a criminal conviction, it all depends on your circumstances.

When you claim means tested benefits you're specifically asked about your level of savings - nobody could claim to be ignorant of this fact.

hamidg84

Hi

We are fully up to date with rent. No issues at all.

We have paid all bills, food, kids shopping everything from account. They can clearly see everything. We don't have high standard living. Just a happy family who has always managed to fulfill basic living requirements.

I went to council last week and officer said, if you had informed us direct instead of DWP, there would be no issue.

We simply never thought of withdrawing money since it was being saved with good honest intentions.

I need to provide them required info by email and then they will call for another interview and go through all findings from bank statement i believe. There has been no other source of income at all.

I'm finding myself in very honest position and don't think there is need of solicitor but if experts suggest it, I will seek advice.

marleyboy

When you claim means tested benefits you're specifically asked about your level of savings - nobody could claim to be ignorant of this fact

Agreed, I'm just giving OP the benefit of the doubt.........................for now.

hamidg84

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Why didn't you declare your savings when claiming means tested benefits?

When we claimed HB in 2011, We had no saving at all but over the years, wife has managed to saved every penny from kids benefits for their smooth future. 3 young boys are not easy to manage :-(

HappyMJ

hamidg84 wrote: »

Hi

We are fully up to date with rent. No issues at all.

We have paid all bills, food, kids shopping everything from account. They can clearly see everything. We don't have high standard living. Just a happy family who has always managed to fulfill basic living requirements.

I went to council last week and officer said, if you had informed us direct instead of DWP, there would be no issue.

We simply never thought of withdrawing money since it was being saved with good honest intentions.

I need to provide them required info by email and then they will call for another interview and go through all findings from bank statement i believe. There has been no other source of income at all.

I'm finding myself in very honest position and don't think there is need of solicitor but if experts suggest it, I will seek advice.

£13,000 over 5 years is some serious frugal living. Tax credits don't pay enough to save that much. You are saving £50 a week.

I highly suspect you have other income from your business. Is the business covering the rent that you pay on the property so you show a zero profit and you are keeping the housing benefit for yourself?

As the application form asks...do you have savings in excess of £6,000. You answered "no".

marleyboy

How much in savings altogether are we talking about?

HappyMJ

hamidg84 wrote: »

When we claimed HB in 2011, We had no saving at all but over the years, wife has managed to saved every penny from kids benefits for their smooth future. 3 young boys are not easy to manage :-(

That's fine to save it but you've got to declare it so your benefits are stopped so you can live on the savings and reclaim once they fall again. You must know that...you signed the declaration saying you would.

If you were saving every penny from the kids benefits then how did you pay for their living costs. As you say 3 young boys are not easy to manage...they don't come cheap.