DWP benefit review letter from compliance officer

Tolly_T

I don't know anything about this but I just did a quick search and found a guide to DSA which might be helpful

Extra help - Disabled Students' Allowances

Page 9 includes

Jobcentre Plus and your local authority’s Housing Benefit section will
take account of most of any Maintenance Loan (and some student
grants) you’re entitled to. The Special Support Grant and DSAs won’t
be taken into account.

saving_pennies

Thank you Alice Holt and Tolly_T. Very useful info and links there which does back up my thoughts and reassures me. I tried searching through the official regulations (DMG files from gov website) and these confused me, so it is good to have something that is in plain English.

The Disability Rights UK helpline sounds like it would be very helpful, so I will phone them.

I really hope this is a case of misunderstanding and can easily be resolved with me clarifying the situation and giving them replacement copies of communication I have had with them before regarding this.

I am wondering whether I should record the "interview", just in case I need to refer back to it at a later stage. Or at least get my support worker to make notes.

Thank you once again. It really has helped to write down my concerns and have you all respond so quickly.

saving_pennies

Hello everyone,

I thought I would update you following the meeting with the Compliance Officer which I attended with my support worker.

The compliance officer was kind and understanding (I know, surprised me too lol). She explained that sometimes computer checks are not accurate. In this case the computer check was so far from accurate that it could have been referring to a different person. Apparently Student Finance computer told DWP I was a full time student and received over £14000 last year. No wonder the DWP needed to check if I was eligible to receive benefits!

Fortunately, I had kept all relevant paperwork and the compliance officer was satisfied that my course was very part-time and that I only received small amounts as reimbursements for disability study related materials. She was also satisfied that on several different occasions I had informed the DWP in writing.

I am so glad my interview went smoothly and nothing like the horror stories I read online.

Thanks again for your advice.

LocoLoco

saving_pennies wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I thought I would update you following the meeting with the Compliance Officer which I attended with my support worker.

The compliance officer was kind and understanding (I know, surprised me too lol). She explained that sometimes computer checks are not accurate. In this case the computer check was so far from accurate that it could have been referring to a different person. Apparently Student Finance computer told DWP I was a full time student and received over £14000 last year. No wonder the DWP needed to check if I was eligible to receive benefits!

Fortunately, I had kept all relevant paperwork and the compliance officer was satisfied that my course was very part-time and that I only received small amounts as reimbursements for disability study related materials. She was also satisfied that on several different occasions I had informed the DWP in writing.

I am so glad my interview went smoothly and nothing like the horror stories I read online.

Thanks again for your advice.

Really glad it went well and everything is sorted You do only tend to hear the horror stories which does make it scary when these sort of things crop up. Glad it's all okay now.

Irisa

Hi,

Does anyone have the answer to this? I have just received a letter asking me to attend an interview with a customer compliance officer at the job centre. I am registered as blind and receive contribution based ESA. I've been assigned to the support group and I also receivepersonal Independence payment. I'm quite happy to attend the interview but they've asked me to take along my bank statements and those of my husband too. Obviously I am curious to know why they wish to interview me but also why they require bank statements as neither myself or my husband are in receipt of means tested benefits. I feel this is very intrusive and although I don't have anything to hide I would prefer not to show them personal information relating to either my or my husband's finances. I have never previously been asked for this information Is this standard procedure?

irisa

paragon909

Irisa wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone have the answer to this? I have just received a letter asking me to attend an interview with a customer compliance officer at the job centre. I am registered as blind and receive contribution based ESA. I've been assigned to the support group and I also receivepersonal Independence payment. I'm quite happy to attend the interview but they've asked me to take along my bank statements and those of my husband too. Obviously I am curious to know why they wish to interview me but also why they require bank statements as neither myself or my husband are in receipt of means tested benefits. I feel this is very intrusive and although I don't have anything to hide I would prefer not to show them personal information relating to either my or my husband's finances. I have never previously been asked for this information Is this standard procedure?

irisa

People will say start your own thread, But that is trivial.

It's basically a benefits review, They ask you a bunch of question mostly yes and no ones. If you fail to provide bank statements then JCP staff will escalate your claim to a compliance officer who interviews you at depth in an interview room, To why you won't provide bank statements, If you fail to provide they simply stop your claim... No way out of it, I think it's done at random.

theronstar

I am curious why the compliance officer is asking questions about her husband. Do you have a joint claim? If so, then I can see why they are asking for his bank statements.

To put things bluntly, if an officer had any suspicions about a claimant, they could access bank statements on their own. To ask the claimant is the easier route - the less suspicious one too.

dippy3103

theronstar wrote: »

I am curious why the compliance officer is asking questions about her husband. Do you have a joint claim? If so, then I can see why they are asking for his bank statements.

To put things bluntly, if an officer had any suspicions about a claimant, they could access bank statements on their own. To ask the claimant is the easier route - the less suspicious one too.

They can't just access the account on their own. They have to make a request to a specialist information gathering officer who has authorisation under the social security fraud act. This can only be done as part of a criminal investigation- so only fraud officers can do this. The information gathering officer has to consider if the request is lawful, proportionate & that there are not other less intrusive lines of enquiry.

If it's not a fraud investigation they ask for the statements and if you don't supply them then you don't get any benefits..

Dwalker

Hi can anyone please help me, I have just received a letter from the DWP saying that I have a customer compliance interview to discuss my housing benefit but I do not receive any housing benefit as in March i was informed that I had been overplayed by £7000 spanning over 5 years. As you can imagine I had no way I could pay this back and so through citizens advice I have recently been granted a DRO , so does anyone know why I now have to attend this interview ? I thought I had finally got myself sorted and now I feel like I am back to square one.
Any help will be gratefully received, Monday seems so far away ans I won't be able to speak to anyone until then

Thank you

Donna

pmlindyloo

What was the cause of the HB over payment?

Although benefits debt can be included in as DRO they may still have to be paid back if they are due to fraud.

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debts-included-in-a-debt-relief-order.aspx

I am not saying this to worry you as I hope that CAB would have advised you of this if applicable.

Could it be that you are now eligible for HB?

To be honest, no one can know what this is about. There may be other reasons, computer error for example.

Not a lot you can do until Monday, sorry.