HELP! I forgot to declare a change of circumstances to housing benefit and tax credit

Pipsqueak6615

I know I'm going to get no end of back lash and I fully admit my mistake but here's the story ....... I recently received a letter from my local authority stating they have information to suggest my partner lives with me and to provide information. I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOT TO NOTIFY THEM OF THE CHANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES REGARDING MY HOUSING BENEFIT CLAIM!
I claimed income support after leaving my violent husband in April 2014 hence the original housing benefit claim. I was fortunate enough to find employment after my daughters 5th birthday and amended my claim accordingly, April 2015 hence the out of sight out of mind. Between working part time, taking care of my 3 children, turbulence within the relationship, a divorce, and caring/supporting my mother with addiction and mental health issues things genuinely got on top of me and I slowly got into debt.Something that I'm in the process of dealing with via a DMP. I met my partner in June 2015 and he moved out of his previous address on the 25th October 2015 and has been living with me ever since. I know that there is no excuse for my actions and they were in no way fraudulent, it was simply an error on my part as the claim was already in place prior to him moving in. I'm now 35 weeks pregnant and terrified of prosecution 😢 As part of my DMP my goal is to be debt free in 5 yrs so I've drafted up a proposal based on this and am basing it on a possible £10,000 over payment. I've pasted my draft email to them below.......I just need advice that I'm doing the right thing and if anyone else is in a similar position?
To whom it may concern,
I'm sorry about the delayed reply but between consultant and midwife appointments (as I'm currently 35 weeks pregnant) as well as the usual "end of term" activities with the children and working part time I've barely had time to breath.
I recently received a letter regarding my residential status at my home address. ### ##### does live with me and I completely apologise that I never informed you sooner it was a genuine mistake and I take full responsibility.
I know that there is no excuse for my actions and they were in no way fraudulent, it was simply an error on my part as the claim was already in place prior to him moving in.
I will of course make regular repayments to payback the over payment and am currently dealing with debt issues following the break up from my ex husband to which I have been working with a debt management company to rectify and a debt management plan is being put in place. My goal is to be debt free in 5 yrs and this will include any over payments to you being my priority. I propose to pay £150 every 4 weeks (from child benefit payments) starting 25th July towards the over payment which can be amended once the extent of the over payment has been assessed. If you could please send me details of how I can begin to pay this amount.
Between working part time, taking care of my 3 children, turbulence within the relationship, a divorce, pregnancy and caring/supporting my mother with addiction and mental health issues things genuinely got on top of me.
He moved out of his previous address on the 25th October 2015 and has been living with me ever since.
I have attached copies of his last wage slip at his previous address and first wage slip at our current address as well as a copy of his recent p60.
I truly am sorry and hope that you accept this offer

Icequeen99

What tax credits were you claiming?

You need to phone HMRC as soon as possible and get your single claim stopped. Everything you have received since October 15 in tax credits will become an overpayment - although it is most likely they will only go back to April 16 at this stage. You may also get a £3000 penalty on top.

You will then need to ask for notional offsetting to offset any entitlement you might have had on the joint claim against the overpayment. Depends on your partner's circumstances and earnings as to how much your overpayment will reduce by.

IQ

Placitasgirl

To be honest I'd call HMRC immediately to notify them of your mistake and update your personal circumstances with the correct information.

If you are to write or email I'd recommend that you stick to relevant facts and remove all of the references to "time to breath(e)", "end of term activities" and your Mum's addiction and mental health issues as they simply aren't relevant and won't impact the way the overpayment is looked at or dealt with.

Confirm that your failure to amend your single claim/notify of a change of circumstances was entirely your fault and an oversight which is the only thing that really matters, the reasons this happened are simply not relevant. State that there was no intention to claim benefits you weren't entitled to and are calling to address the issue.

Provide the date your partner moved in and so from which your personal circumstances changed so that calculations can be made and you can be advised of the size of the overpayment and any penalty which may be applied.

LKRDN_Morgan

If you claim tax credits your defence of just forgetting will be a no go. You would have renewed them at least once since your OH moved in.

pmlindyloo

Once you have sorted out your benefit debts then you need to advise whoever is doing your debt management plan of these.

I hope you are using a free advice service like Stepchange

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/types-of-debt.aspx

Darksparkle

LKRDN_Morgan wrote: »

If you claim tax credits your defence of just forgetting will be a no go. You would have renewed them at least once since your OH moved in.

This. The renewal would have asked about any changes.

nannytone_2

didnt you notice that you were not paying your full rent?ee