compliance officer visit.

sarebear_2

i will let you know what is said on monday .
the letter he got is only one page and just says they are reviewing his claim and need to check if anything has changed and they have not been informed !
but i am a nervous wreck as he has never had a visit from them before , so i just worry that someone is trying to stir up trouble. as there are a few neighbours that are evil !!
but i really do wish you the best of luck with your interview. please let me know how you get on and i will do the same to you xxx

cookingmama31

Thanks I will.

Eager_Elephant

Hi sarebear

Compliance Officers are coming to check that you still live where you say you live and to check on a very few minor details.
If this was a fraud issue you would have a letter from a Fraud Investigator.

Stop worrying

EE

sarebear_2

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

Hi sarebear

Compliance Officers are coming to check that you still live where you say you live and to check on a very few minor details.
If this was a fraud issue you would have a letter from a Fraud Investigator.

Stop worrying

EE

thank you so much, i am sure things will be fine on monday, but the trouble is i always worry and feel guilty even when i haven't done anything wrong !!
will keep you posted with what happens. xx

minimoneysaver

What on earth is LWSAHW?

healy

minimoneysaver wrote: »

What on earth is LWSAHW?

Living With Someone As Husband and Wife.

carla118

Try not to worry

It is likely that the visit is just routine, but saying that, it is also possible that a neighbour has made an accusation of some kind, but the good news is that, if an accusation has been made and if it is being taken seriously, you will not be visited by a compliance officer, but will instead be required to attend an interview under caution with the counter fraud unit.

I do not know if this is of any help but I also recently received a letter stating that I was going to be visited by a compliance officer. I immediately telephoned to seek the reason why this was so and could not be told anything over the telephone. Anyway, the compliance officer turned up and I immediately asked whether in fact there was enquiry with my benefit or whether this was just a routine visit. It turns out that in fact; someone had used the fraud hotline, to report that I was living with my parents, while sub-letting my council rented flat. I can quite honestly say, that I was not too impressed, but funny enough I have for four out of five years since being a council tenant, been incorrectly accused of this type of thing, so I should not have been too surprised. The compliance officer asked me such questions as to how long I have been renting the flat, where I lived before, if I was working and if I had fallen out with any neighbours and so on. You should be ok, as most were general questions, although I found it quite hard as my parents own two houses, so the officer was somewhat confused by the addresses that I had previously lived at and as to who owned what. In fact the officer was quite nosy as to my parents situation concerning the homes that they own, but anyway to cut a long story short, I knew that I had nothing wrong, so I invited the officer to look around my home and even suggested that she look through my knicker draw, if she thought someone, other than myself was living in my home. Upon leaving, the officer was not at all concerned and stated that she would have been quite happy to have spoken to me and dealt with this over the telephone.

So again, even if an accusation has been made, if there is any real evidence or doubt, then you are more likely to be interviewed under caution, which is something I have also been through during the five years as a council tenant and it just goes to show you, despite being a nice person, how many evil, jealous and conniving people there are around us.

Anyway, good luck and let us all know how it goes.

UKroseblue

sarebear wrote: »

don't suppose anyone on here is or knows a compliance officer who can put my mind at rest and tell me what these visits are for

Hi Sarebear

The visit from the compliance officer will probably just be a routine visit. The fact that you haven't had a visit before doesn't mean anything - they may not have had enough visiting officers in the past to visit everyone or the categories of why they visit have changed, so previously they didn't need to vist you but now they do. They have targets to meet and part of their remit is to check that benefit enitlement is correct and if not then they achieve a 'hit' which goes towards their targets. They also have to visit a certain number of people per day on average. A hit can be an increase in the customers entitlement as much as a decrease so they will ask you questions about what benefits you are claiming and check to see if everything is in order. You might be surprised and find out that you are entitled to claim for something else! If there is no change then that's fine. Just be honest about everything that you are asked and if you've done nothing wrong then there's no need to worry.

An interview under caution however is a different kettle of fish! These are with what were previously fraud officers (now compliant officers) and there will be some reason as to why they IUC - an allegation from someone, something a member of staff may have noticed while processing/reviewing claims or they may have been watching someone for a while and compiled evidence that there is fraud activity...but again, as long as no fraud has been committed and everything can be explained (like a grudge from an ex-partner/neighbour, etc) then there should be nothing to worry about.

Hope it all goes okay.

northernlass_2

my husband had a visit from a compliance officer in December, she turned up all hot headed with a list of about 9 offences my husband was supposed to have commited from working in scotland to me working in our local school as a dinner nanny to him not being able to drive as he should wear an eye patch from an accident he had 4 yrs ago, there was alsorts on this letter, everything could be explained very inocently, DH receives treatment for a condition he has in scotland and goes 6 times a year, i was studying for my TA level 3 and was required to do placement in the school, everything could be answered and the woman agreed that someone bore a grudge against us and called the hotline, i really do wish that it wasnt anonymous as these who do it out of spite should be charged with wasting time and made to pay a fine for covering the cost of the investigation and the compliance officer.

northernlass_2

just setting up email notifictaion on this topic