DWP Office Interview Letter, Incredibly Scared!

Ballboy

My father has just received one of these letters and he's about to turn 80 !
He's not in the best of health and it's causing much anxiety - would it have been sent to him by mistake ?
The only 'benefit' paid to him by the DWP is his old age pension and surely they can't stop that for ANY reason ?
He does receive Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support, but these arrangements are administered by the "Revenues & Benefits Dept" of his local council and periodically he is asked to provide them with details to maintain his entitlement.
Any thoughts on this - does he REALLY have to attend and provide details of his finances ?

BorisThomson

Ballboy wrote: »

My father has just received one of these letters and he's about to turn 80 !
He's not in the best of health and it's causing much anxiety - would it have been sent to him by mistake ?
The only 'benefit' paid to him by the DWP is his old age pension and surely they can't stop that for ANY reason ?
He does receive Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support, but these arrangements are administered by the "Revenues & Benefits Dept" of his local council and periodically he is asked to provide them with details to maintain his entitlement.
Any thoughts on this - does he REALLY have to attend and provide details of his finances ?

The DWP undertake investigations for local authorities also.

Give them a call for further information, but if it cannot be resolved by phone he should certainly attend. If not, his benefits will be suspended until the investigation is completed.

dreamvalley84

I phone ESA up when I moved address, and now I been sent the letter. Nothing have changed and it scary me to death. I never had to go to interview before. I am not going to be able to sleep now. When I changed address last time this never happened.

TELLIT01

MMEHTA2204 wrote: »

I am going along with my mother to the interview and I will be taking the payslip along to show and bring the bank statements.

Is there a chance this will be a criminal prosecution or will it most likely be just an overpayment which will need to be paid?

If your description of what has happened is accurate, and there are only a few weeks when your father worked, I think it very unlikely that a criminal prosecution will happen. The overpayment will have to be recovered and there may be a financial penalty on top of that.
It is vitally important that ANY change of circumstance is reported as soon as it happens. There is no 'small print' within the claim. You read the 16 hours part but not the rest, that is entirely your own decision.