Does anybody know what Council Tax Benefit is paid for and who is entitled to it?

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/358261/Miss-GB-finalist-denies-benefits-[problem]-over-lover I have checked and this bailiff is certificated with Equita. He is also named in the paper. Dosnt it make you sick though. There are genuine people out there who struggle every day trying to pay their rent etc especially now it is all changed and people on benefits have had their reduced. Loved to know how she is getting so much HB for a 4 bed house with only one child. Here we have a bailiff who is meant to be law abiding, probably collecting on behalf of the people he is defrauding. How ironic is that. I hope he loses his certificate over this, there are just far too many rogue bailiffs out there thwarting the law, its about time the powers that be started doing something about it instead of talking about it as they do too often and nothing changes. Those who defraud the benefits are responsible for why genuine people who have no choice but to claim are made to suffer. This is not an isolated case either. Bailiffs have been reported many times for fraudulent behaviour. It just seems that many fraudsters become bailiffs because they know how to milk the system so it benefits them and here we have proof of it happening.

im writing this on behalf of a friend ive known for years, she has been so stupid its unreal. she was a single parent claiming benefits for housing, council tax, and tax credits. in mid 2010 her partner moved in with her but she didnt inform the benefits agency of her change in circumstances until early this year. making it at least 18 months of benefits over payments she received, totaling up to anywhere between £14000-£16000. from what i can understand she thinks she is being investigated, her partner moved all of his possessions into her house in 2010 and used to travel 40+ miles each day to work. he had no mail sent to the address, but bearing in mind he used to live 40 miles away where he worked all his bank statements show 99% of the transactions made during the time they were together were done in her hometown, his work had her address and phone number as an emergency contact from about a week after he moved in. plus the fact all the neighbors knew he was there and for how long. she said she is going to say he didnt "live" there, but just "stayed " a lot! ive told her that by saying this she is admitting guilt straight away as there has been a crackdown on benefit fraud. just wondered if anyone had any ideas on what could happen if she is found to have commited benefit fraud (which in my eyes to be fair she has) bearing in mind she has a 10 and 13 year old. cant believe how stupid she has been! any views/advice greatly appreciated.

I thought this amusing although it happened in another country. [ATTACH]39443[/ATTACH]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2221638/Child-benefit-cuts-heading-chaos-Reforms-complicated-taxman-explain-them.html

My son turns 19 in January and is enrolled and accepted onto a 16hr full time course for g.c.s.e equivalent english, maths and ict. This is a special college for young people of the autistic spectrum, emotional and behavior issues, adhd, ocd and so on. My son starts his college on 4th march 2013. I spoke to 3 child benefit officers because i need to claim before his 19th birthday. But all i got from them is that i am not entitled to child benefit as he is not on a full time course now. I did explain that a claim needs putting in now but they said refused. Then they changed what they were saying and telling me that he needed to be in continued education, but the hmrc website tells me completely different. Here is a quote from their site regarding young people going back into education after a break: Your child goes back into education or training Your child might go back to education or start a training course after a break - for example after a period of unemployment. As long as the education or training counts for Child Benefit, you'll usually be able to get Child Benefit for them. You'll need to make another claim if your Child Benefit had previously stopped because you no longer qualified for it. Your child needs to have started, enrolled or been accepted onto a course that counts for Child Benefit before their 19th birthday for you to qualify. The quote in purple is what i based my claim on, but for some reason they keep disregarding what i was saying. Maybe there is something i had missed? They tell me that he cannot and will not be accepted onto the system and either way i will not qualify for child benefit. Some advice on what to do would be great, i feel im going crazy right now because child tax credit has accepted us.

Please can you help. I noticed 4 weeks ago that my housing benefit, which I have been receiving for 6 months, had not been paid. I called the council who told me on the telephone that the day before my call they had suspended my housing benefit. I asked them why and they would not tell me but told me a letter had gone out to me, this failed to arrive and had to ask for a copy of this letter at the council offices, some 12 days later, and noted that it had not been dated. After numerous telephone calls asking for why it's been suspended, and being told that they can not tell me, they now today have said that I am to be invited to a IUC with their fraud team, again when I asked why and why is housing benefit suspended, and asked on what grounds, they have refused. They simply say I have to wait for a letter, which based on their last sending won't arrive to me. I have asked if I can go to the council office for a copy of this letter, they have said no, to wait on post. As you can appreciate I am most concerned at now I am 6 weeks in arrears with my private landlord rent, am not getting any answers and after being told to ask for their reasons to suspend and their reasons for interview, I am being blocked and told they can't tell me that but will at interview. I am in receipt of JSA for same period and DWP tell me they have no issue to my benefit, no flags have been raised to their fraud team, via atlas and they also have asked the council for answers, but have been told that it's a council matter not DWP. What can i do as I need some help as I am completely in the dark?? And I'm doing the panic thing, which effects my health, that does not need much help there as for some time JCP have said I should go onto ESA but i want to go to work, so have remained on JSA. I am beyond myself over this and very worried !! Michael -- Merseyside

