Please help me ( benefit fraud )

[whatthehelltodo]

Im posting here for some advice i dont know where to start

In 2005 i moved in with my partner . Anyway in february 2008 i found my partner had been cheating and i asked him to leave which he did and i then claimed as a single parent !

We had been engaged and had set the wheels in motion for the wedding .. after the split he told me he was going to visit family abroad and would be in touch when he was back .

Anyway we got back together on and off and we got married later on in 2008 on the evening of my wedding reception the girl he was having an affair with told me that yet again it had still been happening based on that me and my new husband never moved in together as planned . i contacted income support who said if he was not living with me it wasnt relevant information .

Since then we continued to try again , i cant go into all the information as i would be here all day but my daughter has lots of medical issues which puts a huge strain on our relationship .

in 2009 we had another child ( a suprise )

i moved house and due to my partners poor credit he continued to use my bank account and if im honest he paid the sky bill for the kids and also my internet bills . Some catalogue bills that i used to buy the children clothing etc

We also had an outstanding electric and water bill he continued to have go out of this account and i paid him so much , my landlord wanted a bank transfer into his account so my partner paid it and i gave him the cash .

since moving to a small upmarket village iv kind of blended in not wanting to appear to be a single mum on benefits which obviously will have gone massively against me !

Anyway i had an IUC and wasnt sure what to expect at all and after 30 mins of aksing me questions as far back as 2004 my head was baffled i possibly answered a lot uncorrect and contradicted myself as i wasnt sure of different dates when we split / got back together . they had all the bank statements which show he has 'paid' all my rent and a lot of my bills etc... Anyway im now left in a situation which since i have been home and thought about it i have been incredibly stupid and niave about things and i thought my partner was just being a good dad when infact the evident confirms no matter what i say i have been commiting benefit fraud on some level

Because i havent openly admitted all the above they are investigating further and im terrifed and feel so stupid .

Also now my daughter is getting medical help we are very much back together and hoping to become a proper family again in the new year and he spend a lot of time with us helping me out .

i dont know what the next step is or what to do about anything im terrified ill go to prison and lose my children and secondly if this got into the local paper id have to take my children out of school and nursery where they are happy and move into hiding somewhere where no one knew us as i live in such a close knit community

Can anyone tell me what to do now ?

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Please don't panic over this, we have plenty of people like you and I haven't heard of anyone going to prison yet.

 

Have you contacted the CAB for instance, or have you had legal advice? I'm sure there will be more advice here, but if you have time, read around the forum for other benefit fraud cases and what the advice was. Someone like you turns up most days, you shouldn't have far to look .

 

HB x

[whatthehelltodo]

Thank you sooo much this all happened yesterday so i dont know where to turn im trying to get hold of the CAB but with no luck x

[jabba jones]

Since then we continued to try again

 

in 2009 we had another child ( a suprise )

 

due to my partners poor credit he continued to use my bank account

 

he paid the sky bill for the kids and also my internet bills .

 

Some catalogue bills that i used to buy the children clothing etc

 

electric and water bill he continued to have go out of this account

 

my landlord wanted a bank transfer into his account so my partner paid it.

 

they had all the bank statements which show he has 'paid' all my rent and a lot of my bills etc...

 

Because i havent openly admitted all the above they are investigating further

 

we are very much back together and hoping to become a proper family again

 

 

I've picked out a few of the important things from your query. I'm afraid you don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess what a decision maker is going to make of this.

 

You have said that as you did not admit the offence they are going to continue investigating. I think you need to sit down & try to make a note of all the relevant dates. Periods you were together, periods you were split, where was he during this time. You need to fully explain all the financial links (& there appear to be many) & finally when you are invited back for another IUC a knowledgeable solicitor would be advisable.

[whatthehelltodo]

i was trying to reply and the cat sat on the laptop and lost it all grrr !

what i was saying was i feel that i will be brought back for a further IUC ?

iv spoken with my OH and we cant place every bank transaction and every where abouts he was staying over almost 156 weeks

I know i dont have the strength to cope with this from an emotional point of view

i feel if i am called back ( i assume i will ?) then i should say i did it all knowingly ? I just want this to stop ?

The 3 addresses my oh was at people who live there have all moved away & got married etc and also he is in a caravan at the minute with his brother :/

I imagine the severity of this it would go straight to court ? possibly crown court ?

i just dont know what to do ? Just wiat for them to request another IUC ?

sorry to go on

[jabba jones]

It's difficult to tell if you'll be called in for another IUC, but if the further investigations throw up any new evidence then they'll have to give you the chance to explain it, in order to use it in the case. Personally speaking when I was an investigator, with the unsatisfactory ending to the 1st IUC I'd have made sure there was a reason to call you back in, but different areas & investigators work differently.

 

 

These are the basic guidelines:

 

O

verpayment over £2000 – Repayment & attempted prosecution.

 

O

verpayment less than £2000 but offence not admitted – Repayment, administrative Penalty (30% fine) & Departmental caution.

 

Overpayment less than £2000 but offence admitted – Repayment & Departmental caution.

 

The departmental caution is kept on file for 5 years. It is NOT a criminal record & does not show up on any checks.

[leemack]

Unfortunately, it does look like there are two main issues that will be looked at.

 

1) Was he living live you and for what periods. A post by Erika (post 4) on this thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?279139-Confused-about-fraud!!!(1-Viewing)-nbsp shows the types of evidence you can use to show that he was living elsewhere and when.

