a bit long winded *sorry* benefit fraud sentencing

[worriedtodeath]

Hi all, first time post so be gentle.

My wife was interviewed under caution 12 months ago for alledged benefit fraud. A quick history,Feb 2008 I walked due to an indiscretion (not mine) and initially went off the radar. She claimed income support and was given housing and council tax benefit automatically. After a cooling off period I got in touch and the long and the short of it is that we reconciled PERMANENTLY February 2010. During those two years I stayed at my house whilst on leave from serving overseas to look after my kids, the eldest disabled. I also returned whilst my wife was in hospital , I would then return to my unit.

Family background: We have 3 kids (after many losses) and she is expecting our fourth (and last!!) child due this summer.

 

Now at interview she freely admitted that I returned home whilst on leave as we have no family local for me to stay with and it meant some continuity for the kids. The problem we have is that although we were in no physical sense living as husband and wife I still had my wages in our account. Her instruction being that if the kids needed anything she could take the necessary funds (school clothes, trips etc)

Because I was away the fraud agency have stated that I was just working away and we were in fact a couple hence the prosecution. They stated that because I hadnt filed for divorce or changed my N O K we were in fact still a couple and therefore not eligible for benefits. Impossible for us to prove otherwise because the guy she had her 'indiscretion' with is married and wont confirm this to them.

So we are stuck, we have offered to pay (just shy of £12K) back over time and they said IT WOULD NOT GO TO COURT IF SHE DID THIS, today we got a letter and a court date despite the offer!

 

summary: mother of 3, expecting in the summer, co operated throughout and offered to pay despite our low income. We realise that yes she shouldnt have claimed when I was on leave however she was unsure if we would ever reconcile at that time.

 

there are horror stories about examples being made, what is she likely to get. I am hoping for anything non-custodial but our solicitor wouldnt commit to his estimate which is causing us major stress which to be frank is the last thing she needs right now.

 

Your thoughts please guys on possible outcomes and please no abuse

 

many thanks

[tabs666]

Get a good solicitor, plead guilty at the earliest opportunity to receive the maximum reduction in sentence and get the solicitor to pile in a lot of mitigation. In my experience as a Fraud Investigator courts are extremely reluctant to give custodial sentences to mothers of young children if they have pleaded guilty and cooperated, so much so that I have never had anyone in that situation spend so much as an hour in custody!

[CRH71]

Really reluctant to put my head above the parapet on this one, but will anyway.....

 

I, too, was in your position not that long ago. The case was broadly similar but the period of time longer and the amount a fair chunk higher.

 

Sadly, my experiences didn't quite match with those described above, but that's a whole different story.

 

My advice would be to carry on as you have been - be upfront with these guys, but I can promise you, with the amount involved, that Court action is a given. It will start at Magistrate's and may well progress to a Crown Court (I can't remember the "cut-off" where the Magistrates will decline to deal with it but I think that figure's pretty close). Please don't go to a "normal" criminal lawyer, though - they often lack the benefits experience that can make an awful lot of difference in these cases - find one that specialises in benefit cases or has dealt with them before. There is such a thing as "underlying entitlement to benefit" that the prosecution won't have taken into account, yet this can reduce the amount of the alleged overpayment significantly and have a big influence on any decisions made regarding prosecution. That's (bitter) experience speaking.....

 

Continue to co-operate with them, but be mindful of what your solicitor has to say - there is such a thing as giving the "other side" too much information and prejudicing your own defence. Make sure the solicitor puts forward a very good mitigation case for you and stresses that you have co-operated fully and commenced repayment, despite the final amount not yet having been determined (see previous comment about "underlying entitlement" that definitely will not have been calculated at this stage).

 

Tabs666 advice is sound - guilty at the earliest opportunity, co-operation, plenty of mitigation. Get a good lawyer - sorry for repeating that, but it's the biggest lesson I learned from our experience. Oh, and pray for non-custodial. Given the amount, I'd think it unlikely but there's no hard-and-fast rules or formulas.

 

 

 

[shimmer1]

..

Edited January 22, 2011 by shimmer1

[satire]

Right.

Honesty.

