Months and months? So it could easily be summer before it even goes to court?

Thankyou Erica. The replies here have been very helpful and I am grateful that people are not simply being judgemental about the situation. I will apply for the information as I don't really understand the DLA rules, I thought it was only paid if you needed a carer hence me cancelling my claim. Hopefully I can find out whether or not cancelling the claim was the correct action when I get the information.

I don't know Jabba, I was told yesterday that via the SAFE initiative, there are financial incentives to fraud depts to prosecute, of around £1200 for a penalty or caution and £2k+ for a successful prosecution. I don't know anything about it personally, it's what I was told by someone advising me. I don't understand the reasoning behind prosecuting people who have made mistakes. According to what has been said above, I have probably not received money I AM entitled to because no one informed me that I was mistaken in my understanding of the claiming rules for DLA. The sad irony of that is that I'm sure they would believe me that I misunderstood the rules for a claim which led to me LOSING money, but because I GAINED money by failing to understand the rules of the other benefit, I'm automatically presumed to be dishonest . I'm an intelligent enough person and I find the rules on claiming a complete minefield. It's almost like the system is designed to discourage people from claiming things they are entitled to. I was informed that due to my circumstances, I WAS entitled to extra support in the way of benefits and at no stage did anyone inform me that there were different "rates" of the benefits. I was under the impression that there was a threshold and if your household income was under that threshold, you were entitled to the benefit and if it exceeded the threshold, you were not. I was also correct that the grants I received did not class as income, so find it bizarre that loans do- you'd think it would be the other way around, it makes no good sense. I feel totally disillusioned by it all. I am absolutely desperate to pay back every penny regardless of whether or not they prosecute, I don't want to owe them money and I was looking forward to the time when I didn't need to claim a thing. In the unlikely event that they don't push for prosecution and I am able to secure employment, I hope I never have to deal with them again. This entire situation has made me feel victimised- I know and accept that the fault essentially lies with me, but the system is flawed when someone who claims without fraudulent intent is penalised in the same manner as someone who deliberately sets out to con the authorities Or maybe it's just assumed that every single person has done it on purpose and should be treated with suspicion- probably. Does anyone know the average length of time between an IUC and a court summons? I'm living on nervous energy and am unable to sleep right now, is this likely to be a matter of weeks, months, years? Regardless of what they think of me, my children don't deserve to be cared for by an exhausted, emotionally flattened mother who isn't getting any sleep. We need some sort of closure on this, good or bad.

I didn't mean the investigator herself, I meant the department. The dept apparently have financial incentives to prosecute people, or so I'm led to believe? Thanks for your reply.

Thanks so much for your informative reply My letter regarding the DLA stated that as I was beginning a course, I didn't think I would be entitled to the money anymore and would like to cease my claim. However, I still had the disability- I believed that I had to need a carer in order to claim DLA and felt it was unreasonable to continue to claim it if I could attend college without a carer. All I received back was a standard letter stating that they had reviewed my claim to DLA and decided I was no longer entitled so my payments would cease- there was no other contact made me with me and no one assessed my needs. Ironically, I just didn't want to claim something I may not be entitled to!