Hi, Can someone in the know advise me please.. My partner had an industrial accident at work going back in 2010 for which he applied for IIDB. He sustained an incarcerated inguinal hernia for which he had to have emergency mesh repair surgery and he then developed post surgery chronic left groin pain and tenderness in the pubic tubercle(osteitis pubis.) The benefits centre wrote back and agreed that the accident was an industrial accident. They awarded him a loss of faculty and was assessed as 2% disabled for life. However,he was not awarded any benefit because his assessment was less than 14%. My question is can he apply for IIDB again as his circumstances have changed? His groin pain has got progressively worse over the months and is now undergoing pain management at a hospital clinic. The consultant anaesthetist at the clinic has just recently given him an ilio inguinal nerve block injection which only gives him temporary pain relief and has a follow up appointment in January. The groin pain restricts his daily mobility in terms of his personal care,walking,preparing meals etc. He needs help and assistance with these tasks. Does he need to make a fresh claim or does he need to fill out the 'change of circumstance' form? Many thanks for any advice.

Hi, I want to DELETE my other post but do not know how to do it so sorry for posting this again but I wanted to change title and make clearer. I am being investigated for benefit fraud. At this point, i am not sure what claims/ addresses they suspect or if they suspect all but I stupidly attended an interview under caution because the only offence I had knowingly committed was not changing my claim in time, that lead to 3 weeks overpayment, I admitted it and then got invited to interview. When I got to the interview I was interviewed for 2 and a half hours about ALL claims, the past 4 years of my life from age 16 to 19 and now, although I have not claimed for 6 months,now 20 years old. Address 1: 16 years old. They say I could only have claimed if I was a care leaver, I was not, never claimed I was. Claim was initatlly refused due to age, boss who was also the landlord said he would look into it, then two weeks later got a letter saying it had been awarded based on new information. I asked my boss what information he provided, I had NOTHING to do with it and NO knowledge he was submitting info. He claimed he just wrote to them saying we was in areas etc. It comes to light now that he must have said I had come from care, as this would have been the only reason they would have awarded it. Address 2: Lost job with first landlord, who was my boss. Guy who worked with this boss said to contact his Mother and ask to rent a room at her house as she used to rent to students. I had become depressed and quite mentally ill, self harming etc and I explained to the landlady I needed to claim HB. She said it was fine. During my time here, aged 16 and 10 months of age until 17 and 9 months of age, there was a fire that meant it was not safe for my landlords to live in and insurance put them in a hotel but would not house me. I stayed at the house during this time, investigator has flagged this up saying I couldn't have lived there. The difference is, is that the house was uninhabitable while work was going on for two people aged 73 and 74, one who had breathing problems from Asbestos. The kitchen was destroyed but I could still use a bedroom and bathroom, I pretty much didn't eat and when I did it was chips or toast etc. I stayed with friends when plumbing was done upstairs etc. I did not inform them of the fre, to be honest it NEVER crossed my mind. Address 3: Moved to a room, found add on gumtree. Turns out landlord was a sub-letter and not landlord, who had a criminal record for fraud (investigator told me about fraud, I found out about him not being landlord) One Day fake landlord tells us to get out, we say no we have a tenancy, he explains it doesn't mean anything, hes not the landlord etc. I left the next Day but carried on claiming for 3 weeks until the landlord got post for me and phoned benefits department, I admitted this before and during interview and offered to pay back etc. The son of Address 2, I started a relationship with during my time at address 3. He lived abroad during the time I rented a room at his parents and he would visit and stay in his own room. We become best friends and got very close but couldn't have a relationship and I was mentally unwell. Then we began a relationship some time after I moved out and he moved back to the UK. BEING ACCUSED OF (Contradicting by the way) Address 1: Not sure but they are suspicious of the fact I was not a care leaver. With all the new info I suspect my landlord lied to get them to change the claim decision from rejected to awarded by telling them I had come from care. Address 2: Sharing a room with the son, being in a relationship and therefore not being entitled to claim when I lived there as it is his family. NOT TRUE. Not living at the property during the fire, I suppose partly true and I shouldn't have stayed there due to the state of the house but I did. Address 2 and 3: Of knowing my landlord at address 3, whilst living at address 2 who aided me in committing fraud on a larger scale (her own words I have no idea what evidence is on this). Address 3: Continuing to claim fraudulently with the help of landlord at address 3. I suspect this is due to his history of fraud and they have put 2 and 2 together and made 11! Contradicting accusations: Address 2: Was in a relationship with son of landlord but he wasn't living there but because he was my boyfriend he paid the rent to his parents for me OR convinced his parents not to charge me. Address 3: Having my partner (who at this point WAS my partner) paying my rent for me and me pocketing the benefit. Despite me telling them he was on a £600 a month wage. I really would appreciate your advice in terms of; IF I am guilty of some fraud, will me age of 16 and 17 make it harder to prosecute Are other advice on the issues above. Cannot sleep or eat properly, having panic attacks and so on. THANK YOU.

