There was some proposals as to freeze various benefits for the next 2 years, however, from a comment by Cameron we may well actually see a reduction. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/07/david-cameron-mansion-tax-cuts

So I am single with a 2 year old son I have been renting my 2 bed flat privatley from a landlord for 2 years using housing benefit/dss to pay the majority of my rent, he has recently put the rent up so I am planning on leaving this flat and looking for a new one when my tenancy ends in feburary. So my brother is a landlord who has 2 other one bed flats and a 2 bed house which would be perfect for me to move into, its been rented out constantly for the last few years, i belive also with tenants claiming dss and it will be free for a new tenant around febuary. So he said why dont i move into his flat that he would prefer someone he knows to live in it, and told me it would be no problem the fact that we were related. I just wanted some advice on this I'm living in Brent and I feel they can be quite suspicious and strict on dss, so I'm wanting to know would renting from him be possible I would be paying a deposit, a reasonable rent for the area and he would be advertising the flat fairly

I received a letter saying ther was doubt about my claim as I had not applied for ONE job printed off by my local JSP, I wasnt able to get the link to work and by the time I was able to get public internet access the deadline had passed. I had however applied for 14 jobs within the 12 days previous but the Adviser at JCP has advised me that this is a "refusal to work"... hello i applied for 14 other jobs. As a result I am being left with no benefits, no council tax payments, no money for my mortgage ( funnily it comes just as my 13 weeks of claiming benefits is about to pass entitling me to mortgage interest payments) and i have £30 left of my overdraft that needs to last me until I can get work...100's of job applications later and I still cant get work.....Can I sue the individual that has come to this conclusion that I dont want to work? As I'm not sure how I can cope on zero income and possible repossession of my home, not to mention starvation!!!!

Is there anywhere online I can search to find a date when a benefit fraud case was tried (2007-2008)? I don't know if it was tried in the local County Court or Magistrates Court. The person concerned was convicted. It was also reported in the local paper at the time, but the paper doesn't seem to have archives. I have moved the other side of the country so it wouldn't be easy to visit the court .., but I would if I have to.

Anyone any idea how these new benefits will effect the claiming of a Motability car ,I seem to remember reading somewhere that the higher rate of DLA is to be abolished.If this is the case then nobody will qualify for the scheme as it is a requirement of it that you are in receipt of the higher rate of DLA

I received, at the end of last week, a letter from my local council requesting that I attend an 'Interview under Caution' tomorrow (tuesday). After phoning the CAB for advice I managed to contact a solicitor who has agreed to represent me. He has also changed the date of the interview so I have more time to prepare and see him first. I am absolutely terrified! I have spent all weekend on the internet and looking at the various forums and I realise now that the chances are very high that I am not entitled to any of the money I have received. Its around 3500 over a 12 month period. I can't quite believe how naive I have been and why on earth I didn't check my facts before I started to claim - I'm so ashamed of myself. Can anyone please advise me what will happen - will I definitely be prosecuted and have a criminal record? Will it be published in the local papers? Will I have to go to court? Do you think I should just hold my hands up and say I'm very sorry I mis-understood the regulations and offer straight away to pay all the money back. I could ask my parents to loan me and then pay them back over time (if they could ever bring themselves to speak to me again). Or is it worth trying to explain and trying to convince the officials that circumstances and stress and a whole other load of horrible stuff going on in my life contributed to me making a mistake. Any advice would be very much appreciated. I'm going to see my solicitor at the end of this week. Thank you

We are on Pension credit and receive £237 per week for the both of us which also takes into account two small private pension payments and a carer's allowance. However in addition the DWP pay us another £212 for some unknown reason? Over the past 5 weeks since the DWP started paying us this extra £212 per week we have phoned in and queried it as we feel we are not entitled to the money. Every week they tell us that we are entitled to the benefit, but cannot explain why we are entitled to the money. It is not a housing and council tax payment as that would be a lot less anyway. We never applied for any other benefit at any time. We have also written to the DWP querying the payment, but it still gets paid into our account and they have sent us nothing in writing. Initially we thought we were entitled to the money and spent it as there were some arrears owed to us by the DWP, however over the past 4 weeks we have now being putting it aside. It is becoming difficult to manage as it all goes into the same account as the Pension Credit and DLA. We are scared of spending it just in case they demand it all back again which will leave us short every week. Can any one advise what we should do as this seems to be an official mistake that no one at the DWP wants to rectify? Thanks.