I claimed to be unemployed and claimed Income Support, HB & CTB. I told the DWP that I was starting a buiness off. Every 2 weeks I signed on and disclosed a figure of income (net after deductions & expenses).

 

This claim went on for 18 months then I stopped it as I was starting to earn more money.

In that first 18 months I made a loss (agreed with HMRC)

 

About 4 years later at 5am one morning I was arrested and the house and office searched. They took away everything paperwise covering the 5 1/2 years I had been in business.

Spent 36 hours in a cell being questioned.

 

I was charged with a total o/p (UB/IS/HB/CTB) of £12,000.

 

Went to Magistrates, then to Crown. Pleaded not guilty.

 

I had disclosed my net income and HMRC documents backed everything up.

 

Found guilty because I should have disclosed my gross sales, not the net after expenses.

 

If I had done it another way, I would have had other benefits to help start the business but didn't know about them. All in all, my brief put it forward that the actual loss was only £1750 with set offs!!

 

That wasn't accepted because I never claimed them so couldn't use it to notionally reduce the debt.

 

I was aged 42, never been in trouble before, not even a parking ticket.

 

I was sentenced to 12 months in prison, with 6 months suspended for two years and two years supervision order.

 

I actually served 7 months in prison because I would not accept that I was guilty and had further charges of disruptive behaviour found against me. (Normally I would have been let out after 3 months.) Spent the whole time in a CATA prison along with some right head bangers. Got into drugs whilst in prison. Never touched anything like that on the outside.

 

I later found out that the Judge was wrong on two points - yes only the net income counts, not the gross and yes, whether I claimed or not, any set off must be given credit for.

Too late to complain.

On top of that I had to pay back the £12,000 even though it was later found wrong at an appeal hearing of the Commissioners of Social Security!!!

 

So yes for a gross £12,000 o/p I ended up with a 12 month prison sentence.

 

Destroyed me after, turned to alcohol, more trouble, been in prison since for many things - mainly for assaulting the police as I feel that I was stitched up like a kipper.

 

Lost my family, my business and unlikely to find work again due to alcoholism and other now associated illnesses.

This was 15 years ago.

 

So yes ordinary law abiding people do get sent down for that level of OP

Edited January 22, 2011 by satire

[tabs666]

DWP benefits such as JSA, ESA Income Support etc are rarely if ever affected by underlying entitlement, and the DWP are not under any obligation to take it into account anyway. Local Authorities however. do take it into account, and should have already done so before producing an overpayment figure with which to proceed to court. We would here anyway!

 

We still should remember that she is the mother of young children, and she is unlikely to go to prison. Mitigation, mitigation mitigation!!!!

[satire]

Yes I presume it does make a difference being a mother with young children.

 

But on the other hand we had twin girls aged 4 at the time, and because of the type of job I did, the court knew exactly what would happen if I was incarcerated. There would be no income for my family and I would never be able to continue to work in my job.

 

So my children suffered even more than most as I came out as totally unemployable. The business closed down because I could not legally run it. Ironically I then spent the next three years on Income Support. The house had to be sold to repay the £12,000 as they would not accept weekly payments out of my benefits.

 

Mitigation, oh yes, my problem was not having a good enough brief who should have pointed out to the court that I WAS only responsible to disclose my NET income, not my GROSS income as the court saw fit to accept from the prosecution.

 

I worked hard on the appeal to the Commissioners who at the hearing asked why had I not put over the argument.. Told them that was down to my brief.

 

I won the case and had it not been to Crown Court and I had been found guilty, the Commissioners said that they would have quashed the whole of the 'overpayment'. In fact in their opinion no criminal act had taken place. As it was, and with great misgiving, they had to abide by the Crown Court sentence!!

 

British Justice!!!

