Absolutely Terrified about potential overpayment

[lolarose66]

I have always worked and never claimed benefits until just over 3 years ago when I had to give up work as my disabled dad who lives with us needed a bit more care. I claimed income support, child tax credits as I have a young son and carers allowance. Everything was fine and we got into a routine at home and after 5 months I decided to go back to work part time. I got a part time job and went to the job centre plus to sign off. The lady there had me sign about a dozen forms and then when i said to her what else do I do, she said that's it, I will notify people and if there are any changes they will be in touch. You might still get carers allowance depending on your salary, good luck and enjoy your new job. Away I went happy with the world. In turn I received word from tax credits and council tax rebate who I then contacted.

 

Two years down the line I received a letter from tax credits saying that I should have been claiming child benefit for my son and wasn't and after phoning them and talking to them they say I owe them 2000. This is because my son left school and enrolled in a training scheme for a year, which was fine, but then he enrolled at college and only went for two weeks and then a gap and then enrolled in college again and again only went for two weeks and then a gap. I accept this was my error. I thought that as long as he wasn't working or claiming benefits And was going down the education route I could claim child tax credits. I made an error and accept that I have to pay this money back. But the main problem I have is that dwp contacted me and said that I failed to notify them that I started work in nov 08 and that I shouldn't have been receiving carers allowance. When I work it out it's about 6000. Now I am terrified. This happened a few days ago and I can't eat, sleep, concentrate in work, and can't stop shaking or crying.

 

I am absolutely petrified that I will go to jail for this. This is the first time I have claimed benefits (I am 42) and do not understand the benefit system at all. The lady at jcp said she would contact everyone and they would be in touch wih me if there were changes. I had no contact from carers allowance people, not a single thing. I don't want to receive money I'm not entitled to and would never have claimed fraudulently. I am so scared that I will go to court and then jail for this. If they send me to jail will they warn me beforehand because I will need to try and sort something out for my dad and my son - my son is 17 now but he has really bad confidence and self esteem issues and always talking about killing himself that I would be terrified about leaving him. He won't go to the doctor, I have tried repeatedly. I have encouraged him to enroll at the local gym which he seems to enjoy and it seems to be helping but if I'm not here he won't go. I just feel so ill worrying about this.

 

Can anyone give me some advice please.

[FitzWilliam]

Hi, I'm not the right person to help you, but someone will be along soon to give their advice.

 

Good luck.

[jabba jones]

I got a part time job and went to the job centre plus to sign off. The lady there had me sign about a dozen forms and then when i said to her what else do I do, she said that's it, I will notify people and if there are any changes they will be in touch. You might still get carers allowance depending on your salary, good luck and enjoy your new job. Away I went happy with the world. In turn I received word from tax credits and council tax rebate who I then contacted.

 

Two years down the line I received a letter from tax credits saying that I should have been claiming child benefit for my son and wasn't and after phoning them and talking to them they say I owe them 2000. This is because my son left school and enrolled in a training scheme for a year, which was fine, but then he enrolled at college and only went for two weeks and then a gap and then enrolled in college again and again only went for two weeks and then a gap. I accept this was my error. I thought that as long as he wasn't working or claiming benefits And was going down the education route I could claim child tax credits. I made an error and accept that I have to pay this money back. But the main problem I have is that dwp contacted me and said that I failed to notify them that I started work in nov 08 and that I shouldn't have been receiving carers allowance. When I work it out it's about 6000. Now I am terrified. This happened a few days ago and I can't eat, sleep, concentrate in work, and can't stop shaking or crying.

 

Can anyone give me some advice please.

 

 

This advice is only regarding your Carers Allowance & Income Support.

 

You have said you have been contacted by the JCP. Do you know which section? Was it the Fraud section, Compliance section or Carers Allowance? If it was Fraud have you been invited in for an Interview Under Caution?

 

If/when you are interviewed explain everything that happened. Including:-

 

You did inform the JCP/DWP & the fact that your I/S stopped (I presume it did!!!) when you started work proves that.