 

2) This may be the more problematic issue especially if you can show evidence that he was living elsewhere, because regardless, you were receiving income from him which wasn't declared. Its a mistake many people make in thinking that they don't need to declare income that they think is for the children alone, or for previous bills etc. This is where you need to go through all bankstatements, payments etc and work out what each one is for. You then need to find a welfare rights benefits adviser to help you with this. There are various disregards for different types of income, and an adviser will need to go through all the payments and what they are for and work out any potential disregards.

 

While your case is being investigated, try to provide as much information as possible, showing what all the payments were for, and also the periods you were living together, and where he was living when you were apart. Eventually, the case will be passed to a senior investigator who will make a decision firstly on whether there has been an overpayment, and secondly what further action to take. This isn't always prosecution, and if it is, in many cases it does not mean prison. The other alternatives to prosecution, is an administrative penalty, meaning you have to pay an additional 30% of your overpayment, or a caution. it is best to find a solicitor to represent you now, so that they can give you more in depth legal advice based on the specifics of your case. That's for any criminal case.

 

In benefit fraud cases, civil and criminal matters are dealt with separately. So as well as needing a solicitor, you will also need your benefits adviser to help you with the civil case - this covers the decisions made in actually calculating whether you have been overpaid and by how much, using benefit law. If when you get a decision, an overpayment has been found, then in cases like these it is often a good idea to automatically put in a request for an appeal. This is because the calculations and disregards involved are quite complex, and I haven't seen many overpayments of this type that are calculated correctly. An appeal needs to be requested within one month on the date of the decision letter you receive telling you that you have an overpayment. If your adviser finds that the overpayment has been calculated incorrectly, or that disregards have been forgotten etc then they can go ahead with getting an appeal date and assisting you with preparing your case. An appeal tribunal judge will then decide the correct level of overpayment.

 

This is a really long process and I can tell how anxious you are, but trust me when I say that worrying about the possible outcomes will only make you feel worse. People make mistakes, without having been deliberately fraudulent - judges do understand this and even if it does go to court, take all the mitigating factors into account, The best thing you can do is get the right representation in place - a solicitor and benefits caseworker, and also to put together as much information as possible to try and help your case.

 

If you have further questions we'll try to help as best we can.

[whatthehelltodo]

i am so grateful for the advice i have been given i feel sooo stupid im going to ask the bank for print out of the last 3 years bank statements and try and go through them

im worried about paying for a solicitor

i really wish id been more prepared for the iuc

Your a really helpful bunch of people xx

thank you xx

[rebel11]

Hi what

 

The bank might charge you something silly for each statement, if you send a SAR Request with £10, they will give you all the statements for a 6 years plus.

They have 40 days to send them to you. It shouldn't take that long.

 

Heres a template.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?552-Data-Protection

 

Are you entitled to legal aid?

[whatthehelltodo]

thanks rebel i wont be entitled to LA in january once my oh moves back in :/

[whatthehelltodo]

anyone any advice as to what i shoudl do next ? i feel sick my oh has been helping me with my daughte ron a morning and im thinking of asking him to stay away now and over xmas and thats going to really upset my kids :/

[rebel11]

But you can get Legal Aid now, is that right?

 

thanks rebel i wont be entitled to LA in january once my oh moves back in :/

[leemack]

The only thing you can do is live your life. If he's not living with you at the moment but would normally come over and help you then that's fine. When he does move in, just make sure you inform the benefit depts that day. What's your thinking in asking him to stay away?

[whatthehelltodo]

to be honest in the run up to xmas and with the drs appointments im having now for my daughter he does spend time here helping with childcare ifeel if they are watching me and see him being here ill look worse ?

Rebel i should be ok to get legal aid right now yes

i definitely will inform the relevant people when he moves in yes

Iv spoken with CAB today and have an appointment too see them next week x

[leemack]

him being there isn't a problem - his living there would be. If you're worried, just get him to go home each night.

[whatthehelltodo]

he doesnt stay overnight regulary sometimes on a weekend when he takes the kids out he does but during the week he stays at his brothers usually x

[whatthehelltodo]

i havent heard anymore yet ?

[leemack]

Hello again, as I said before its a very long process and can take months to reach a decision after you give them all the information.

[whatthehelltodo]

Hi i posted here before christmas re an iuc i had despite being a very complicated case ( lots of me and my oh splitting up even got married and split etc etc etc ) they were not happy with my answers and decided to dig up more info then call me back for another IUC?

I have heard nothing at all ?

how long could this normally take ?

[jabba jones]

There's no time limits I'm afraid. The case could have been sent to a decision maker, the 2nd IUC might have thrown up a further line of enquiry, the case could be awaiting advice etc etc. All you can do for now is wait.

[jadeybags]

Probably does depend on your council, ours gives a guide of 2 months & if any longer they mention letting you know, but I guess they all vary. It's the waiting that's the worst isn't it x

[whatthehelltodo]

well got the dreaded letter i have another IUC in september

[backofbeyond]

Just picked up on this thread and scanned through the details. Although I can't offer you an advice I know how difficult an IUC is, I had one in 2005 for not declaring Maternity Allowance when I claimed HB/CTB for a short period. I was 36 weeks at the time and it was very, very stressful so my thoughts are with you and you will receive some fantastic advice and support on here.

 

I am sure government departments understand that peoples circumstances are NOT straight forward.

 

Good luck! When is your 2nd IUC? x

[whatthehelltodo]

had a 2nd IUC went even worse than the first they have interviewed people who i know do i dread to think what they now think of me :/ they plan to bring me back for a 3rd .. ?