[optomist]

I can tell you what will happen as it has just happened to me. I was claiming Council Tax and Housing benefit. I found the forms long winded and to cut a long story short forgot to declare a private pension that I had. I was also accused of altering bank account statements which I normally download from an online bank but it turned out that I had a key logger and a virus on my PC which altered the statements. I didn't find out until after the council interviewed me under caution. I admitted that I owed them the money because it was obvious but did not admit to the falsifying of statement. Anyway they decided to prosecute me and went to majistrates court. They can take cases where there is less than £12000 owing. The majistrates decided that I was guilty and that as far as they were concerned I was lying through my back teeth. They took 10 minutes to decided this after listening to three hours of evidence. They were not interested in anything else but getting out of the court as the head majistrate had a cold. He told me that I would be getting a prison sentence as there was £9000 owing although I had repaid £6000. I was then sent to majistrates for sentence after 3 weeks as the probation service was told to do a report on me. I have never been in trouble before in my life but that doesn't count. The government is anxious to show that they are doing something about benefit fraud so everyone is getting hit hard. At The majistrates court I received a 18 week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, 100 Communit service, £285 fine and 12 month supervision order. I am not sure if I have to wear sack cloth and ashes as well. The reason I am told I got hit that hard is that although I am retired for 5 years I used to be a civil servant. Needless to say that I shall never ever look at a benefits form again and have given up claiming my pension in case I am accused of fraud as they have said they will drag me off to prison. I claimed legal aid for my case but the solicitor didn't seem to know much a bout benefit cases. He just kept saying that I could go to prison. The rule is that if you go to majistrates court you can get 12 months, but if you go to crown court you can get up to 7 years. Use the Members of Parliament as a guide as they are all being investigated for their expenses

[Life-Goes-On]

Did you have proof that a virus caused the changing of your statements, or anyone testifying it could happen?

[optomist]

Yes I did have proof but the majistrate decided that it was a tall story and could not be done and rejected the proof. Lets hope he does not bank online and get his credit card details snatched by fraudsters as it is happening all the time.

[jadeybags]

Optimist that's an awful story I dont blame you never claiming a penny again. That would put anyone off! I'm sure they're on a mission to scare as many off benefits as possible now. Apparently benefit fraud is on the dicline, but errors by staff working out benefits have gone up, I dont know the exact figures, but for example 3bn worth of overpayments are caused by unintentional error, yet only 1bn are caused by fraud. Yet spend more on training staff better? Or more on investigators...hmmmm.

How did you cope, especially in those 3 weeks before sentencing? Not sure I could to be honest...

[Life-Goes-On]

If only fraud cases worked the other way.

ATOS would be in court every day as they lie so they can refuse the claim.

[jadeybags]

If only fraud cases worked the other way.

ATOS would be in court every day as they lie so they can refuse the claim.

 

What's ATOS?

[Life-Goes-On]

What's ATOS?

 

They are the ones that carry out DWP medicals.

[jadeybags]

They are the ones that carry out DWP medicals.

 

Oh I see! Cheers. That makes the whole sentence make sense to me now 8-)

[CRH71]

I think, in all honesty, most of us that have been "the other side" of this very fine line could tell any number of stories, most of them bad, and most of them showing clear signs of a "stitch up".

 

My own situation is similar. Let me first be clear - it wasn't me that was prosecuted, but it is someone very, very close to me and it had a major impact on me as well - that impact is ongoing to this day.

 

A prison sentence is life changing. Let's make no bones about it. It's life changing for the person incarcerated and it has significant impact upon their immediate family, especially if there are children involved - let me tell you, they CAN and WILL incarcerate mothers.

 

We even received a letter from the DWP, telling us that "the overpayment is non-recoverable" (I've still got it, and even passed a copy of it to the defence solicitor who pretty-much glossed over it), yet the prosecution still went ahead and the repayment was ordered!

 

For very valid reasons, the person concerned is on long-term benefits, anyway but instead of taking a small, mangeable payment, their demands were for a third of this person's monthly benefits which has really caused problems.

 

Whilst there are some very good investigators out there, and some of them are very dedicated to doing a good, thorough, fair job there are a number of other investigators, especially the younger ones, who are out to "make a name for themselves" and will twist facts to suit their own agenda. These are the ones to be very cautious of, and, sadly, was the type we found ourselves dealing with.

 

There are also very varying grades of solicitor. The majority of criminal lawyers have absolutely NO knowledge of the benefits system and therefore cannot offer any useful advice - this will also cost you dearly....