Good evening all, I am seeking some advice for my daughter please from all you benefit Gurus. My daughter is 18 years old and has found herself an apprenticeship 110 miles away from home She is living with a friend for a tenner a week and earning £74 (for her 35 hour week) However, she has to pay £38 a week for her travel, which we thought was going to be taken care of under her apprenticeship - it's not. Is she entitled to claim any help for this? We've ruled out JSA because she's obviously not able to actively seek work but beyond this allowance we have no clue. Any help and advice appreciated. Many thanks Up2

Hi I have looked around for an answer for this, but have not been able to narrow one down, so any help would be most appreciated. My brother has left his job and claimed JSA, he was refused the claim as he had left his work position voluntarily, but appealed this and it was decided in his favour due to the behaviour of his previous employer. He was eligible to receive contribution based JSA which he applied for and had been claiming for one month when he missed an appointment and his benefit was stopped and then his claim dismissed. He appealed this decision and after going through the process received a letter two days ago advising that his appeal had not been upheld, that he would no longer qualify for JSA. I was wondering, long term, would my brother be able to re-apply for JSA as a new claim? He lives at home so probably would not qualify for the hardship payments? Many thanks in advance

I was wondering if anyone could be of help on this matter It has been 12 months since i went for an Interview under caution and as yet have heard nothing it is driving me mad and affecting my health and mental status severley. All i have had was an overpayment letter which i have been fighting, but cannot get out of my head, i will go to prison. I was wondering if anyone new how long the dwp have to prosecute you, if they are going to do so. I have not been charged or anything just had the cautioned interview and the overpayment letter Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated

hi, so basically, me and my wife have 4 children, 2 adults and 2 under 16. we are a happy family. we are receiving child tax credit for my 2 younger kids, housing benefit due to my low salary and my wife not working, as well as working tax credit for me. In june 2011, my 2 adult children and wife went back home for a holiday. due to unforeseen circumstances, my daughter now has to get married there, so my wife and daughter were still there while my son came back. i did not inform any of the benefit companies about this, as it was just meant to be a small holiday. unexpectedly, my wife and daughter were still there until feb 2012, when me and my other 2 young kids went abroad too. since they had school, they came back with my wife now in 3 weeks (feb 2012). so now i was there with my daughter (to be married soon) until may 2012 when i came back home. we let the daughter handle everything from then. suddenly my mother who lives abroad, went really ill due to old age in july 2012 and i had to go see her, as would any son. my wife had to come with me too as she had not seen my mother in a very long time. so now my 2 younger kids and 1 adult son are alone in the uk. they have managed so far but school is about to begin and me or my wife need to be there now. so my wife is leaving to UK on the 22nd september, and i will be making my way soon. by october hopefully. during this period, we received a letter saying our housing benefit and working tax credit has been suspended due to change in circumstance, so i sent all the required documents to them before i went to see my mother (july 2012). it was a while since we got any reply from them and our landlord bugging us about not receiving his rent in time. so my son while alone with his siblings called the department asking for progress. he told them he was our son and that the parents went abroad for a couple of weeks. they told him to contact them when they are back. out of stupidity, he called in again the next day posing as me just to get things going (as me and my wife left in emergency, and would be back soon), but the person on the telephone got suspicious and passed the case to the fraud department thinking someone else is living in the house or whatsoever. now that the landlord is bugging us about the rent and i cannot just leave my mom here. my wife would be coming back soon on the 22 sept 2012. ( its too expensive to amend the flight date). now they are asking to check my passport when my son posed as me (which i was unaware of until he told me) did we commit any fraud? because the only thing wrong we did was not informing them about leaving the country in between. we have not left the country for more than 13 weeks except for the time when my wife was with my daughter about the marriage situation, while i was still in the UK with my kids. what will happen now? will they ask for the housing benefit back from when my wife was away? or will they backtrack the housing benefit from this past month since they have suspended it? (as my wife will be back on the 22nd sept, no more than 13 weeks since she left). please help me, my kids are alone in the UK and need some help on this. if you are confused about anything. please reply back.

