I received a letter yesterday with the following wording:

We're reviewing your benefits and circumstances

You must come to an office interview.

Dear Miss ---------

We need to talk to you about some changes that may affect your benefits payments.

You must be available for this interview and have all the information listed on page 1 and 2 with you.

It asks me to bring something proving who I am which the bank statements will do.

It asks to bring my latest bank statements.

I saw at the bottom it has a code FESL2T which many people on other forums has said is from the fraud department.

My circumstances haven't changed

I have sever anxiety and agoraphobia and

I receive ESA and am in the work related activity group.

I share a bank account with my sister purely because we both don't handle money well and it's easier to manage the money if it's all in one account.

It's been this way for the whole time I've been on benefits and nothing has ever flagged before.

I also got a personal loan and wondered if maybe that could have flagged.

I literally don't talk to a single person,

I'm scared of people and have no friends so I don't know anyone that would report me unless my adviser said something.

Please help, I can't sleep at all and the interview isn't until the 3rd of January.

I'm worrying myself sick.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.

See if your Sister can phone these people to explain your health circumstances and arrange for a home visit instead.

They might be able to come to to see you and your Sister at an alernative date/time.

I can't have them come out to the house because my father is the occupier, I live with my family.

He doesn't allow strange people into the house unless it's necessary like police.

Do you think sharing a bank account with a sibling is a problem?

I couldn't get one of my own due to insufficient ID so this just made more sense.

Hello and welcome to CAG.

I agree with Uncle Bulgaria, don't be terrified.

Pour yourself a cup of tea and have a read of other compliance threads here. All the ones I can remember have turned out OK and the person has said they wonder what they worried about.

If they thought you had done something wrong, it wouldn't be compliance talking to you, it would be an investigator.

My best, HB

I can't have them come out to the house because my father is the occupier, I live with my family. He doesn't allow strange people into the house unless it's necessary like police. Do you think sharing a bank account with a sibling is a problem? I couldn't get one of my own due to insufficient ID so this just made more sense.

A shared Bank account is not a problem.

Perhaps your Sister can go with you to the interview place and then if necessary she can explain.

I'm sorry for me sounding so scared

but this is the first time I've had one of these and I've been claiming on and off for a long time.

My anxiety is getting way worse because of a letter like this especially because I've already got really bad anxiety and people are telling me that code means it's the fraud department.

My sister will be coming to the interview,

she's with me all the time because I can't go out alone and my dad is disabled and brother works so nobody else is available to take me anywhere if I have to go and she herself has severe depression.

Following on from HB's Response,

Id like to Welcome you to CAG SuwoongieJae.

Id agree that it can be scary to deal with something like this,

however from the low point of it,

they have to do this and im afraid when they do,

It can have a drastic impact on the way people feel.

As someone who has battled depression a few years ago, I would let this get to you.

Just because you have a letter with a code on it coming from what has been deemed the fraud team isnt necessarily that at all.

Please dont let this get you down.

Its part of the DWPs job to look at stuff like this and if they have found any irregularities then they have to investigate it.

We will support you and advise you as best we can,

however can you think of anything which has recently changed which will potentially affect your payments?

FKO

Nothing has changed that I can think of.

I saw a new adviser and suddenly this happens

which is the only part I find strange.

I've been using the same joint bank account that I have with my sister for well over 10 years to have my benefit paid into.

I did get a personal loan on the 8th which I don't know if that could have done something.

I told my adviser that my sister and I would like to move into a new place together due to circumstances surrounding my well being at our current residence where we live with our father and brother.

I'm not comfortable living alone and neither is my sister

so we found it beneficial if we chose to live together considering we want to set up a business when I am well enough to work.

I don't know if any of this is even relevant but those are the only things I can think of.

My health situation hasn't changed at all and I have no income coming from somewhere else unless they're classing my sisters income as mine too?

if your sisters income goes into the same bank account

it may well be that they simply want clarification of where the income is coming from.

her income should not effect your claim etc etc.

the other thing that springs to mind is Is there or has there been any changes to anyone else on benefits within the household?

I'E you mention your father is ill too?

if someone was now or did or has stopped say getting carers allowance etc etc , that plays a part on what you might be entitled too or not?

and the dwp needs to be notified of their changes by you as it says on all DWP letters.

Yeah I think the most likely thing is the fact that my sisters benefit goes into the same account.

I'm taking her with me to the interview anyway.

Someone mentioned that my adviser could have told someone they don't think I'm as sick as I say I am and that could be the reason for the interview?

Which confuses me because how can someone I've just met where I barely spoke to her because I don't communicate well tell someone I'm not as sick as I'm supposed to be.

My father is 63 and is on pension credit and PIP and just had his PIP cut.

I've never got carers allowance and nobody has ever got carers allowance for looking after me.

my compliance interview that I talked about here was today and it turned out that someone had said they doubted my disability.

Now this interview only happened after I saw my new adviser and I fully believe she was the one that talked to the compliance officer.

I was clearly distressed and scared when I was talking to my adviser, she was abrupt and harsh and I felt like she didn't understand my mental health condition at all.

Either way the compliance officer was satisfied with what I told her and I was clearly nervous and distressed yet again.

is it possible to get my adviser changed?

I'm on ESA in the work related activity group which is fine because I want to be able to get over my illnesses and work again

I find it rude that someone can judge my disability after only speaking to me for less than 30 minutes and I barely spoke

someone did all the talking for me because I was so nervous and was in tears because of being so anxious throughout the interview.

I could tell she was judging me by the way she was saying things, like it was unacceptable for me to still be on ESA and even asked if I still had anxiety and depression and if I had a pet which I don't see how that's relevant?

Any help would be appreciated.

Threads merged

Please keep to one thread

Dx

Oops thank you. Can anyone help?