 

The worst part of the whole experience was the waiting around for Court dates. The time in between the final hearing and the sentencing had to be the worst of it all - time dragged and it seemed as though everyone's life was "on hold" just waiting for that fateful day. It seems so much to depend on the mood of the judge/Magistrate on the day, too.

 

I said before, mentally prepare yourselves for the worst - given the impending arrival, I would like to think that incarceration really is not an option (there's relatively very, very few mother/baby places in the Prison System) but if you prepare yourselves for that eventuality, then anything less happening really will be something positive!

 

I really hope, for the OP's sake that all this resolves in their favour - obviously, for every "bad tale" out there on the internet, there are hundreds of cases where common-sense would have been used and people being shown for what they really were - honest and things have turned out well.

[jadeybags]

I think, in all honesty, most of us that have been "the other side" of this very fine line could tell any number of stories, most of them bad, and most of them showing clear signs of a "stitch up".

 

My own situation is similar. Let me first be clear - it wasn't me that was prosecuted, but it is someone very, very close to me and it had a major impact on me as well - that impact is ongoing to this day.

 

A prison sentence is life changing. Let's make no bones about it. It's life changing for the person incarcerated and it has significant impact upon their immediate family, especially if there are children involved - let me tell you, they CAN and WILL incarcerate mothers.

 

We even received a letter from the DWP, telling us that "the overpayment is non-recoverable" (I've still got it, and even passed a copy of it to the defence solicitor who pretty-much glossed over it), yet the prosecution still went ahead and the repayment was ordered!

 

For very valid reasons, the person concerned is on long-term benefits, anyway but instead of taking a small, mangeable payment, their demands were for a third of this person's monthly benefits which has really caused problems.

 

Whilst there are some very good investigators out there, and some of them are very dedicated to doing a good, thorough, fair job there are a number of other investigators, especially the younger ones, who are out to "make a name for themselves" and will twist facts to suit their own agenda. These are the ones to be very cautious of, and, sadly, was the type we found ourselves dealing with.

 

There are also very varying grades of solicitor. The majority of criminal lawyers have absolutely NO knowledge of the benefits system and therefore cannot offer any useful advice - this will also cost you dearly....

 

The worst part of the whole experience was the waiting around for Court dates. The time in between the final hearing and the sentencing had to be the worst of it all - time dragged and it seemed as though everyone's life was "on hold" just waiting for that fateful day. It seems so much to depend on the mood of the judge/Magistrate on the day, too.

 

I said before, mentally prepare yourselves for the worst - given the impending arrival, I would like to think that incarceration really is not an option (there's relatively very, very few mother/baby places in the Prison System) but if you prepare yourselves for that eventuality, then anything less happening really will be something positive!

 

I really hope, for the OP's sake that all this resolves in their favour - obviously, for every "bad tale" out there on the internet, there are hundreds of cases where common-sense would have been used and people being shown for what they really were - honest and things have turned out well.

 

The person you're talking about was sent to prison?

[CRH71]

Yes, indeedy, they were.

 

A disabled person, who had the responsibility of children, one disabled themselves. Incarcerated.

 

I'm beginning to wonder whether all those on this forum who HAVE been the "wrong side of that fine line" should start a one-off "mega thread" of all their/our experiences which will keep them all in one place and act as a reference point for anyone searching for information? There's been three of us stick our heads over the parapet on this thread alone!

[optomist]

Thank you for your concern. I coped because I had the support of my wife who believed in my innocence all along. My solicitor could not believe that I had been found guily in such a short time. I was advised to appeal but to be honest the strain is too great. It took two years for the case to come to court. It has destroyed my life and lost me a lot of friends. It was in our local papers and the reporter just made things up about me. He said that I was arrested by the police and interviewed by them. I was never involved with the police. One of my friends who has stuck by me has advised me to just get on with my life and put it behind me as it is tommorows fish and chip paper. I suppose that is one way of looking at it. The trouble is I have always been a bit of a worrier and have always done the right thing so when something like this happens it is a big shock. One of my friends said that I had let him down as he believed what he read in the local paper. Anyway I shall have this stain on my record forever and at 65 years old it is a bit late for me to start again.

