Urgent advice please

Robin_Catbush

Hi I am desperate for some advice and it's needed very quickly please. I am a Bi-Lateral Amputee and I have been claiming ESA, DLA & Working Tax Credits since June 2010, everything was going smoothly until late last year when I had notification that I could draw some funds from two very small pension pots ( less than £3K) I decided that as Christmas was coming and I was nearing the end of my mortgage I would take these tax freesums and pay off the mortgage and have a good Christmas with my Grandchildren.
I called the DWP & HMRC to make sure my Benefits would not be affected and was assured both times because of the amount involved my Benefits should not be affected Just before Christmas I received a form from the DWP saying thet HMRC had informed them that I had taken these funds and that they wanted to make sure I was getting the right amount of Benefit ( in other words snooping to see if I was committing fraud). I duly sent copies of everything I had received and though no more about it.
On Saturday 17-01 I received amother letter from ther DWP a FEPSL7, again entitled Are you getting Enough ESA, It goes on to say We are looking at information about your partners weekly income given to HMRC by or emploteryou ,your partner your partners employers ot your partners pension providers.
My wife is self-employed when we claimed Working Tax Credits we sent of her Certified Accounts. she has no pension provider or employer. The letter goes on to say that can we suppply the following information, current statements of any saving ( we can) . Investments or Capital you ior you partner have ( we haven't any) akthough I do have two other pensions that I do not intend to take until retirement age.Then bizzarely it asks " If you have spent any of your lump sum pensions you will need to supply evidence: ie Reciepts.
As an amputee I do most of my Gift shopping on line I only have my Paypal & Amazon Statements, are they acceptable? I also intendt to pay my small mortgage off this week but they want all the info back by the 25th January. Hardly enough time to try and sort things out. Please can someone help me with this as I feel I am being treated like a crimnal here although I believe I have done nothing wrong and have not slept for worrying abouit this How do I proceed with things please ?????Thank You

Poppie68

You need to reduce the size of the txt and add paragraphs, it's very hard to read.

marliepanda

The two other pensions you mention, are you able to access them now (whether you want to or not)

For some benefits if you have access to a pension it is treated as capital, even if you don't want to take it at that time.

If so, how much are these pensions worth?

Robin_Catbush

Yes they are accessable abd are about 10k each. Will I lose my benefit

emmsie123

Is it contribution based or income based.

Robin_Catbush

Hi I am being paid £109,30 per week and t is contribution based . It states \I cannot get income based because my wife works more than 24 hours a week. and that a desicion on my work capability has been made and I am being placed in a support group.

Robin_Catbush

I'm not taking any of my pensions at this time.

TELLIT01

As you are on Contributions based benefit only, the pensions you are not currently accessing will not be taken into account.
DWP are not 'snooping', they are in receipt of information from HMRC and would be failing in their duty if they didn't clarify any change which may affect the amount of benefit to which you are entitled.
From the figures you have provided it is highly unlikely to have any effect on your benefit. You must provide the information requested, no matter how unreasonable you may think the requests are. If the only information you have on the expenditure is the bank statements, that is all you can provide, although any item I have ever received from Amazon has a receipt with it.