Hello Everyone, My 18 years old is starting full time college next week. I had no warning from the child benefit or the child tax credit the payments has stopped can someone please give me telephone number that don't start with the 0845 as it's impossible to contact them on the main 0845 number they just cut you off. Usually I get a letter to tell me if my child will still be in full time education this year I had nothing. If anyone has a telephone number for the child benefit line that I can get through I would be most grateful. Thanks very much helen

Hi I hope someone may be able to answer a couple of questions. I've never had to claim any benefits before but my circumstances have changed dramatically in the last few years that I have no other option for the time being. I am currently waiting to have my home repossessed as I can no longer afford to live there. I also went bankrupt a few years back so have been saving up and will be lent some money from family to pay the 6 months rent up front to a landlord for a private rental. I am down on the council list as a high priority but have been told I could be waiting for up to a year. My son is disabled and I am scared of being on the street. I have two questions the first is will Housing benefit be paid whilst my resposession goes through? I have found somewhere that is close to schools (I have no car) and mentally I'm struggling being in our home knowing I'm going to lose it. And secondly I've part filled in the Housing benefit form and it states the first payment is made in a cheque to the landlord, as I've said I will be paying the rent upfront is there anyway round this? Could I have the cheque paid out to me? I also was hoping the landlord wouldn't have to know I was claiming benefits as I have yet to find one that would accept us. We live in a small town and rentals are limited. Thank you

Hi everyone, I have been a total pleb and due to various circumstances left it rather late to inform the council that I had a wage rise last year. I know I should have done it immediately later but at the time of the rise I was under incredible pressure with debt worries after separating from my husband who left me in huge financial difficulty together with the fact that i was undergoing various medical tests which at the hospital as I was (an still am) showing symptoms of MS. This ommission came about because I was sorting through this years paperwork and unusually for me have left the tax credit renewal rather late. I rang the council to tell them about my wage rise in April 2012 and that I think I had forgotten to tell them about my rise last year. The lady on the phone said that due to my 2012 rise I would not be entitled to which I said that I expected that. This meant that I would have been overpaid by 3 months. Whilst talking to her I explained that I could not remember if I had told about last years rise, and when I confirmed my normal pay, she said no. Today I have realised that my tax credits figure has reduced from the original one I gave when claiming and Have tried to call them back about this but was on hold for over 45 minutes during my lunch hour then had to hang up. SO, I know I have been overpaid by 3 months for defo and am sure that for the majority of last year I was also overpaid by some and I have tried to create a spreadsheet to work it out which includes the rise in salary and drop in tax credits. I make it approx £1000 overpaid. In addition, I think I am currently being investigated as my employer explained that he had received a request for an Employers statement wanting details of my pay and pay dates. I am totally worried sick that I am about to be called in for investigation and wonder what is going to happen next. Shall keep trying to ring them to explain or has it gone too far?? Any help would be really appreciated. I know have been totally stupid for not telling them last year but I genuinely did forget due to over-rising circumstances......

Is Esa contribution based used for determining housing benefit. I understand that once you have been put into a group either WRAG or Support you get extra money. Will I lose this money to housing benefit?

i have discovered today that i have been overpaid housing benefit since February this year. i only just realised this today when a letter came asking about a re calculation. so i checked my statements and there they were 5 monthly payments since february at different times each month amking them hard to take note of. it's a lesson to check my statements more carefully and regularly to be sure but i am now worried stiff about any action they may take as this has been a complete and honest oversight i have no trouble paying it back in one go straight away, but i'm still worried they may take it further. what is likely to happen, i'm terrified after reading some stories on here. advice on next steps needed, please i