 

Even though strictly speaking you should inform all sections separately, the lady you saw at the JCP told you she would sort it out & therefore you thought that was all you needed to do.

 

She also told you that you MAY still be able to continue receiving your Carers Allowance so when it continued to be paid you presumed it was ok.

 

You will have received uprating letters around Feb 09 & Feb 10 which list the Carers Allowance earnings rules so you will have to explain why you missed this, but overall whilst there is definitely an overpayment from my point of view there is no fraud.

 

You should probably also appeal against the overpayment if/when it arrives, again explaining why it is not your fault. You've nothing to lose & everything to gain!

 

& try not to worry, you won't be going to prison.

[lolarose66]

This advice is only regarding your Carers Allowance & Income Support.

 

You have said you have been contacted by the JCP. Do you know which section? Was it the Fraud section, Compliance section or Carers Allowance? If it was Fraud have you been invited in for an Interview Under Caution?

 

If/when you are interviewed explain everything that happened. Including:-

 

You did inform the JCP/DWP & the fact that your I/S stopped (I presume it did!!!) when you started work proves that.

 

Even though strictly speaking you should inform all sections separately, the lady you saw at the JCP told you she would sort it out & therefore you thought that was all you needed to do.

 

She also told you that you MAY still be able to continue receiving your Carers Allowance so when it continued to be paid you presumed it was ok.

 

You will have received uprating letters around Feb 09 & Feb 10 which list the Carers Allowance earnings rules so you will have to explain why you missed this, but overall whilst there is definitely an overpayment from my point of view there is no fraud.

 

You should probably also appeal against the overpayment if/when it arrives, again explaining why it is not your fault. You've nothing to lose & everything to gain!

 

& try not to worry, you won't be going to prison.

 

 

 

The letter was from carers allowance telling me that I will be contacted soon regarding this matter and that my money had stopped. my income support did stop immediately and the tax credit and council tax rebate offices contacted me. I have never received any correspondence from carers allowance, not a single thing since I first claimed. I have never given it a single thought but I was thinking that myself today why don't they write annually to check that circumstances had not changed. if I had received a letter from them it would have made me think about it.

 

thank you so much for your reply, it's a great help. it also helps a bit that you think I won't go to prison but I'm not convinced. but thanks for your kind words.

[jabba jones]

So it's a suspension letter. Probably requested by the Fraud section to stop any further overpayment. If that is the case, the next thing you will receive is an invite for an IUC.

 

I've already suggested what you should say at an interview, but you really need to hammer home the point of just why your I/S stopped when you started work because the investigators may not know this & any papers you signed at the JCP will probably have been destroyed now.

[lolarose66]

So it's a suspension letter. Probably requested by the Fraud section to stop any further overpayment. If that is the case, the next thing you will receive is an invite for an IUC.

 

I've already suggested what you should say at an interview, but you really need to hammer home the point of just why your I/S stopped when you started work because the investigators may not know this & any papers you signed at the JCP will probably have been destroyed now.

 

 

Thank you so much for your help. I will certainly do as you advise. I never even gave income support a thought and would probably not have mentioned it.

 

Can I ask you one more thing, this interview I will be invited to, should I take someone with me or is it ok to go by myself. I will be happy to go on my own as I am desperate to have my say and explain the situation. I am worried that they won't listen and that it's cut and dried before I even meet them. or are these interviews generally fair.

 

once again I can't thank you enough for this help - I actually managed to get a bit of a sleep last night which can only be good!!

[jadeybags]

Not unlike my story this one, I stopped getting dla for my son & carers allowance about 5 years ago, I obviously forgot to let housing benefit know, not that it would have made a difference then, I was on income support so would still get full housing benefit.

