DWP requesting bank statements

reddevildanni

Hi just looking for a bit of advice/reassurance.

I receive ESA (contributions based with income related top up) About 4 weeks ago I was asked to send in bank statements which I did. I have today received a letter which has me worried sick.

In February 2014 my grandmother passed away. March 2014 my grandad gave me a cheque for £10,000 and told me to split it with my mum. At the time my mum didn't have a savings account so we left it in mine. In October 2014 my mum opened a savings account in her own name as I was struggling to keep track of what was hers/mine and I transferred £4,500 to her account the day she opened it. At this time I was only in receipt of contributions based which has no savings limit.

In January 2015 I started claiming the income related top up which was back dated to when my claim began in 2012, I received around £400.

Today they have sent a letter wanting to see my savings account from Jan 2014 - Sept 2014 & I have to explain what happened to the £4,500. Have I done anything wrong? I have made an appointment for Thursday to take my statements in, I'm just worried sick!

marliepanda

Honestly the timing will look suspect. I'm not saying you did anything wrong but transferring money which had been in your account for nearly 10 months just 2 months before needing income related benefits will look dodgy.

The fact you then allowed them to backdate it to a time when you had 10,000 in your bank will be a further issue.

You can explain it, perhaps a letter from your grandad explaining what the money was for and who for, but they will no doubt look at it with suspicion. I would expect to have to repay some of the money for the time you had 10k. .

reddevildanni

I can't believe how stupid I've been, it never occurred to me about the savings affecting them backdating my claim. I'll willingly pay back anything I owe. I can't stop thinking about it I actually feel sick

HB58

Would your share of the £10,000 have put your own savings over £6,000? If so, you would have had your IR ESA reduced anyway, not counting anything that might be decided about the £4,500 you gave to your mum.

reddevildanni

I already had £2,000 so the 10k took me up to 12k. When I applied for the ESA IR I declared what I had in the account at the time which was just over £7,000 and they reduced my IR amount accordingly. Can anyone tell me what is likely to happen next? I'm so scared, I'm severely disabled and I'm making myself ill worrying about it.

NYM

reddevildanni wrote: »

I already had £2,000 so the 10k took me up to 12k. When I applied for the ESA IR I declared what I had in the account at the time which was just over £7,000 and they reduced my IR amount accordingly. Can anyone tell me what is likely to happen next? I'm so scared, I'm severely disabled and I'm making myself ill worrying about it.

Please try not to worry, as there's nothing that you can do to 'undo' what's happened all you can do is explain the circumstances.
What's the worst that can happen?

[Deleted User]

You may have to repay some of the benefits, little else will happen, stop worrying as already said you can't undo what has been done

reddevildanni

Will they make me have an interview? Thanks for your help I feel a little better about it now

pcc2304

Dwp will take no action in this case except request you pay back any overpayment. Dwp will only start to consider proceedings if the overpayment is over £2500 or where there's clear evidence of fraud. They have to comply with the prosecution in public interest rules.

tomtom256

pcc2304 wrote: »

Dwp will take no action in this case except request you pay back any overpayment. Dwp will only start to consider proceedings if the overpayment is over £2500 or where there's clear evidence of fraud. They have to comply with the prosecution in public interest rules.

Thats not quite true as the DWP offer administrative penalties for any offences over £2,000 with legal proceedings i.e. court starting at £4,000. However there is some wiggle room depending on reasons etc.

Are you being investigated by a fraud officer or a compliance officer?

If it's compliance then your benefit will just be corrected and an overpayment sent out, if it's fraud officer then you may be sanctioned.

Maximum_Saving

Two of my friends went to see a compliance offer at the job centre. The man had a bank account with around £1000 in it. He had got married shortly before that meeting. The officer asked to see his wife's bank statements. They went together to show this paperwork.

The lady was asked at her meeting why she has more than one bank account. That she told me is because she went to a Money Course at a church. The officer added the amounts of money. It all added up to much less than £6000.

I think you could get a letter from your grandad which explains about the money. Good luck.