[jadeybags]

Yes, indeedy, they were.

 

A disabled person, who had the responsibility of children, one disabled themselves. Incarcerated.

 

I'm beginning to wonder whether all those on this forum who HAVE been the "wrong side of that fine line" should start a one-off "mega thread" of all their/our experiences which will keep them all in one place and act as a reference point for anyone searching for information? There's been three of us stick our heads over the parapet on this thread alone!

 

OMG that is awful. WHY??? If you google benefit fraud it's rare as rocking horse doo doo that people go to prison, even for 100,000 pounds overpayments, where they have fabricated homes & children!

I guess it really does depend on the judge you get on the day. Life wont ever be fair will it.

The only problem I can see with one big thread is it could cause people even more worry than they already have. The internet is filled with people asking if they will go to prison & what will happen to their children. What happens if they see too many true stories about people being sent to prison? I did read one article about a woman that 'caught the bus' through fear. It's not unusual, but is the effect on the 'public purse' of a one time cheat worth someone taking their life like that when they have children especially? I hope you're friend didn't serve too long & is very lucky to have you.

Sounds like a very brave person.

[jadeybags]

Thank you for your concern. I coped because I had the support of my wife who believed in my innocence all along. My solicitor could not believe that I had been found guily in such a short time. I was advised to appeal but to be honest the strain is too great. It took two years for the case to come to court. It has destroyed my life and lost me a lot of friends. It was in our local papers and the reporter just made things up about me. He said that I was arrested by the police and interviewed by them. I was never involved with the police. One of my friends who has stuck by me has advised me to just get on with my life and put it behind me as it is tommorows fish and chip paper. I suppose that is one way of looking at it. The trouble is I have always been a bit of a worrier and have always done the right thing so when something like this happens it is a big shock. One of my friends said that I had let him down as he believed what he read in the local paper. Anyway I shall have this stain on my record forever and at 65 years old it is a bit late for me to start again.

 

Can totally relate to this bit.

Flippin newspapers! An ex of mine took a local paper to court because they made up lies about his being found guilty in a magistrates court. I never heard of the outcome as we later split. I did go with him to the solicitor once, he sounded very good. He was the solicitor, or at least one of them that acted for Colin Stags compensation, who was wrongfully imprisoned for Rachel Nikels murder. He eventually got £706,000 compensation back in 2008, which would have been about a year after I sat in that solicitors office.

Anyway, I think you're right about appeals etc. Taking someone to small claims court is stressful enough, let alone that! And your friend is right about the fish n chip paper after all. Glad to hear you had good support from your wife. Another example of an unfair life though...

[CRH71]

OMG that is awful. WHY??? If you google benefit fraud it's rare as rocking horse doo doo that people go to prison, even for 100,000 pounds overpayments, where they have fabricated homes & children!

I guess it really does depend on the judge you get on the day. Life wont ever be fair will it.

The only problem I can see with one big thread is it could cause people even more worry than they already have. The internet is filled with people asking if they will go to prison & what will happen to their children. What happens if they see too many true stories about people being sent to prison? I did read one article about a woman that 'caught the bus' through fear. It's not unusual, but is the effect on the 'public purse' of a one time cheat worth someone taking their life like that when they have children especially? I hope you're friend didn't serve too long & is very lucky to have you.

Sounds like a very brave person.

 

Thank you. The sentence was 12 months and she ended up serving 3, plus another 3 on 'tag'. I can't say as I disagree with you about life not being fair - nobody tells you about the effects on the individual AFTER prison - we thought that the prison sentence was the "be all and end all" of the situation, now, of course, we know differently. That Rehabilitation of Offenders Act hangs over her for the next 10 years and, even more bizarrely, she had to sign some sort of form on discharge from prison (I think it was the Explosives Act) in which she was told she couldn't handle any form of explosive (including sparklers and fireworks) for 5 years!

 

This was your archetypal "failed to declare change of circumstances" case, where the investigation dragged on and on and on, all the time building up the "overpayment" that had to be repaid. All in all it took over 2 years to get to Court and it was a very stressful time indeed.

