Hi there, Please help me. I'm terrified right now. I received a letter out of nowhere yesterday saying that I was being investigated and interviewed under caution for alleged undeclared work. It is in 2 weeks time. No other information than that. Just that it would be under caution. I feel like a criminal when I read that. Of course I rang up to say that I would be attending - the man on the phone was horrible and cold and downright rude - refused to give me any more information. I am signed off work long term sick due to mental health problems and currently on ESA (have been for many years) as wellas housing benefit and council tax benefit - I have had mental illness problems since my early teens but I had a nervous breakdown last year which made things a whole lot worse. My head went totally west. My partner looked after me single handedly for the whole of last year. He worked for two weeks so we could have a Christmas because of the horrible year we both had, even though he was not fit for work at that time. My partner is named on my ESA claim and worked 2pm-10pm Monday to Friday for 2 weeks from the end of November until mid-December as he also has depression and anxiety and really couldn't do it anymore. I sent the DWP the payslips as soon as he had finished work in December. I heard nothing back from them so I thought they had received them and everything was okay. I sent the original payslips which I realise now was a really bad decision as I can't now resend them. I wasn't in the right headspace during this as recently I'd had a total mental collapse - I was in a really bad place. I automatically assumed they would get them so sent them as quickly as possible. He has worked every Christmas since 2014 for no more than four weeks a time and hasn't had any employment other than Christmas work in a financial year. We have always sent the payslips. Always heard nothing back so assumed we were under the threshold that we can earn and that we wouldn't have any money deducted because of this. We are not criminals. Neither of us have ever had a criminal record. I'm terrified of going to prison just because for some reason they must not have received the payslips. I can't sleep right now because of the fear of going to prison. There was no fraud or deception involved. That wasn't our intention at all. Far from it. We have always been honest from the start. I made a stupid decision by sending the original payslips that I can't now resend and I was neglectful with that because of my illness. I am still on diazepam and have been for 11 months since my breakdown (as is my partner more recently) and also I see my psychiatrist every two months as well as my partner is on the waiting list to see a psychiatrist. I/We don't deserve to go to prison because the payslips were lost. I always assumed that no news is good news and that they would write to us if anything was amiss. If they have lost the payslips - I don't deserve to be sent to prison because of that. We don't have the money to hire a solicitor and we are pretty much estranged from both of our families so we have to go through this alone. We really need some advice. To receive a letter like this is really scary and this has made me really paranoid that the DWP have been watching us because of the new Snoopers Charter. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Terrified right now. This is a big part of why I am awake at 4am in the morning. I just can't sleep through fear of them sending me to prison for this. :|:| :frown: Please help because I am at my wits end. Only positive responses please. xxxxx

Please help, I'm so scared that i'm going to prison I'm on ESA and have been for the past 3/4 years. In that time, i've have 3 part time jobs all 16 hours and under and i've declared all of them with a permitted work form. The only reason i can think this has come about is that at the beginning of July this year i was offered a job for 16 hours but was told i'd have at least 1 day extra as overtime. I rang up ESA and told them i wanted to stop my ESA claim. A few days later my mental health went to crap and i told my new boss that i wouldn't be able to do it. She then agreed to me doing only 16 hours and i thought i could handle that (i hadn't even started the job when i told her i couldn't do it). I then did an ESA rapid reclaim and was told that everything would be the same as my old claim, Income related ESA in the support group. Turns out that i'm now contribution based ESA in the support group, i didn't even know until my housing benefit stopped a few weeks ago. I'd also started a claim for working tax credits as originally i'd be working 25 hours a week on average. i sent in my permitted work form for 16 hours a week and started my new job at the end of July. By this time my mental health was getting worse again and i didn't realize it, i was getting all these letters from people for changes in income, the dwp health assessment letter for my esa and i just couldn't cope. About 4 weeks after i'd started work, i realized i hadn't even stopped the WTC i spoke to an online adviser and told them that i needed to stop my tax credits and thought nothing of it as at the beginning esa was deducting the WTC amount from my ESA and i had to wait for a letter to come through to send to ESA to prove i had ended WTC. I didn't think anymore of it. On October the 1st, i had to send in a sick note to work because i just couldn't cope anymore, i couldn't leave the house, someone knocking at the door or the phone ringing terrified me and i had to go back onto anti depressants and anti anxiety medication, and on October the 12th (i think) i was dismissed from work. I went to the post office to get my money for my child tax credits on the 10th or the 11th of October, i normally get it out on a wednesday but i was short on money so i got it out on the tuesday instead, and i realise that there's too much money. I thought that because i was getting my money out on the Wednesdays every 2 weeks and the amounts were the same, that WTC had informed ESA about me stopping WTC and ESA were paying the amount they said they would when they had notification of my WTC stopping. i logged onto my online tax credits account, and there was a live claim for WTC! I immediately stopped it online and as the end date i put the 12th of October as this was my dismissal date. I've sent them a letter about over payments (my phone and internet were cut off) because i wasn't entitled to that money, but i've not heard anything. Will they get back to me about it or am i going to have to call them or speak to them instead? The payments i received for my job was £380 at the beginning of September, about the same at the end of September, £250 at the end of October and £150 holiday pay at the end of November. I'm so scared that i'm going to prison. I have a partner that i have to care for and a 3 year old. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I sent in my permitted work form and told WTC to stop my WTC, then ended it myself when i saw it was still a live claim. I really don't know what to do That's the only reason i can think of as to why they think i didn't declare my employment status, but i thought that if it was under 16 hours a week and less than £100 a month, then it's classed as permitted work. Now i'm wondering if it was either of the other jobs i did. I don't even know anymore as the letter only states undeclared work and nothing else. My interview is the 21st of December and i've told them that i'm going to attend. I'm too scared of police turning up to my door if i don't go. I'm really scared as i've never been to court, i don't even have a criminal record! I've never done anything illegal let alone got in trouble for a crime. What happens now? I've messaged a few people at the local solicitors but not heard anything yet and the CAB in my area is only open for about 5-6 hours every Thursday, but i'm not guaranteed an appointment. I feel so sick, i can't eat, i can't sleep, if the door bell rings or someone knocks on the door, it sends me into such a state that i'm having panic attacks. Even the phone ringing petrifies me and i'm shaking whenever the post man comes because i'm scared of what post may come through my door. What do i do? Sorry for being a baby and for my post being so long. I'm nearly 30 and should be able to cope with this but i can't