3 years later I started working part time, gave in my forms, they worked out my housing benefit as if I was still getting the dla & carers. I didn't know as I hadn't put it on the form when my new claim went in one I started working, they didn't know it had stopped as I hadn't told them, middle of last year they realised, by checking with DWP I expect, but there hadn't been an overpayment so I never heard about it. last week a compliance office came round to do a review & we realised they had my wages down wrong, they had based my pay on my first ever payslip & it was only a 2 week one because I had only just started halfway through Sainsburys pay period? Turns out I have been overpaid by 1200. Only found this out last night. So obviously when they realised I wasn't getting the dla et I hadn't been overpaid. If they had asked for a full months wage back when I started there would have been an overpayment, I dont know what would have happened then but as it turns out they will probably just let me pay this 1200 back every week.

I had a really good compliance officer & she said she could tell by the shock on my face when she said they had me down for 275 a month that I didn't have a clue.

When I was told over the phone when I started working what benefit I was going to get, I never read any award letters after that as long as my rent was paid I was happy.

Turns out I should be paying 15 a week now.

I think you'll be fine & yes you'll probably have an overpayment, but overpayments aren't usually fraud. Our council had 178000 pounds of overpayments last year. Only 20 people in that year were prosecuted.

People make mistakes, us, them, mistakes aren't fraud.

You'll be in a state of panic I expect right now, I got a parking ticket because I parked, got out the car, almost ran to the CAB office & didn't even think to get a ticket.

You'll read places like this & no disrespect to these sites but you wont read much cheer, & people will say councils, DWP, Tax credits are ogres. They're not, they're people like us & they wont want to cause you grief if mistakes have happened.

I hope it sorts out & hopefully you let us know, so other people can atleast read some good news not always bad. x

[jadeybags]

Thank you so much for your help. I will certainly do as you advise. I never even gave income support a thought and would probably not have mentioned it.

 

Can I ask you one more thing, this interview I will be invited to, should I take someone with me or is it ok to go by myself. I will be happy to go on my own as I am desperate to have my say and explain the situation. I am worried that they won't listen and that it's cut and dried before I even meet them. or are these interviews generally fair.

 

once again I can't thank you enough for this help - I actually managed to get a bit of a sleep last night which can only be good!!

 

 

What's happening is your running away with your thoughts, I was doing that this week. I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, I struggled with my kids, made mistakes at work, I ended up on Diazapam. My friend worked in Citizens advice a few years ago & his advice was IF you get called in for an interview under caution, if you can try & get someone from CAB that's ofe with benefits to go along with you great. But if you would rather just a friend that's fine. He also gave me a number for a benefits solicitor. I rang him & he said at the moment you dont know what the overpayment is, you dont know if they are going to call you in for an interview under caution. If those happen THEN ring me because anything I say at the moment will just be hypothetical.

I also was convinced I was going to be done for fraud, & end up in prison. My CAB friend said there was a single mum of 2 that basically claimed 50,000 pounds of benefits she wasn't entitled to. She got a suspended sentence. There was a couple that pretended to live apart & were both claiming housing benefit for 2 seperate homes, they didn't go to prison either. There was someone else that had a business but claimed as unemplyed, the amount was over 100k, his solicitor did tell him to pack a bag as he would be going to prison.

Ended up doing about 3 months in prison.

Your family needs you, you have pointed out very good reasons why no judge would put you in prison. Especially as all this is down to human error & not intent or failure to declare. Not to mention the fact prisons are overcrowded enough as it is with violent criminals.

I am waffling now, but I worry about you because I know how you're feeling at the moment, you're on another planet & your mind is trying to work out what has happened here & how you're going to have to prove you weren't aware all this was going on. And it's absolutely awful. Since I found out last night that my council know I wasn't [causing problems] them & it was partly their fault & partly mine, they basically failed in their duty of care, I can now breathe out. But I today have what I am calling the hangover from living on my nerves for the last week. I have rung in sick & need to adjust to be backing on the planet. I am also still concerned they have worked it out wrong & that'll take a while for me to get over.