I'm a student teacher soon to complete my training. I've never been in trouble before. Other relevant circumstances: I have several children and a history of mental health problems (namely depression for which I have been hospitalised in the past). I went back to university to turn my life around and have so far succeeded. I have been accused of benefit fraud. It's related to a failure to declare student status. All of the finance other than the loan is NOT used when assessing entitlement (this has been confirmed) due to my specific circumstances. I'm sure everyone says this, but I'm imploring you all to either give me the benefit of the doubt or not bother replying (I don't need people hurling further accusations at me, I can't take it right now)- I did NOT realise I was doing something wrong. I declared my income to the student loans company and consented to share all the information with the DWP, I cancelled my DLA when I began my course and explained why in the letter. I was still entitled to benefits as far as I'm aware- but not as much as I was paid. To the best of my current knowledge, the dispute relates to an overpayment due to my failure to declare a change in circumstances, not to my entitlement to the benefit per se. I have never made a false declaration, I just failed to inform of the change of circumstances due to misleading information I had received. I was told that due to my circumstances, I was entitled to certain benefits as well as student finance and to put in a claim. I was already receiving these benefits so obviously did not reclaim. I can see now how I should have informed the DWP of the student status, but my intentions genuinely weren't dishonest- to the extent that I was called to an IUC and had no idea why. The IUC has taken place, it was an awful experience and I couldn't stop crying. I took a solicitor with me. She told me that the investigator told her they are planning to prosecute me as the overpayment will exceed £2k due to the length of time my payments have been incorrect. I was totally honest in the IUC and agreed I hadn't informed them but explained that it was error on my part rather than blatant dishonesty. I can't prove this. I can only say what I know to be true. If I had done it deliberately I know it would be in my best interests to admit it, but I was not about to lie under caution, especially if that included me admitting guilt to something I did not deliberately do. I feel so stupid now, and ashamed. I have screwed everything up. The extra money made very little difference to my family, it was used towards normal household outlays. I was also told that I had failed to inform them of the births of some of my children, which is true, but they are not investigating that as it wouldn't affect my claim. I have been lousy with communicating things to them, I admit that, but it was never an act of fraud! In my mind, that insinuates deliberate intent and there was none. I genuinely believed I was entitled to the money I received (and that was true for some of it). In other circumstances I would just accept it if it went to court, explain my side of the story and see what happened. However, if I receive any sort of criminal record, it will stop me from being employed as a teacher- essentially meaning I have wasted 4 years of my life and got into huge amounts of student debt for nothing. I am absolutely devastated. I have been suicidal this week, and have seen the Doctor for medication and been referred back to mental health services. I have been unable to attend Uni because I can't stop crying. I can't sleep and have had to be given sleeping tablets. The investigator was a kind and sympathetic woman, not at all like the image of monsters portrayed in this forum, and she said that my career prospects WILL be considered when the decision whether to prosecute or not is made, but the amount of overpayment will, too- which I have taken to be bad news. I realise they will receive bonus payments if they successfully prosecute me and I just feel utterly devastated and on the brink that my life could now be ruined due to a stupid, foolish error. I am not a criminal or even a dishonest person, just a disorganised one with an enormously stressful life who failed to read guidelines properly and just took the payments into my bank for granted I suppose- I didn't think about whether I was entitled to AS MUCH money as I received because I'd been given the advice that my circumstances meant I would be entitled to those benefits. I know the truth and everyone who knows me does, too. My Doctor, tutors etc have all offered to write in support of my good character and explain the impact this could have, but the more I'm reading, the more I'm realising that they are just going to take me to court and accuse me of dishonesty regardless. It will literally ruin my life. I can't do the job I've spent four years training to do with a conviction, it will sentence me and my children to a life at the expense of the state because the only jobs accessible to me are those in school hours and low paid jobs make it pointless for me to leave my children (including a baby) for long hours for the sake of a LOSS of income compared to benefits. All I wanted to do was support my own family and I was about to reach the stage I could do that. Am I basically doomed here? I have never felt so near the edge before in my life, I just feel like quitting my degree at the last hurdle and giving in to a life of poverty. My mental health is deteriorating and my children are suffering because I am so unhappy and tearful all the time. I am happy to pay back anything I was overpaid, twice over if I need to, I don't care about the money at all. I just care about my future. Do they ever give admin penalties for amounts over the threshold? I'm clutching at straws, I know. Do they have to prove dishonest intent? Or is the fact I failed to declare enough to get me prosecuted? I didn't actually commit fraud by the general definition. But I did receive money I shouldn't have received and I can't prove to them I didn't do it out of greed or dishonesty despite the fact that I really didn't. Do they ever NOT prosecute? Are there any grounds for it not being in the public interest to prosecute me considering the devastating effect it will have on my future and the futures of my children and the fact that it could just sentence us to a life on benefits?