Hi everyone,Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I really appreciate any advice you can give me. today we have found out we have had a £5500 housing benefit overpayment over 9 months. We are totally in shock and absolutely devastated about the situation . The council were not aware that my partner had started part time work in Dec 2014 and that I returned to work part time after my maternity leave in April 2015. We did not know that we had to inform the council as we thought it was all automatically done through tax credits/hmrc. We didn't think anything of the amount of payment as we just assumed it was right and put it towards our rent. I know it sounds stupid but it's true. Our housing award kept being updated when our tax credits were, so we just assumed that they were aware of our income through tax credits/PAYE. We have three children and I am so concerned about what will happen to us. I have been told that the case will be referred to the fraud investigations department due to the amount involved. I have been frantically phoning around trying to get some answers in what will happen to us. Will we be prosecuted? If anything goes in the paper my partner will lose his job almost certainly. What are the next stages? We have agreed a payment plan, but I've been told that this doesn't make any difference to anything to do with the prosecution side. I manage the money side of things so my partner is blaming me for this, which I guess is understandable. I'm just freaking out totally at the moment and don't know how long this will go on for. Will I be invited to an interview under caution? All we will say is that we didn't know as this is the truth. We never meant to defraud anyone and our Sorry it wouldn't let me type at the end for some reason.I was just saying that this is a total mistake and the words benefit fraud scare the hell out of me. I'm so sorry for going on but I would really appreciate any advice on what happens next or any similar circumstances anyone knows about. Thank you so much