Compliance phone interview advice.

rich_shot2003

My wife who gets Carers allowance as she is my carer got a letter last week telling her that she has got a Compliance phone interview this Wednesday and she is worried about it and just wanted some advice on how to go about it.

DWP knew she had a part time job as well for 2 hours a week and every few months they would ask to send copy of last 3 months wage slips which she did but she has transfer her job from one company to another as they had taken over the company she worked for.

so she got her 1st wage from the new company that she transfer to in mid July which she paid emergency tax(she has never paid tax before as she did not earn enough) so could it be down to that the tax man has told DWP and now DWP think she is working full time or something while claiming Carers allowance but she is still only doing the 2 hours a week.

Also i claim ESA and PIP but they are both in my name so if it was something to do with ESA would they not send me a letter about it not my wife?

we have sent a letter last week to DWP about her new work details but they would had got that after they sent her letter for phone interview.

huckster

Compliance interviews can be selected at random or it could be that they picked up change to employers, so just want to confirm the current situation.

poppy12345

Is your ESA Contributions based/New style or is it Income Related? If it's Income Related then your wife will be named on your claim and you will be receiving extra money for her. In this case there's a £20/week earnings disregard and after that the ESA is deducted £1 for £1.

HillStreetBlues

rich_shot2003 said:

so she got her 1st wage from the new company that she transfer to in mid July which she paid emergency tax(she has never paid tax before as she did not earn enough) so could it be down to that the tax man has told DWP and now DWP think she is working full time or something while claiming Carers allowance but she is still only doing the 2 hours a week.

I would agree that's what's happened as there are checks between Tax man & DWP.

TELLIT01

The call probably is to discuss the change. All your wife needs to do is answer the questions honestly and there is absolutely nothing to worry about.  I do understand the concern when a 'Benefit Compliance' letter drops through the door.

NedS

Compliance interviews are a good thing - they are to check you are receiving the right amount of benefit for your circumstance. Compliance officers will also identify situations where claimants have been underpaid and are due money from underpayments. Even if there has been an honest mistake (and lets face it, the benefits system can be very confusing), it's far better to identify that now at a compliance interview than for it to go on for years and give rise to a very large overpayment placing the person in debt down the line.

Bigwheels1111

I would have an extra phone ready, put the call on speaker and record on the other.
Then again I trust nobody.
It’s nice to have an exact record of the conversation.
From past experiences.

VKE

Bigwheels1111 said:

I would have an extra phone ready, put the call on speaker and record on the other.
Then again I trust nobody.
It’s nice to have an exact record of the conversation.
From past experiences.

I record things for several reasons:
1: Own benefit; sometimes you just want to clarity on what you/they said and may clear-up any confusion or helps make sense of the notes you may have scribbled down
2: I'm someone of a certain age going through the menopause with a medical condition and brain fog can be/is a PITA so recordings are helpful
3: Previous employment roles/positions involved lots of interviews (D&G's) and I've seen how conversations can become colourful/twisted/false and trust is earned and not a given and like Bigwheels I don't trust easily

rich_shot2003

Well to just give a update on what happened on Wednesday.

Chap called and was very nice and it was about that my wife had paid a little Emergency tax as she had transfer from one company to another company and it was picked up by DWP.

so they just wanted to check that she is not earning more then £139 a week which she is not and the thing we did not know was that ESA knew about how much she earns each week as we send in wage slips every few months or so but they was not being passed onto Carers allowance.

so we now know that we have to let CA know if there are changes to how much she earns which there wont be as she would be well under the earning limit.

we always though that in 2023 you tell one team and they would all know but with DWP that is not the case and even the chap who called said its silly that it does not happen.

so all good in the end.

Newcad

Good to hear that all was fine.

Yes you expect that things should be 'joined up' but it's not the way that it happens in practice. (And I doubt that it ever will).