Historical benefit fraud

marigold1

My ex-husband was in receipt of income support and carers allowance (for our son, we had separated for several years by that point) and got a letter saying they had reason to believe he had savings back in 2006. It turned out that he did have an account with £10k in it which was an overseas grant to pay his student loan off which he didn't. The money had been there untouched for several years.

Anyway he had a massive breakdown and was sectioned in a mental health hospital for several months so never attended the IUC. He then went back to his home country for 3 years and came back in 2010. His mental health has never recovered and he now has mobility issues but has never claimed benefits or worked (His brother housed/fed him) He now is thinking to apply for PIP and with various medical conditions I think would be entitled. My question is would they bring up this issue again if he applied for PIP and restart the investigation?

Many thanks

Comms69

None of these are summary only offences - e.g. theft, fraud etc. So yes they can.

marigold1

Many thanks. I forgot to add that after he got out of hospital he paid the loan off in full and has proof of this.
How likely is it that they will reopen the case? Is there a certain amount of years that passes after which they will not pursue this?

Alice_Holt

On savings between £6k and £16k a tariff income of £1pw per £250 of savings is assumed.
So with £10k of savings, £4k will be subject to tariff income. This would be £16 pw.
How long was your husband receiving IS with the £10k savings?

The DWP may recover this overpayment from PIP. But if they do, your ex will still be receiving an income (and repaying the debt). I would tend to claim PIP (and ESA or UC) and deal with the debt repayments from this if it comes up.

A couple of things to consider:-
1) Claiming ESA will give your ex NI credits towards the State Pension,
2) DWP debt is not statute barred. If you ex claimed Pension Credit, the DWP could deduct payments at that point.

I would be interested to hear what others advise.

EDIT; Have just seen your last post.
If the debt is cleared, it would be very foolish not to apply for relevant benefits.

Further Edit: I'm confused
- in post 3 you say he cleared the loan in full; in post 5 you say he isn't worried about them recouping the money.
Can you clarify if the DWP overpayment has been settled in full, please.
What are you referring to by "the loan"?

marigold1

I don't honestly know how long he was claiming IS for exactly as we were separated by that stage, I would guess about 2 years.
He isn't worried about them recouping the money (he would voluntarily pay it back) but is worried he would get prosecuted as this would be very shameful for his family if people were to know. Could they ask for a repayment without prosecuting? His mental health is still not good and that would send him over the edge I think.

TELLIT01

The reality is that if the money does have to be repaid, he won't actually be repaying it. It will be stopped out of benefit so it's actually the Government / taxpayer who is paying it.

bigbill

Alice_Holt wrote: »

On savings between £6k and £16k a tariff income of £1pw per £250 of savings is assumed.
So with £10k of savings, £4k will be subject to tariff income. This would be £16 pw.

If this overpayment was before 2006 the savings / capital limits were a lot less so £10k would have stopped any IS for the years before 2006

Ames

marigold1 wrote: »

Many thanks. I forgot to add that after he got out of hospital he paid the loan off in full and has proof of this.
How likely is it that they will reopen the case? Is there a certain amount of years that passes after which they will not pursue this?

Do you mean he used the money in his bank account to pay off the student loan?

If so, what were the terms of paying off the student loan? It's possible that he might be treated as still having the 10k as paying debts can be considered deprivation of capital, especially if he paid them right after this issue came to light.

marigold1

Thank you all for the replies, i really appreciate it. Sorry if some of the info seems confusing.

My EH is not British born but came to UK to do postgrad studies and received a £10k grant from an overseas charity to cover his student loan. I was not even aware of this bank account as he never touched the money.
We had twins who were very premature and had a host of medical issues as a result. We separated and he got CA for one and I for the other.

Somehow the then DHSS found out about the account, sent him a 'you have been suspected of benefit fraud, we want you in for an interview' letter. He was admitted to a psychiatric unit shortly after, therefore had medical evidence that he could not attend. All his benefits stopped at that point. After spending several months in hospital he decided to go back to his home country. He paid the student loan off (this was an overseas on, not a UK one) with the £10k which was the purpose for the money.

He was out of the country for several years and since coming back has never claimed anything, and never voluntarily went back for the interview.

He isn't worried about having to pay anything back, it wasn't his intention to be fraudulent but he fully accepts that that is how it comes across. He is worried however if he applies for DLA/PIP etc and they will reopen this case and subsequently charge him and his family here in UK will find out.