 

The main reason for asking about the thread is that there are a lot of individual replies (as I said, there's three on this thread alone) and it seemed sensible to me to bring them all together onto one thread - that way, it could be read as one and referred to in other posts, rather than individual posts getting individual replies. Obviously, there will have to be a very strong caveat at the beginning stating that, although these are real life examples, there is no guarantee that an individual's situation will end up as these poor people have. That way, the reader can make their own judgement as to whether to read on, or bypass the thread.

 

I agree, life isn't fair, especially if you're already battling difficulties that life has thrown at you. That said, the lady concerned here is still my wife, and I still stand by her, regardless of what went on. We both lost so-called "friends" through all this, but at the end of the day, this experience actually showed us who our TRUE friends and family were, so in a lot of ways, some good came out of the whole sorry situation.

Edited March 5, 2011 by CRH71
Typo. Teach me not to rush in future!

[CRH71]

Optomist, I can relate to your feelings as well. The appeal process is as stressful as the Court process and is very offputting, especially when you're up against "the might" of the DWP.

Local press won't give a stuff about anybody apart from themselves - in our case they made it front page (and local radio news) of the same week that all this happened and made life very difficult for those of us left "outside" for a while. I had the "pleasure" of the Local Press asking me for a comment outside of Court that fateful day. I am pleased to say that they didn't print my (two word) response to them but it didn't stop them making up whatever they felt would make the storey "more juicy" by twisting facts that had come out in Court.

 

That said, two weeks later, it was all over - tomorrow's fish and chip paper.

 

Crazy, crazy world we live in.

[jadeybags]

Thank you. The sentence was 12 months and she ended up serving 3, plus another 3 on 'tag'. I can't say as I disagree with you about life not being fair - nobody tells you about the effects on the individual AFTER prison - we thought that the prison sentence was the "be all and end all" of the situation, now, of course, we know differently. That Rehabilitation of Offenders Act hangs over her for the next 10 years and, even more bizarrely, she had to sign some sort of form on discharge from prison (I think it was the Explosives Act) in which she was told she could handle any form of explosive (including sparklers and fireworks) for 5 years!

 

This was your archetypal "failed to declare change of circumstances" case, where the investigation dragged on and on and on, all the time building up the "overpayment" that had to be repaid. All in all it took over 2 years to get to Court and it was a very stressful time indeed.

 

The main reason for asking about the thread is that there are a lot of individual replies (as I said, there's three on this thread alone) and it seemed sensible to me to bring them all together onto one thread - that way, it could be read as one and referred to in other posts, rather than individual posts getting individual replies. Obviously, there will have to be a very strong caveat at the beginning stating that, although these are real life examples, there is no guarantee that an individual's situation will end up as these poor people have. That way, the reader can make their own judgement as to whether to read on, or bypass the thread.

 

I agree, life isn't fair, especially if you're already battling difficulties that life has thrown at you. That said, the lady concerned here is still my wife, and I still stand by her, regardless of what went on. We both lost so-called "friends" through all this, but at the end of the day, this experience actually showed us who our TRUE friends and family were, so in a lot of ways, some good came out of the whole sorry situation.

 

Ok yes, I agree the seperate thread could be a good idea then in that case. Breaks my heart reading stories like yours. I am quite an emotional person though, or empathetic nature wise, I think that's the word. Funny considering in my teens I was a very black n white person! Sure learn as you age! I am 40 now. I know, not old lol

I certainly didn't know that it went on after someone leaves prison. Cant imagine what you went through those 3 months your wife was inside! Complete feeling of helplessness mixed with sheer anger I can only imagine?