Hi, I am worried sick about my housing and council tax benefit. I had to pop into the council to tell them I had started a new job and provide evidence of that and my tax credits. While I was there I saw that the council had my partners wages as being £40 a week down from what they are. We took in her wages slips when she started and told them that she worked 20 hours but the wage slip did not reflect this as it was a first one. They assessed our housing benefit based on the smaller amount and never asked for any other pay slips. We thought they knew the correct amount, we have always taken in the tax credit forms and assumed they knew our correct income. They have asked us to provide new payslips which is fine but it is going to show that she earns more and I am afraid they will think we have been fraudulently claiming extra. I have calculated that they think she has earned 4700 less than she has over the two years. I am terrified at how much we will have to pay back and if they will prosecute us. Do you think we will owe more than £2000, I have been looking and this seems to be the amount over which they prosecute. Why did they not ask for more payslips? I feel so angry at myself that I did not take any in anyway. I am so worried about this. Please can anyone offer any advice.

Hope someone can help with a problem my good friend has, she suffers from anxiety and worries about a lot of things, she has been watching "Saints and Scroungers" on TV and i think thats set her off! Her situation is that 20 years ago she had a relationship with someone and they have a 15 year old son together,they split up when the son was small and she has not had much contact with him (her ex) for the last 9 years. She was claiming IS HB and CTB from 1991 until 2003. Her ex had lived with his Dad until his Dad died in 1997 then he became depressed and began drinking heavily and was more or less homeless, staying with friends and relatives so didnt have a fixed address, my friend let him stay with her on and off for a few weeks at a time but they would fallout and he would dissappear for months at a time. Despite his drinking he still held down a job. She took no money from him and there were no linked finances. He paid her child support through the CSA, using his Aunts address where he stayed some of the time. She didnt tell the benefits people he was sometimes living with her as she didnt know how long he was staying for as he took off when he felt like it. He finally got his act together and got his own house in 2004 where he still lives now. He then overpaid his council tax and wanted them to refund it so when asking about that the Council Tax advisor asked him to provide the last 10 years of addresses where he had lived,so here is the problem, he told them he lived with my friend from 1993-2003!!!!When asked about this by my friend he said he "couldnt be bothered" to remember all dates and addresses he'd lived at and thought if he used her address he'd get the refund quicker.This was in 2006. Hope you can follow this, complicated i know! In 2006 my friend recieved a letter from Housing Benefit asking if Mr ****had been living with her from 1993-2003 so she went to the HB office and explained the situation to an advisor and filled in a statement telling them everything, they said they wouldnt be taking it any further. That was over 6 years ago and she has heard nothing from them since, no IUC or investigation as far as she is aware. She was so upset about that and didnt speak to him for about 3 years after. Any time she hears about benefit fraud cases she starts to worry in case shes going to get a letter telling her they're investigating what happened years ago, she cant get any peace of mind and has never forgiven her ex for what he did. Im trying to help her by saying if the HB office said it was going no further and you've not heard anything in 6 years AND your ex has had his own place for 9 years it would be hard for HB to prove he lived with you! So could anyone tell me if this is correct? I think she may have to go to the doctor soon as shes really stressing about this, hope someone can mabye help her, thank you.

Hello. Not sure if this is the correct place for this post. My mother suffered a stroke on Saturday night and is currently in hospital. She receives ESA (WRAG component) and lives in an upstairs flat owned by Coastline Housing (Housing Association located in Cornwall). From what I gather her ESA will not be affected, though they have to be informed that she is in hospital. What I need help with is the following: 1. Will she loose her property after a specific time period? 2. Is there such a thing as an 'Emergency Housing List'? 3. She has spent most of her adult life in the area, her family and friends are here, so can they force her to be rehoused in another area away from where she will receive care? 4. She will in all likelihood require a downstairs flat/bungalow when she comes out of hospital. Is Coastline Housing obliged to help her get one? Some of the above might seem obvious but the stress that it would cause her if she was moved out of the area would probably put her back in hospital.

