Housing benefit admin penalty & summons

[bubblzbee]

[surprise]

BB - I had just finished replying to your post when the site went down this morning.

My daughter said do not let the Council get wind of the fact that you have gone to the ombudsman. Forewarned is forearmed

Good luck.

[silverfox1961]

My daughter said do not let the Council get wind of the fact that you have gone to the ombudsman. Forewarned is forearmed

Absolutely, They'll find out soon enough and they don't like having to deal with the ombudsman.
fox

[silverfox1961]

sorry surprise, looks like i stole that line from you when i meant to quote you. ah well, more practice
fox

[bubblzbee]

No problem. Have not let them know anything of the letter.
One thing I wanted to ask is if it matters.
The information sent with the summons included the written statement of the investigating officer, though in this statment she has got my address and National Insurrance number wrong - it has been signed by a witness too. Does this hold any relevence in respect that she has signed a declaration saying everything in statement is true. For an investigating officer this is rather sloppy and since it has already being submitted to the court she cannot correct it either can she?

[silverfox1961]

was the interviewer alone when you had your interview?
I ask that as if that was the case then it's someone witnessing that what the interviewer has written is true.
Do not put on the forum how you know she has lied . keep that for court.
I'm not sure whether the address and N.I. inaccuracies will do much but you can raise it.

When you sent your complaint to the ombudsman, did you put a summary of your complaint on as your first page?
How you would like your complaint resolved might be useful.

fox

[surprise]

It all shows incompetence. If you didn't add that in your letter to the Ombudsman, then I would send another letter adding this. As the fox said "was there two of them in the interview? or as the witness added their signature on the say say of the interviewer. It all needs to be said to the Ombudsman.

[silverfox1961]

Bubblzbee
Just had a thought. Was the interview recorded and were you informed of your rights(You have the right to remain silent blah blah blah). If it was recorded, I think you have a right to a copy if you are defending the case yourself. The prosecution have to disclose everything that they will rely on in court.

fox

[surprise]

My daughter was asked similar questions for someone else regarding information. Apparently Councils vary and you can contact your Council and under the Information of Freedom act you can ask to see what information you have. The Council she currently works for doesn't charge, but she does know of one that charged by the hour and she also knows of another where they charge £10.00. At her Council the claimant is allowed to go to the offices and look at the computer screens to establish exactly what information they hold. If you wanted to take this route, you would need to find out from your Council what their policy is.

[silverfox1961]

Surprise.
Yes they could do that under freedom of information but wouldn't that show ALL the information and not just what they intend to take to court plus after reading Bubblzee's first post, there's gonna be a helluva lot of it

I'm fighting my daughter's case for her over overpaid council tax and the info I already have is mind boggling.

fox

[surprise]

yes, she could ask to see all info on computer. Personally, now though I would leave it until she hears back from the Ombudsman.

I think the fact that they have got such personal info wrong, ie: NI number and address is just how incompetent they are and this really needs to be brought to the fore, as if they can make such simple errors like these how many more have they made?

As I said in a previous post my daughter went to the Ombudsman after our local council made a series of poor judgements and she got awarded £1500 and it only took them six weeks.

Hopefully BB will get hers sorted soon, but judging by the initial post I would imagine it will take a while to wade through.

[bubblzbee]

Hiya. The interview under caution was with two pepole, however the statement sent to the court is the investigating officers statement,
The interview under caution they have provided a transcript but again this is badly typed and also contains alot of missing words and errors, making it difficult to even read. Each item has a witness signature on it. each items signed has been submitted to the court as evidence.

I hope the ombudsman help, from what people have said they are very helpful, so fingers crossed.
Thankyou all for your help and advice regarding this I will update as soon as hear anything.

[bubblzbee]

The letter sent to the ombudsman was like my original post but more indepth detail.

Oh one other thing i forgot to mention was that from November 2007- july 2008 I was also volunteering at the same school, doing more hours volunteering than I was working as a dinner lady. I have proof of this volunteer work too.

[surprise]

Did you enclose copies of correspondence and the transcript, if not, do so, today, this is all ammunition for your case.

[surprise]

I've just spoken to my daughter about the inaccuracies and she said she can't believe they are taking you to court as they have to be 100% correct with their paperwork and regulations.

[bubblzbee]

I didn't no, i just outlined the facts, I will write another cover letter and send today. Thanks

[surprise]

My daughter has just said the ombudsman will have a field day.