failiure to notify change of circumstances

[shandie]

hi , does anyone know whether or not by law , i have to give the council details of my husbands bank accounts and wages as it is me that is under investigation and not him .

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome, shandie.

 

What sort of dispute is it, so I know what Forum to move this thread to.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[shandie]

hi it is a very complicated case so much so that the c a b and the welfare rights cant help, basically my husband is under immigration rules with regards to benefits and i am not allowed to claim for him so we have baically been living on my benefits as directed by the home office and the immigration law i didnt inform the council that he was living with me as i knew that it would create allsorts of issues with regards to our marraige and finances and after suffering quite severely with bipolar and having been investigated for the last 7 years by the home office and our lives being placed under the microscope, i just couldnt face another lengthy battle, because my husband would have then have to have been placed on my claim to satisfy the council but this would then have broken the immigration laws to which we have to abide with regards to benefits, i have been interviewed under caution and addmitted i was at fault but now they want all his immigration details and bank accounts and so on ,and they have threatened me with the home office if i dont comply

[maroondevo52]

Hi, thanks.

 

I'll move this thread to the appropriate Forum, where hopefully you'll get some help.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[shandie]

thankyou very much

[ErikaPNP]

Though an immigrant has no recourse to public funds until the right to reside and habitual residence test has been satisfied, you still have to declare them as your partner if they are living with you as your partner as any income based benefit claim would be based on the total household income/capital.

 

I assume that the investigation by the council is an investigation for a fraudulent claim of housing benefit/council tax benefit and as the result of an undeclared partner?

 

If you don't give them the details, they can pass it to FIS and they may be able to obtain this information themselves, and yes they can go to the home office. However I'd carefully consider this because if the case goes to court, a court will not hold in high favour non compliance, because of the further cost that would be incurred on the state in obtaining these details.

[shandie]

thanks for your advice, and yes the investigation is regarding an undeclared partner, but why would they be so interested in my husbands bank accounts when i have admitted i was wrong and we were living only on my benefits anyway, and to have claimed for him would have landed us in trouble with the home office . also when i told the council that i had been reluctant to declare my husband because i knew we would have to claim , and that he was not allowed to and neither was i allowed to claim for him, they said that this was rubbish and in so may words called me a liar, to be honest i dont think they knew the immigration limmits on claiming benefits , i have had so much previous history with the council where mps have stepped in on my behalf and for the last 10 years it has been hell with them that is also why i was so reluctant , as they are so incompetent, it honestley had nothing to do with money and to be honest when this is all over , on principle i will never ever claim any benefit that means i have to have any dealings with the council again myself and my husband have paid in thousands of pounds to the home office and gone through hell over the last 7 years but we did everything legally , we have not tried to defraud anyone , i have just been unable to even bear the thought of trying to get the council to understand our situation from an immigration point of view as qiute frankly they dont have a clue and when you add bipolar into the mix sometimes things just seem impossible

[ErikaPNP]

They need to see evidence of his income and capital to calculate how much of an overpayment has been accrued; you were living on your benefits but you claimed those benefits as a single person when you were not a single person. When you ticked "no" on the box on the form where it asks if you have a partner, and then signed that form, you made a false declaration which is why they are investigating fraud. This is the reason why CAB and Welfare Rights are unable to help. They cannot help in cases where fraud has been committed.

 

What they have said is correct. The law is not that your husband cannot claim benefit or that you cannot claim on his behalf; the law is that he is not entitled to receive benefit. Any person has a right to claim benefit, and to have a notification in writing from the department which processes that benefit, of the outcome of the claim. It is the duty of those processing the benefit claims to determine whether or not that person is entitled. A person who claims who has no recourse to public funds will not get into trouble for claiming, unless they commit fraud in order to secure those benefits. People often confuse the word "claim" with "entitlement" where benefits are concerned.

 

How things go from here depend very much on what you do next. If you refuse to provide the documents they are requesting, they may decide that the entire period that you have claimed for you were not entitled to. You will be marked down as "non compliant" and this will go against you if the case goes to court. They can request documents from accounts however they only usually do this to prove fraud. As you have already admitted you failed to declare a partner, they are not obliged to use this resource.

 

The overpayment will have to be re-paid; recovery of overpayments occur in all cases in addition to any further penalties that may arise from this. The penalties can be either an admin penalty (which is a fee), a departmental caution (this is for benefit purposes only and isn't a criminal record), or they can prosecute. If they decide to prosecute, it's impossible to say what penalty the court would impose if you were convicted (or plead guilty) as this would depend heavily on all factors involved.

 

I'm sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but we can only advise on how things are. You may need to seek legal advice.

[shandie]

hi many thanks for taking the time to try and help, i guess we would have been better off to have claimed anyway , but to be honest we were too scared of the home office and what they would do if we did , i think iwill just give them what they are asking for as i just want this to be dealt with as the strain is sending my bi polar into orbit and my marraige is almost at breaking point , i cant take any more really, i have never been in any trouble in my life and i am so scared of what might happen but even so i just want to be truthful and get this over and done , it is a big relief to us to be honest that now we can sort it out , i just hope that they take our circumstances into account because we have felt trapped in a system and not known what to do for the best .