I was told by someone from CAB yesterday that I may have made myself look guily already by cancelling my claim for housing benefit the day I got my overpayment letter. Who cares. I have lost all trust in them. I hadn't recieved my new entitlement letter yet, but I didnt care anymore, I worked out my outgoings & incomings & knew I could do this on my own. I dont want their money. The stess of finding out the screw up they made on my claim 2 years ago has put me off ever trusting them. I get tax credits, I get child benefit, I get child maintenance, I work 16 hours at the moment, in april I can up those (I hope) I work in a supermarket, once the finantial year ends, & they can publish their profits, they will stop being as tight as a ducks bum & undo the overtime ban they impose every new year & be crying out for overtime/extra staff. Even as it is I dont have any debts apart from a loan that paid back their recent overpayment amount, after paying rent & council tax we (me & the kids btw before anyone interprets that as me & a partner!) now have 120 pounds a week for food & clothes & my mum said if I ever get desperate to not hesitate to ask for help. I wont because I dont ask anyone for help finantially apart from my bank & benefits in the past. Never will, never have. Another reason I would rather live on beans on toast than claim from my LA again. Yes I am entitled, I know that now from using the online calculator that was linked on here. But at what cost?!

Atleast I know that whatever they may throw at me at the IUC next thursday, from the 14th feb when I cancelled my claim stating I will be upping my hours from the end of march but wanted it cancelled now due to the recent overpayment & not wanting to be accused of anymore, they cant say I owe them a bean!

Heart goes out to you. Once again I kinda envy you both, I dont have anyone apart from family at the moment, & obviously they aren't here all the time. But my dad is coming to the interview with me. Just hoping he doesn't pipe up because he cant speak, told him that, but he worked at Broadmoor for 30 years before he retired a couple of years ago, he isn't phased by anything & may open his mouth if they get heavy lol He has told me to just say I gave them all they asked for, was told what I was getting over the phone, I thought they knew what they were doing, end of..

But if they want anymore out of me, penalties etc, they can take me to court. Have given up too easy the CAB lady said. But there is a limit, & I have now reached it.

x

p.s the loan is 30 a month, overpayents wouldn't take less than 100 a month because I said I am no longer on the benefits. 30 a month I can feature in my budget, 100 I cant. CAB said yesterday I should have got them to contact them to arrange a lower amount. Didn't know. Handled it all bad haven;t I. But hey ho!

Edited March 5, 2011 by jadeybags

[CRH71]

It would be very fair to say that prison, for both the inmate and the visitor is a "unique" experience and not one either of us would really care to repeat.

 

Don't get me wrong - once everything was analysed, mistakes had been made and there was invariably (as there always is for us mere mortals) consequences for those mistakes, no matter how innocently made. Whether the consequences were fair, proportionate or not is a matter for debate.

 

We've just moved on from all this now, and I'm only just about feeling "up" to talking about it. As a couple, we've moved on, too. This is the kind of experience that will either kill a relationship or make it immeasurably stronger, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out which happened to us.

 

I can understand your attitude towards the LA totally. Just be aware though that they will not have closed your claim down - even though you have expressed a wish to no longer have the benefit, your claim will still be open, just not in payment. I found this to my horror when we had a lot of grief last year and I ended up having to make, then stop, then re-make an HB claim. However, that's not for this thread!

 

Thanks for the support. You, myself and my wife are as near-dammit the same age, BTW....

 

Count your blessings having a family to support you, and please don't envy us. My parents passed away a long time ago, and her mother essentially disowned her when all this happened, which left this little family unit out on their own. To say things have been "challenging" since would be an understatement.

 

Don't let them faze you or try and trip you up on 14th. Stick to your guns, stick to the facts and you'll be OK. I wish you luck.

 

For what it's worth, I think that you're cutting your nose off to spite your face if you don't claim the HB. The only people you're hurting by this is the very people that shouldn't be - you and the kids. You work, you pay tax and stamp, and you're entitled to some help with your housing costs. £120 a week may sound plenty to live on, but it doesn't go far these days and leaves nothing for any form of contingency - what happens if you suddenly need to find a pair of shoes or two, or a new school uniform? Claim what is rightfully yours, but make sure you keep copies of the claim form and any documentation you send in to them. If you have to communicate with them, do it in writing only - do not under any circumstances engage in a conversation on the phone with them unless you are recording the conversation. By not claiming this money, you aren't reducing this alleged overpayment.

 

I'm sure your Dad will prove a tower of strength on the day - some of these guys can be very intimating and try to twist your words or trip you up and someone else being present who isn't afraid to speak their mind if they detect unfairness might make all the difference.