Hello, Firstly, my main concern here is how the investigation is being dealt with as in my opinion, if I have unknowingly done something wrong, then I have to cross that bridge when I come to it but I have SERIOUS concerns.Although I am worried about all of it and am in need of advice. - I receive a call back in April, my benefit had been suspended in March. I knew why and called them got told to call this benefit fraud woman and I did. Gave her my email as I had no fixed abode and emailed her explaining what had happened which in a nutshell; Was renting a room, landlord turned out to be a sub-letter landlord found out and went crazy, everyone got told to be out by the next Day and that our tenancies meant nothing. The subletting guy promised me another room ASAP so I planned to continue claiming while I found another room THEN inform the council of my new address as i was worried about a big gap with starting a new claim. Sent an email explaining this and left it. - I get an email with a letter for interview under caution on JUNE 2012. The date was when I was away at a family wedding and oddly was on a Saturday?! I emailed her on June 27th saying I am sorry I cannot attend can we re-arrange. I herd nothing. I called and left my name and number twice. I left it. - OCTOBER 2012 The leading officer dealing with my case calls me out of the blue and says we need to arrange an interview. I agree and she books it for 3 weeks time and Says that she will send it in letter form to my old address as I can still get my post from there. Letter states its about X address and X problem. I DID NOT seek LEGAL ADVICE because I knew what it was, 3 weeks over payment, failure to notify etc. - Get to interview under caution and she interviews me about the past 4 years of my life, 3 addresses and a number of people for 2 and a half hours! It was exhausting. NOW THE REAL CONCERN She turns up at my middle landlords property, she is looking at 3 claims at 3 address; Address 1: 16 years old, paid straight to landlord Adress 2: 16 - 17 years old, paid to me Address 3: 18- 19 years old, paid to me -She turns up at address 2, unannounced and questioned my 76 year old landlord for over an hour, unrecorded. She tells him I have been claiming at HIS address for 4 years, this angered him. She also disclosed to him that my landlord at address 3 has a criminal record and she believes together me and him are part of a large scale fraud. She tells my ex landlord that I was claiming at 16 etc etc. Makes remarks such as "believe me, ill be prosecuting this girl, every case I get I take them down, I don't care if there OAPs, disabled, I get them, this girls has lied to me on tape through her whole interview" I was DISGUSTED to hear this. By the way, my interview was on the Thursday until office closing time, she turned up here on the Monday. My current partner is the son of landlord 2, we got into an actual relationship when I was living at another property AFTER this date, during my time at his parents he lived in Spain and worked there. So of course we know word for word in all truth what was said, my ex landlord was so disgusted with how she acted that hes retracted the statement and is complaining. Im so CONFUSED. I do not know what im being investigated for or what is happening. We didn't get to finish the interview and I had no time to ask questions, she now refuses to get back to me, meet me again until she has ore evidence etc. I am waiting for my useless solicitors to contact me, I have been waiting 2 weeks for a referral. I want to know how she can act like this, this isnt fair or impartial? How can she lie to my landlord to provoke anger and get away with it. How can she tell me the interview is about one small thing, then sit and interview me for so long. I am worried because I tried to answer the questions so I did not look uncooperative but I cannot remember everything from when I was 16. I was a bit of a tearaway, I had depression and eating problems and I did not really understand my legal obligations to claiming benefits, in all honesty, I didn't care back then. I know I have written A LOT but no one can help me if I do not lay down the facts. Does anyone know if I can do anything about her behavior and; IF they find I done something fraudulent under the age of 18, is this taken into consideration? Any other advice, experiences? THANK YOU Interview info and accusations EDIT: In interview she was suspicious because you can see X benefit going out but Y cash withdrawals that do not add up. I explained my rent was paid in cash, as stated on application and that I received "charitable donations" as I was not in a fit state of mind to work and was too young to claim anything, not that I even knew what was out there. I got say £250 in Charitable donations per month. My rent for example was £90 a week. I used to used the cash I got to pay rent and withdraw the different from my bank, so if I had £50 cash sitting there, I would only draw out £40 from my bank. Then I used what was left in my bank from housing benefit to pay for the stuff that the charitable donations was meant for, food, clothes etc. I said to her, why am I going to take cash to the bank every week, only to take cash back out??? I was terrible with money so I paid for things using card, I said, if I had £20 and only needed to spend £5, id end up spending the whole £20, its what I was like. Firstly she accused me of taking money from my partner or friends and paying rent with it, I don't understand whats wrong with this, money is money, they knew how much money I received every month, its up to me what pot I pay it from, its all still MONEY! Then she said, ok, lets say you wasn't having your rent paid by someone else, then I think you wasn't paying your landlord??? Her accusations were contradicting to say the least. I was honest and just said, look, I was 16-18 during these periods, my life was a mess, I did not keep paperwork ,record monies and quite frankly wasn't bothered about it, I was consumed with depression and that was the least of my worries. Now I am 20, have started my own sole trading company that is going well, I have matured so much am no longer depressed or taking medication and I am supporting myself. I feel like my careless behavior from when I was a minor is biting me in the backside and I understand if I was wrong, I was wrong, I need to face that but I am being treated like I was a completely comprehendable adult that knowingly plotted to [problem] the system because I am organised criminal.