Please advise. 3 years ago several cars were photographed by a Flash Park camera and each of us received the "Parking Ticket" £85, none of us responded. We all continue to receive regular notices and bailiff notices but none of us have ever engaged or paid fines. In the last 2 months I have had to resort to Job seekers allowance, and this week I have had a letter from them advising me that from 27th July they will be deducting £5 per week for a fine, on further discussion with the processing team, they had no more information other than a note on the computer to quote South Wales Magistrates and a ref number. When I spoke to South Wales Magistrates they had no record of me nor the ref No.? in further investigation the request has come from london north east hmcts which when Google is bailiffadviceonline. How legal is it that this company has from my Vehicle Licence number plate to now have my National insurance number and have the right to have my benefits deducted? what do I need to put in my Appeal to the benefits office. Many thanks Val183

Please could somebody give me some advice? I have recently made an application for housing benefit. This is my first claim,due to a change in my circumstances. In this claim I advised them that my son had received DLA but due to the DWPnot sending the renewals pack out in time I am currently not receiving paymentwhile they process the claim. He had previously received DLA at higher ratecare and lower rate mobility for six years and his conditions had not decreasedin fact they had got worse, so I am confident (and so is his consultant) thathe will continue to get it again at the same level. My LC have now calculated my award for Housing benefit and refused toacknowledge that my son as a disability and will not make an award to includethe extra premium for having a child with a disability. Without this premium,the Housing Benefit claim is minimal and I can no way pay my rent. My wageseach month are about £900 and my rent £830. They are offering me £23.39 pwtowards my rent. If they were to include the premium for my son we wouldreceive around £100 pw. What can I do? I really can't afford to pay my rent. Last time I made an application for DLA for my son it took 9 months to sortas I took it to tribunal. Thanks N

Hi there - I am looking to find out if this is possible? My husband has been on Incapacity Benefit for a number of years and in receipt of the low DLA. He is looking to start studying a degree part time. Would this interfere with his benefit and is this allowed? Thanks in advance!

I received a letter today to say that Incapacity now ESA had evidence to state I had a period of work between 2007 and 2010. Goes on to say they have included details from the employer and if I accept that I did this work could I answer the questions on the attached sheet. such as please provide the dates you worked, days of week worked, normal working pattern ? If they have enough evidence already why are they asking for more? At this stage I have requested an FOI but am unsure as to what other rights I have?

I wonder if anyone can advise me on this matter? My sister suffers from bi-polar disorder, having been officially diagnosed at the start of the year after a long history of severe depression. She is currently in receipt of DLA and as far as I know, aside from Housing Benefit, this is her only income. Since our mother died in March she has become severely agoraphobic and hardly ever leaves her flat or opens the curtains. A few weeks ago she was persuaded to move in with our father, and so I have been collecting her mail and passing it on to her. This week when I went to pick up her mail after a 2 week absence, it included 8 separate giros, totaling over £3k, for the same 2 week period. As far as I can tell this was a genuine clerical/official error by the DWP, as she has not made any changes in her claim or informed them of changed circumstances. She is convinced that the payments represent a backdated amount that she is entitled to, but there is no accompanying letter to say as much, only the bog standard 'here's your money' letter they always sent fortnightly with 1 giro. Of course this error has been seen by her as providence and something she should be able to take advantage of, a theory fuelled by all the articles you can find online about the DWP being unable to take people to court for overpayment if it's due to a official error. I told her they will dock her benefit for the next 2 years when they realise the mistake, but she doesn't seem to understand that this will have long terms effects. It's money sent by the Gods as far as she's concerned. So my question is this. If I were to inform DWP of this, would she immediately be in hot water or would the fact that she is mentally ill be mitigation of some kind? And is she right, is overpayment by a technical error something that can't be reclaimed through the courts?

I am curious, I know that if they DWP suspect you of fraud they can look at your bank statements or if they are doing a spot check on you they will ask to see a bank statement. While I am not currently in a situation where this affects me I am still curious as to how they view how you spend your benefit money? I live with family and so I give my family the main chunk of my benefit in cash to cover the bulk of my food and cortribution to bills I don't get any HB etc. The small about left is spent on some food shopping, some interent shopping such as books, dvd rentals etc and the odd bit of cash I lift if I am out. I wonder if my spending habits i.e. any spending on myself such as buying books etc would be considered "wrong" by the DWP?