Currently I am going through the procedure of getting IS and CA (carer's allowance) and have just been awarded the CA, The IS is unfortunately taking a long time (currently 7 weeks and counting). Lately due to notifying the council of the changes of circumstances which I am currently going through they are sending me recalculations for both HB and CTB and it's getting to be a bit of a mind boggler. However today received yet another recalculation but this time the CTB award is 0 and this is apparently due to our savings going over £6k (only a few hundred over). When I spoke to someone from the council CTB department they said it was because of the 6K. I had always been of the opinion that there was a sliding scale and that the benefit was worked out over i.e 6k to 16k and that for every 1k over 6k you lost approximately 10% of the benefit. I have looked at several sites and they mostly suggest this sliding scale applies to CTB, So, Does anyone here know for sure whether or not CTB is a straight cutoff at 6k or is it a sliding scale system like with HB, The council in question is Newcastle UNDER Lyme. Thanks for any information.

Please can anyone give me some advice or reassurance? My wife's daughter has this morning received a letter from DWP dated 26th August that her IS has been stopped as of 7th August. This was not so unexpected as she split with her partner on that date and he moved out officially on 15th August. What was unexpected was that when she called them to find out what to do about a new claim she was informed that she should not have been receiving any IS at all since they moved in together in July last year and they are reviewing her case. She must also make a fresh claim. The woman on the phone did admit that my stepdaughter had told the DWP at the time (she actually had assistance from some sort of family support worker to fill out the forms and has a benefit award letter stating 'Benefit paid for you and your partner' meaning they definitely did know) but she also said the DWP had made an error and she should have been denied IS altogether. She is disabled and has 3 dependent children all under 8 and is now unexpectedly skint as she didn't realise some of the payments she had thought were being made into the bank weren't! She now has to wait for this review to happen before she receives any more IS. To cap all that off, her recent new HB and CTB claims have also been put on hold whilst the matter is resolved, she moved into a new rental property on 16th July and still hasn't received a bean meaning she is already £1700 or so in rent arrears. Questions:- 1. How long is this DWP review process likely to take and is there any way to push for a speedy resolution? 2. Is it likely she will be asked to repay this 'overpayment' by the DWP? 3. Is it likely she will be asked to pay back some or all of the HB and CTB that she received for the previous period when they were living together. 4. What is likely to happen with this new claim for HB and CTB after the DWP review is complete? Would her HB payments be affected for the new property i.e. reduced payments? Many thanks in advance, worried stepdad and landlord!!!

Hi All, I have had a letter through accusing my partner and I of HB/CTB fraud. I have been invited to an interview under caution and just want a bit of advice to make sure i am not on the back foot when i turn up. I have looked over my last 2 years worth of income etc and i cant see anything wrong and looking at the benefits calculator we still qualify . Unfortunately it looks like i fall into a gap where i don't qualify for legal aid and i don't have any spare cash to pay for a solicitor.. The advice i am after is how do i go about getting the council to disclose the evidence they have against me? Is there a template letter i can send them, unfortunately i am not knowledgeable in legal lingo so i don't know how to construct the letter.7 Thanks in advance.