Hi all, Now I am confused as I have just spoken to my landlord (Calico Housing) to see if they recived the housing benefit (rent) today as I thought they recive it weekly but I have just got told that my rent for housing benefit is at the end of every month, I thought my rent is weekly? I have been reciving housing benefit since January of this year and I didn't even knew it was every month, seems a bit strange don't you think?

Hi everyone, Just looking for some advice really, is there anyway I could sign up for my housing benefit online so I can check when payments been made ete? Just wondering if this is possible? any help would be great cheers!

Hello, I'm wondering if someone can give me some advise, about 3 years ago I was informed that I was overpayed Housing Benefit due to changes in circumstances, The total overpayment was over £2,000 for different time periods and they asked for the money back. We agreed to this as it was correct and we initially made a one lump payment of £500 and then we were paying £40 per month but we had to decrease this to £20 a few months ago because we could no afford to pay it due to bills etc. Today i received a letter from the Council stating that matter has been passed from collections team to legal services debt enforcement in order to recover the amount. it states: "if payment or reasonable proposals for payment is not received by 19 Nov then I will have no alternative but to register this debt with Leics County court" it goes to say about CCJ and enforcement proceedings. I looking for advise on how to approach this, I am not refusing the pay the money but just can't pay a higher rate at the moment. any advise would be great.

Hope someone somewhere can help as at end of my tether, for weeks now we have been messed about by the Benefits people, my JSA for contributions ran out in August and was told to fill in a form for income based JSA and that my wife could now be added, this we did, explaining my wife could not work due to undergoing tests etc so she got an exemption form, we took that to the Job Centre and waited and waited for money, many calls later we got a small amount but not back pay as was promised, they gave us a bit more, then last Thursday I signed on to be told they had lost my file and gave me a bit of paper to say I had signed on, moeny was due to go into my account today, but it did not. gone beyond mad now, still waiting after promise after promise for my money, they actually phoned me today, said SORRY! and that my money would be in my account TODAY! , it is now 8.20pm and NO MONEY, I know Natwest for some reason do not seem to process money like Barclays etc ( they do it at midnight ) and it normally goes in next day or think it does, lost count now how long it has been without money, they lost my file so they said when I signed on last Thursday, how can they lose a file. Any help/advice is appreciated, just had enough now, Sorry for long post but we are in arrears with everything now.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2225146/Cuts-child-benefit-million-families-illegal-EU-law-experts-warn.html

Hello Everybody, This Forum is Great and I couldn't believe,Real Good people out there who take real time out and gives honest advice to another human being to get his life sort out..... "Its really a best Gift from from a mankind to another mankind." OK! My story is, I am having a problem with my local Council. The problem is kind of created by myself. I was claiming housing benefit and i am self employed person. I did not disclosed my accounts properly. I know... i know... Its all my fault.... but i have learn my lessons means now council is doing investigation about me and they stopped my H.B. few months back ago. And arrears were building up and now arrears are too high and they are taking me to County court for Arrears.. As i said above i have learned my lessons and want to fix the mess i created but don't know where to start. i am bit afraid they might go heavy hand on me as i have wife and kids, i don't want them to suffer with me all because of my mistakes.... Council hasn't accused me for Fraud or anything yet but i know deep down i made it mistake... Now i want to fix it....Don't know what to do...... Any help or advice i will really appreciate.... Many Thanks.

