Did they tell you would be going to court at the time, and if they didn't, did you admit guilt on that basis?

I thought the poster said she was given a caution, but was then issued with a summons.

AFAIK the decisions of public bodies can be challenged by judicial review, even if they are following their own rules, because it can conflict with statute or could be irrational.

It seems a bit odd that you told you would need to pay it back at the interview, and then you are summoned to court. I'd ask for the tapes.

I'd agree it is unfair to label all people the same, whether it be benefit claimants, DWP, Police etc. However it is naturally worse when somebody is in a position of authority and abuses that position. That's why people get angry when senior MPs were claiming to get tough on benefit fraudsters or other criminals whilst abusing their allowances.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I should (hopefully) be starting end of this week. I didn't really want all the hassle of filling in the JSA3 form to go onto JSA(I) for 3 days of payment. I'd forgot that to claim outstanding monies you can just send the ES40 form back, rather than having to come in on your next signing day! I have the ES40 form filled out, so if I hand it in tomorrow, I take it that will close the claim and I'll get the money up until the JSA© ran out on the 10th? There's a 6 month review booked for next week, so I take it that would also be cancelled? I don't want to get letters saying that I haven't turned up!

Got a letter a few weeks ago saying that your contribution based JSA runs out on August 10th, yadda yadda, please ring the office. I rang the Jobcentre spoke to a few people who didn't know what you had to do, but eventually got through to a lady who said I'd need to fill in a JSA3 form to apply for income based JSA. I haven't filled it in as I've been offered a job. Last Thursday I was provisionally offered a job, and they said they'd confirm it at the start of this week (10th August) which they did (I continued to look for work up till that point). I rang the Jobcentre same day to advise them, and instead of filling out the ES40 form in the JSA booklet, they advised me just to come in on my signing on day (today) to claim the outstanding money (up until the 10th) which is the same day my contribution JSA ran out and then end the claim (I have filled in the ES40 booklet and will hand it in tomorrow). I noticed though that when I signed on today, the declaration includes the period up to and including the 11th - but my contribution obviously ran out the day before, so will they take that into account when the money goes in given I've not applied for Income based JSA? Also, is the claim inactive inbetween contribution based JSA running out and completing the JSA3 form? when I think of it I would have been better just returning the ES40 and signing off on Friday or Monday ..

Thanks for the replies. Well, some agencies say that they share/check information with the DWP when assessing a claim (eg by checking with DWP to see you are receiving the benefit you claim) so at the same time - could the other agency pass on info given to them to the DWP which they might keep on record? And do they find out about people's savings through the Inland Revenue giving them info about taxable interest?

Stuff like p/t education courses, etc - eg if you declare one thing to one agency and another thing to the other agency, do they check with the other agency? Sometimes you can forget what you've told who.

Just a quick question - do the DWP check with other agencies like the PPA (health costs people) or other agencies when assessing a claim for Jobseekers? Is it best to declare everything even if it seems irrelevant?