Incapacity Benefit Help

[bb1927]

Hello, Please could anyone help me understand what is going on with my case.

I am a 47 year old man and have been on Incapacity/Invalidity Benefit since 1991. I have a personality disorder that means I have great difficulty with social situations/dealing with other people, I, for instance do not use the phone at all. I have three children and a wife. I have always got my wife to inform the DWP of any changes I thought they should be aware of. My wife trained as a nurse for three years starting in 2002 and was on a bursary, she informed them and my benefit went from £70-ish to £160-ish. When she qualified in 2005 I again told her to phone and check if me having Incapacity Benefit would be affected by her working. They told her that as the Incapacity Benefit was my benefit and not means tested that her working would not affect it.

Every form I have ever had off them I have filled in truthfully and honestly, so when I next heard off them in Jan 2008 I obviously put down her job and wages. I then received a reply back that I had been getting £178 a week when I should have been getting £98, as it would have changed when she finished her training. The letter also said I might have to pay back any extra (which would be in the thousands) and may face prosecution. This scared the life out of me, I have always honestly completed any forms I've had. I sent them a letter saying so. Looking up on the internet it is now obvious to me that I shouldn't have been on such an amount for two years, but I really was not aware of this at the time. Part of my disorder is I worry excessively over the smallest things, if I had been aware of the overpayment I would have been long dead of mental exhaustion!

My wife and I went to a local advice centre, and they basically said to wait for any letter off the DWP about what they were going to do next. My health is becoming more fragile with this waiting and worrying. Anyway having my bank account in February 2008 I noticed the benefit had been reduced to £98 on Feb 8th, which is entirely fair enough I realise, but still no letter off the DWP telling me they had done this or what else might be going to happen.

Now today I had my bank statement for April and the benefit has completely stopped, no payment at all. I am now very overdrawn, something I never usually do. I still have heard absolutely nothing from the DWP since that initial letter in January.

This has turned into a complete nightmare, I consider myself an honest man, I have never or would never do anything illegal. Why would they stop the benefit altogether, how am I supposed to carry on now, and can they legally do all this without even informing me?

Sorry this is so long winded, it's nice just to get it off my chest. Please if anyone can advise me before I totally go mad!

[dpr]

Has your wife phoned them direct about this situation?
I don't think they can just stop benefits with out informing you, I suggest you get your wife to phone them and find out what is happening.

[bb1927]

Thank you for the reply, I'm afraid she was in work all day today, but she is going to phone the advice centre tomorrow. They told us when we saw them originally to do nothing till we got a letter from the DWP, but I have had nothing at all.

[bb1927]

Just to update, my wife phoned the DWP, and was told they had made a mistake and suspended the money because they hadn't updated my last medical form on their computer!!

What is scary is even if it was a mistake, they still didn't actually notify me of the suspension! With my problems, if it wasn't for my wife I would have been left penniless, as I wouldn't have been able to contact them.

They also said according to the computer there is no investigation going on, which I don't know is a good thing or a bad thing.