This is a bit complicated but I will try and keep it simple. For a period of time my parents were getting housing benefit, the application was done by & in dads name. Some time after they stopped getting the HB due to mum taking up F/T job, my dad became increasingly unwell and mum took over doing the financial side of the household. She started going through old paperworks and discovered that there was a potential problem on the housing benefit due to dad not declaring some income from mums p/t job at that time. This was an oversight not a deliberate thing, I believe down to his bad health and poor organisation; he is close to retirement age and until health problems in the last few years he has worked all his life, never having to claim a thing. Anyway, in trying to do the right thing at this point they went to the council, told them they believe an error had been made and the council said they would investigate, it was all very amicable. To cut a long story short it appears they were overpaid for quite a long time and an overpayment made of about £3000. Parents obviously did not have this money and made an arrangement to pay at about £100 per month, which has been stuck to for around 1 year with no issues. The problem is this week a very rude/threatening letter arrives from the council, saying they are reveiwing the agreement to pay, demanding all sorts of paperwork income & expenditure details and so on. Saying the debt will be passed to a debt collector if these details aren't provided in the next couple of weeks. They are now scared that they are going to have debt collectors kicking the door in. A lot of the paperwork requested by the council is not available to hand; things like bank statements and wage slip copies will need to be ordered from the bank/work. , With only mum working they are also very hard up at the moment and terrified the council are going to demand more than £100 a month (which even now they can barely manage and are overdrawn every month). There is no dispute that this debt is owed, the original HB application wasn't accurate and they got more than they were entitled......... but at the same time THEY alerted the council and agreed to pay. This letter is very aggressive in tone and very intimidating to a person in poor health like my dad. Do the council have a right to see detailed income and expenditure, what will happen if debt collectors get involved or court processes and so on?

I entered into a tenancy for a room in a shared house. I was working at the time. After 2 months I found myself out of work - and discussed my situation with the landlord. He did not want me to claim Housing Benefit as in his words "it would cause him a problem". There was a look of genuine concern. This was 3 weeks ago. Because I was worried how I was going to be able to pay rent without Housing Benefit I approached the Council about what assistance they could provide with regards to the situation. I have since found out the following new information. This house is in the name of the executors of a deceased persons will. It has been in this state for 3 years (no council tax has been paid in this time). The "landlord" actually rents the house from the executors of the deceased persons will. Because there is no legal ownership - I am being told by the landlord I will not gain Housing Benefit ?? Is this true ?? If that is the case, what is the exact status of my tenancy ?? Am I squatter - even though I entered into a tenancy in good faith ?? The landlord is now allowing me to stay in the room without paying rent ?? What impact does this have on my tenancy ?? At present I am stating that I want to pay rent so I do not inadvertently surrender any tenancy rights I may have My landlord has confessed that without a court ruling the ownership of the property will stay in dispute. It would appear that I have done nothing wrong. But there is an issue surrounding the house ownership - which unfortunately is affecting my tenancy and ability to claim Housing Benefit to pay my rent while I find myself new employment. The council are interested in getting paid council tax for the last 3 years. That has nothing to do with me - but I should not be put in situation where my tenancy (and my subsequent rights) are affected by decisions not of my making. I do have an appointment to meet a solicitor regarding this whole affair next week. Anything to help appease my anxiety in the interim would be grateful. My view is that in the absence of a legal owner of the property, I would be considered a squatter, although not through my choice, so I should avoid the problems involving the new laws involving fines and imprisonment for squatting.

