Accused of Benefit Fraud, worried about prosecution

[jabba jones]

The investigator was a kind and sympathetic woman, not at all like the image of monsters portrayed in this forum, I realise they will receive bonus payments if they successfully prosecute me

 

This is not the first time I've had to explain this, this week. The investigator will NOT receive a bonus if you are succesfully prosecuted. They have strict targets, but it is not bonus related.

 

Do they ever NOT prosecute? Are there any grounds for it not being in the public interest to prosecute me considering the devastating effect it will have on my future and the futures of my children and the fact that it could just sentence us to a life on benefits?

 

Benefit decisions are based on probability. Court prosecutions have to be beyond all reasonable doubt, so just because an overpayment is over £2000 doesn't definitely mean you will be prosecuted. However having read your story I would be surprised if a prosecution attempt was not to follow.

 

One thing you MIGHT want to try is. Wait for your overpayment decision to arrive & if it is over £2000 try writing to the Fraud team manager (you will already have the address on the form you were given about getting copies of the IUC tape). They make the first decision as to whether prosecution should be attempted. Explain everything you have put in your message above. Make a point about public interest & how prosecuting you now will ultimately cost the public purse more due to wrecking your career prospects & keeping you on benefits long term. Say you would be more than willing to accept a Caution or an Administrative Penalty & then keep your fingers crossed. I fear it's a long shot, but if you manage to pull at the heart strings you might get lucky & you've got nothing to lose.

 

I notice Erica has replyed whilst I was busy typing & as per usual she has made some very good points.

[jabba jones]

I didn't mean the investigator herself, I meant the department. The dept apparently have financial incentives to prosecute people, or so I'm led to believe?

 

Not as far as I'm aware. Although if it is true it is certainly not something that is considered when the fraud manager is making their recommendation.

 

However the DWP will try to claim a % of any money that is clawed back via the proceeds of crime act, so maybe that is where this has come from. But that is not something you've got to worry about in your case

[jabba jones]

I don't know Jabba, I was told yesterday that via the SAFE initiative, there are financial incentives to fraud depts to prosecute, of around £1200 for a penalty or caution and £2k+ for a successful prosecution. I don't know anything about it personally, it's what I was told by someone advising me.

 

Fair enough it's probably true then, but the fact that I am unaware of it (or ignored it in my training more like!) shows just how little it means on the section itself.

 

Does anyone know the average length of time between an IUC and a court summons? I'm living on nervous energy and am unable to sleep right now, is this likely to be a matter of weeks, months, years? Regardless of what they think of me, my children don't deserve to be cared for by an exhausted, emotionally flattened mother who isn't getting any sleep. We need some sort of closure on this, good or bad.

 

It will be months & months. Presuming your IUC was in the last couple of weeks, you'll be lucky to get the benefit decision before Xmas & then if they decide to prosecute it's a very long winded process before you receive any notification of intent.

 

You are just going to have to wait I'm afraid.