I am posting on behalf of a neighbour, not sure if anyone can help here as its beyond me.

Husband and wife window company, based at home.

They were both working in the business until 3 years ago. Sadly their youngest child was born very ill and she was doing less and less and less work.

They claimed carers allowance and took on a part time bookkeeper. The wife hours were reduced and the wages dropped to reflect this.

Last year, the accountant upped her wages to be above the threshold and for 10 months they have been claiming illegally.

They were not aware of this as the accountant doesn't send weekly wage slips and the wage is more of an entry into the books rather than an actual sum paid into an account each week/month.

The accountant has told them that he knew about the benefits and forgot. He refuses to put this in writing!

As a layman it seems that they are very naive, trusted an accountant and landed themselves in hot water without going out to defraud the system.

Anyone have any advice and able to recommend a specialist solicitor?

I don't think your neighbour can hide behind not knowing what their accountant was doing. And nor should they attempt to use this as an excuse as it won't wash with DWP.

They are company directors and have responsibility for regularly checking the accounts. Also they have responsibility for reviewing their situation and making sure they were still eligible for claiming the benefit, by reporting any changes.

I would suggest that they just provide all information requested and answer any questions honestly. If they explain about the health of their child and that theese worries caused them to not be a dlligent as they should have been in checking the accounts, then I expect all will be ok. It will be dealt with as an overpayment of benefits and they will have to negotiate repayment.

Hi.

I'm afraid it's against site rules to recommend lawyers.

HB

Hi.

 

I'm afraid it's against site rules to recommend lawyers.

 

HB

They don't need one anyway. The matter is straightforward and is just to obtain information, plus to understand why they did not report any change in circumstances.

Depending what the overpayment is, they could face prosecution in a court of law.

It's not just to obtain information, it's to prove or disprove if a potential offence has taken place, so although it is fairly straightforward and will result in an overpayment of benefits, it could also result in a criminal record.

So what was put on their tax returns? An entry in "the books" means nothing until it is transferred somewhere else. If the earned income was transferred into her personal bank account rather than paid in cash then there is hope that this can be sorted out and the clock reset (but I wouldn't bank on that, they wont want to give you money when they really want to take it away)

It also leads to a question about how the money was allocated in the accounts, it must have come from somewhere and gone somewhere unless it was a directors loan