To be "interviewed under caution"

suelees1

Ah right - sound like they've not actually made a decision about the second alleged overpayment yet. Or if they have and you've queried it then they'll be reconsidering it. If this is the case you should receive another notification and if they still allege you've been overpaid you'll get a letter stating this and it will give you details of your appeal rights. You have one month from the date of that notification in which to appeal.

It frequently takes them some time to process so it might be as well if you rang the overpayment section at the LA and asked them where they're up to with it.

rapido

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Eager_Elephant

Hi rapido

I think you should ring the Overpayments team and query this (as someone above suggested).

By the sounds of it they have made the decision and have created this Overpayment of £3,000 +.

When this happened you should have received notification letters and also an explanation about the figures they are using. If you have not got this (will probably at least 20 pages) then ask for copies immediately otherwise you lose the right for appeal.etc.

So can you confirm did you set up a limited company? If you did not who did? Why did it not trade?

For you to have any overpayment of £3,000 they must have been able to find details of income for the business - where might they have go this from - tax return.etc?

EE

Fran

The CLA (formerly CLS) website has info if you are accused of benefit fraud. Have you contacted them or anyone else to help you? It can get complicated dealing with it on your own.

Regarding the one month to appeal, you will not have 'ongoing good cause' which I expect is for exceptional circumstances, especially if you don't reply/act on their decisions within a month of receiving them. Each time you receive a new decision you have another month in which to appeal.

You refer to 'benefits' but are you also including JSA/IS as well as HBen/CTax Ben in this? If the claim is that you had an income then they (DWP) will be on to you as well which is even more reason to get professional advice. I would suggest CLA (ex CLS) through the website above.

rapido

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suelees1

It's unlikely to still be with the fraud dept as it seems they've done their bit in interviewing you. If they thought there was an overpayment then it would normally be passed to the overpayments section so just ring them. They might not even have the case as it might already have been decided there is no overpayment now you've provided the info they wanted.

You'll only know more after you've spoken to them

Fran

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

By the sounds of it they have made the decision and have created this Overpayment of £3,000 +.

rapido wrote: »

This is the strange bit; the ltd. company wasn't trading and had no income, not even a bank account. I believe there was not even a tax return filed for that period even.

In the absence of 'proof' the Housing Dept. will have assumed maximum income. Presumably you gave them details of the income from web design? You say it was 'definitely not enough' - for that to be the case (and for you to receive full Housing/Council Tax Ben.) it would have been the same or less than eg. Jobseekers Allowance.

I haven't contacted anybody except my father who has tried to reassure me, but doesn't have any solid idea what to do.

If you contact CLA they will tell you what your current situation is and how to deal with it! A couple of phone calls could stop you having all this worry.

swanny65

Fran wrote: »

In the absence of 'proof' the Housing Dept. will have assumed maximum income. Presumably you gave them details of the income from web design? You say it was 'definitely not enough' - for that to be the case (and for you to receive full Housing/Council Tax Ben.) it would have been the same or less than eg. Jobseekers Allowance.

Almost certainly correct and is a common method used by Local Authorities to calculate overpayments.

If you contact CLA they will tell you what your current situation is and how to deal with it! A couple of phone calls could stop you having all this worry.

Agreed

It also mentions earlier in the post the good cop bad cop interview and one of the officers shouting at you. If so this could be deemed oppressive and the interview thrown out if legal proceedings were taken against you as its a breach of pace.

rapido

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relay

I really don't think claiming it's because 'you is black' is a very realistic way to look at this. You admit yourself that you just haven't made any attempt to contact them and in all fairness that comes down more to a reluctance to take responsibility than the fact you happen to have a foriegn surname. The law treats you no differently to anyone else.

The longer you avoid the issue the deeper you are going to get - as you are now finding.