need urgent help!!

[olivoyl]

Help required urgently

To cut a long story short i got a debt from council for overpayment of housing benefit in 2006 relating back to 2002-2005 , bill was for £14,000. was brought about after long illness where i declared part time work ( all above order) then it transpired in 2005 by accident that said employer hadnt been declaring half his staff, i was one of those,council took me to court for declaring work they say i wasnt working as employer denied all knowledge of me to protect himself. I lost and got criminal record and bill for 14k.THe whole case was extremely distressing and i very nearly committed suicide with the stress.

The criminal record has kept me out of employment, have found it impossible to get work so after being constantly hounded by council i moved abroad in 2006 to live with a relative .

IVe now just had a threat of county court judgement etc unless i pay within 7 days, the address used is a friends p o box overseas.

IM still jobless and have no assets or income of any sorts, what do i do now? worried they can drag me back to uk, can they? what do i do?

[sisternumber1]

I am trying to understand

 

You were claiming housing Benefit and declaring part-time work.

 

Your employer told everyone that you were not working so he did not pay you - presumably you never got any payslips then.

 

You got done for receiving too much housing Benefit because you were not working because employer denies all knowledge of you. Surely that would mean that you should have had more HB?

 

So how did you get a criminal record? Were you done for colluding with your employer to defraud the HMRC? or for misdeclaring/overdeclaring your income for HB?

 

I think you need to speak to a UK lawyer fast.

[olivoyl]

there wasnt an overpayment as i was earning less than jsa from declared part time work, i got paid weekly cash in brown wage packets which is what was given to council for housing claim, no problem.

The problem arose a few years later when asked if he (employer) had employed me he produced a computerised payslip supposedly that his staff get monthly, i dont doubt they dont get them but some of us only got cash weekly in handwritten brown wage packets which is how problem arose.

because my pay packets were different to what staff now get it was taken as gospel that i couldnt possibly have worked there and i was prosecuted for statin g i did when they say i didnt.

the amount i was paid by council was correct, no underpayment or overpayment but because it was false declaration(their words) they withdraw all benefit received hence the prosecution for false statements and then after court case your told the whole amount needs repaying and they can chase you indefinately, its totally seperate to a court prosecution.

[Messydesk]

Where the hell were you living to get a council tax bill for £14k for three years? And why did you not appeal against the original demand from the council? Anyone getting a demand for back council tax hich they do not believe they owe should immediately appeal against that bill. There is then an opportunity to go to an appeal tibunal (where no matter what the outcome you do not get a criminal record) and put their case. The council too must provide evidence to back up their claim. I agree you need a UK lawyer.

[skonk]

Where the hell were you living to get a council tax bill for £14k for three years?

 

The OP didn't say it was for council tax. they said Housing Benefit, and 14k would be about right over three years for rent.

[poppynurse]

This seems extremely unfair - the employer commits fraud and you are punished Can you not get statements from the folk you worked with, What do the council think you lived on? I would try and get an MP involved.

[Messydesk]

Sorry I had just been answering questions on council tax benefit - although I did think that claims for repayment of housing benefit could go the same route - ie tribunal. is that not right?

[olivoyl]

basically once the council decide they are prosecuting the only way i was able to bring ex staff as witnesses and force ex boss into court to prove he was lying was if i forced it to crown court but i was warned very heavily by legal team that it was virtually impossible to win any case against council fraud team and if i did force it to crown court and lost i would be guaranteed a higher sentence etc, after a year going back and forth to court and deteriorating health , i had signed doctors certificate stating my mental health due to stress couldnt stand a court case, i was forced in the end to plead guilty to part of the charge to get rest dropped.

I so wish i'd known this site at the time, i may have not backed down.

Once charged i got 12 weeks prison suspended for a year for each of 3 counts.

the judge told me although case was now over , the council then had civil case as they would consider any money paid to me wether true claim or not would now be classed as a civil debt and they would chase for full amount , he also told me if i ever had to sign on again i would find myself under constant investigations... i did have to sign back on as no-one would employ me and within 7 weeks i was pulled in IUC again.

I signed off and havent claimed anything again since as although i wasnt guilty of doing anything i couldnt stand the further stress and eventually left the uk as theres no point being there anymore.

 

I have no means of ever paying the sum they demand as no job or income, i have no bank accounts in uk or here so couldnt set up any type of payment even if i wanted to.