Many thanks for the replies, they have been most helpful, I am passing on any info to my sister in law. How would they go about finding out whether an overpayment bill has been issued?

I don't think so. Although his Mum says that he gave her address for his GP/hospital specialists, so I'm not sure if DWP are privvy to this information from these?

Not as far as I am aware. He left his place of address shortly after the letter and ceased all benefits and DWP were aware of this.

The thing is (regarding overpayment) that once a report from his specialist was sent off to DWP stating he was not fit for IUC nothing was ever heard again. There was never any mention of a figure, just the "we believe you have committed fraud due to undeclared capital" letter. His mother has never heard anything either, she thought perhaps they might have been looking for him after a certain period of time, but nothing. This gave them some hope that things perhaps had been forgiven and forgotten (I know that is not likely!)

Thanks a lot Stan. Another question i have is is it possible even if a prosecution goes ahead for it to be kept out of the public news, eg community newspapers (which have a court section)?

Thanks for the reply. I think the family were hoping that legal action would not be taken as this will really set him back again. He is extremely paranoid at the best of times, but would be unable to cope at all with IUC (his specialists wrote as such in a report). i would love to hear of any DWP legislation that would cover this, although i do know that they have the right to exercise their own "rules" if needs be. Again many thanks for the replies.

Many thanks. I will await their verdict!

I don't think paying it back would be so much of an issue for him, it is being prosecuted that would. Would they still want to prosecute after this time? Many thanks for the replies, i really appreciate it.

So does that mean that the investigation remains open permanently until *solved*? I did some internet searches and was under the impression that after a certain time period if there was not enough evidence for prosecution then the file had to be destroyed? Many thanks!

Just wanted to add that after several months of being away the money for the loan was returned to the charity (it had never been touched by him) and the account was closed.

Hi all, I have been watching this forum for some time and it has truly been a source of great information, so thank you for that! I have a question relating to benefit fraud. I have a family member who has schizophrenia. Before the diagnosis, he was studying at post grad level and received a loan (approx £8,000) from a charity on the condition that when he finished his studies and started working he would repay it. Shortly after he had a major "episode" and his studies were suspended, and the money remained in an account untouched. He then applied for benefits for the first time, and passed incapacity test etc and was awarded income support and housing benefit etc. He didn't declare this money as he felt it wasn't his, and it remained untouched for several years. His plan was that when his mental health stabilized he would be able to return to study, leave benefits etc, but unfortunately he was very unwell for 5+ years. Fast forward to last year........he had a very severe episode and during this received a letter from DWP stating they had found this capital undeclared and he was called for IUC. This was delayed on medical grounds, and intended that when he was more stable he would attend and explain himself. His benefits were stopped, and he went to stay with family member abroad who has expertise in mental health nursing. He has been away for nearly 18 months and has recently become better mentally. HOWEVER, he is afraid to come back to UK for fear that he will be arrested etc, which would really set him off again. Sorry that this is long, but I'm trying to give as much info as possible. So my question is, if he were to return to UK would this case be reopened, or is there a time limit that once passed they can't restart this investigation? As i said before he didn't attend the IUC in the first place. If he returned and reapplied for benefits would this still be against his name? It has been 18 months now. Many thanks in advance, Sandra