So I went for an interview today at EOS set up by my adviser, I was told the job was a customer service position, when I get there he starts telling us about the job and turns out that it's merchandising for some company where you go and stay in a travel lodge for 5 days a week working 12 hour days filling unopened supermarket shelves. :/ We all have a quick interview and he pretty much offers me a job, told me he also offered 1 other dude a job but no one else (I was last) then I go out and wait to collect my bus fair and get chatting to this other girl who was in interviewing before me and she tells me he offered her a job too? wtf? I really dont want to work away from home for 5 days a week, I have trouble sleeping as it is and never get enough sleep in strange beds, I think that + 12 hour days + my WPW syndrome would probably kill me. So what will happen when I turn the job down? will my adviser try to sanction me or something? I have to see him tomorrow at 4 another thing is the contract is only for 16 hours, he said there's more hours most weeks but I have been stung by people saying that before. Please help I'm worrying a bit.

Hi Have received a letter from council tax benefit department which says they want to apply "non-dependant charges" as a deduction to my council tax benefit. I would appreciate information on what this is, how the scheme works and what I should do about it. I receive JSA, income support basis and council tax benefit. I share with two other people who receive benefit and housing allowance. We are not related nor do we have 'relations' with each other. It is my flat (2 bed) and they each have a licence to occupy. Utility bills and running costs are shared on a not quite proportionate basis. On my JSA application I disclosed the "rent" of £50 I receive each week. No further details were asked or given on that point. My JSA benefit is reduced by £15 per week taking into account the £35 weekly allowance. The council tax benefit was made jointly at the same time as my JSA claim. The CT Benefit department have picked up the presence of others from the electoral roll. It looks like the DWP try to make people dependants to reduce benefit while the CT Benefit department try to make people non-dependants to reduce benefits! Any information and advice would be much appreciated.

Hello, When I originally looked through the various docs for UC, the sanctions (that could be) placed on ESA WRAG was for £71, so that meant you would still receive at least part(component) of the benefit. Looking now at the current "UC chapter 3" I see that for such as missing an appointment can lead to a sanction of full benefit. The part I had seen before, where only a % of benefit would be lost on sanction for those on ESA WRAG as been moved to those who only need to attend WFI (lone parent with child aged over 1 but under 5) I have not seen anything mentioned anywhere about that. Anyone know of that change? The online doc is here Page 30

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19871242

We have finally heard back from dla tribunal and hubby has been awarded low rate care. This is to be be backdated to Oct 10. The question I have is with the lrc are we intitled to full housing benefit or if that is for the hrc only? I have looked and looked and cannot find the information anywhere. Thanks in advance for any answers.

Hi Is it for only under 25's, what about people on ESA with illness & over 30's? Why don't the tax millionaires & the very wealthy as opposed to the young?, i agree that people doing nothing as regards work is bad if they just don't want to do anything, but it will surely make more people homeless!

Hello All I am a newbie to the forum, but have been watching from the sidelines for quite some time I am writing about a friend of mine, as he has gotten himself into a bit of a pickle and im trying to help I got together this guy 18 months ago and we really get on well,( we plan to live together after xmas) im a single mum of 3 and he has been BRILLIANT, i want to point out that he is bi-polar, but deals with it remarkably. prior to my meeting him, he was a lad about town, and quite often ended up in trouble with the police, 20 years ago it was quite serious he ended up in prison a couple times, but he has straightened himself out in the last 5, in 2010 he hit on hard times and had to claim benefits, as he just couldnt manage, we werent together at this time, he was going to come off benefits in 2011 but his home was burgled and he really found it difficult to cope, he therefore carried on claiming housing benefit, to help with his rent, he told the council that he was earning only £120.00 per week as a driver,although he was getting somewhere between £180.00 and £220.00, this was before he had to take out his expenses such as fuel running costs of vehicle etc, he was renting a trading name from someone who took a percentage of his incomings, in cash! Things started to change for him this year and in August he contacted his council and notified them that as of september he wouldnt be claiming any further benefits, and on the 1st September he went into the housing benefit office and cancelled his claim in writing. In August, he had a bit of an email arguement with someone, and they contacted the police stating he was harassing them, unfortunately he was arrested in september, and the police took away his laptop, even though he admitted to sending this guy 7 emails, the police put him on bail and told him to return in 6 weeks, he is now in a proper state because he is worried that the police will see his invoices on the laptop and get the council involved, even though he has already cancelled his claim, he never expected this to happen I am deeply worried about him now, he isnt sleeping properly or eating, he thinks he is going to end up in prison, as this seems to be the norm of anyone convicted of benefit fraud, I just dont know what to do or say to help him, I tried to convince him that has he cancelled his claim before any of this happened, it will be ok, be he wont accept it, i really need help please, anyone who can advise please do, please dont write to tell me how wrong he was for doing what he did, we both realise this, thank you for reading my post