I really do hope you let us know how it goes beause I hate to think of anyone going through all that when they haven't intentionally done anything wrong.

I will certainly be checking & double checking everything from now on because I couldn't go through it again it would tip me over the edge. I dont cope with stress. Just make sure you do the same once this is sorted because it is true that to a certain extent we need to do their job for them or atleast make sure they have worked things out right. Because human error happens everywhere, which is what my compliance officer said last night on the phone. And it's true you can appeal, I probably could too by claiming they failed to ask for a full payslip to base my benefit on, but they could say they didn't have to ask. She basically said that to me on the phone. So I am going to have to swallow the overpayment x

[lolarose66]

I'm so glad things worked out for you. Your right my head is all over the place and I am trying to keep calm but today I got a letter from the council tax rebate office saying they have been informed of a change in my circumstances and I had to send them details of all my income and when I had pay increases and the amounts and my dads income, even my sons student loan details.

 

I did that today and sent them every payslip I have received since nov 08 and all the other information they asked for, i kept copies of everything and I even typed a letter itemizing everything i included with the letter, every bit of cash I receive, salary tax credits and carers allowance, even though those two benefits have stopped I have included them because they are obviously looking at the rebate from nov08. I just want this sorted out now and don't care if they stop my rebate (its only 25 a month). infact I'm at the point of telling them to cancel the rebate as I don't think it's worth all this hassle and stress. I did stress in the letter that the details I have sent them for my son was a STUDENT LOAN and not a grant/bursary.

 

I will let you know what happens.

[ptol]

Hiya,

 

In short,

 

1. To prosecute you for fraud, they have to have proof that you intended to claim for benefits you knew you were not entitled to, to the criminal standard of proof (beyond reasonable doubt). That does not sound particularly likely.

 

2. If they do prosecute, and you are found guilty (or you plead guilty) then with your caring duties, it would be a particularly unsympathetic judge that would lock you up.

[lolarose66]

I have an update now for this post.

 

I have heard absolutely nothing from anyone regarding this issue and then today when I went to work a lady I know in personnell phoned and told me that the fraud squad have been in contact with them regarding me. They wrote to my employers twice and then phoned yesterday to speak to my manager. This lady has told me on the quiet, and I know she shouldn't have but I'm glad she did. She did not tell me any details of what was in the letters and I did not ask. She obviously didnt want to give me any details and so I did not want to put her in an awkward position by asking.

 

Why did they not inform me that they were investigating this? Should they not have at least written to me to tell me that they suspect me of fraud?

 

Previously I was worried about going to jail now I'm worried that I could lose my job over this. I work for A&A NHS and don't know how they deal with something like this, if it's a sackable offense.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Hiya,

 

In short,

 

1. To prosecute you for fraud, they have to have proof that you intended to claim for benefits you knew you were not entitled to, to the criminal standard of proof (beyond reasonable doubt). That does not sound particularly likely.

 

2. If they do prosecute, and you are found guilty (or you plead guilty) then with your caring duties, it would be a particularly unsympathetic judge that would lock you up.

[jadeybags]

Oh my days, do these people even have the right to contacting peoples employers??! Did they even ask you for payslips? If so, why would they need to go contacting employers?

Dont know if I missed it, but you haven't earned over 100 a week since working have you?

[ErikaPNP]

Yes, an authorised officer has the right to contact an employer when a case is being investigated for fraud, and many other organisations too, to gather facts. They don't always disclose to the claimant that they are being investigated or the nature of their investigations, or who they are contacting or what questions they intend to ask, because to do so can in some cases, jeaopardise an investigation. In most cases, people have no idea they are being investigated until they are invited to an interview under caution and shown the evidence. There are number of people out there who will have had their claim investigated and be none the wiser because the investigation yielded insufficient evidence of fraud and no further action was taken.

 

Jabba Jones is an experienced former fraud investigator and had advised you very well.

 

For a £6000 overpayment which was not fraudulent from the outset (and remember, being guilty of being overpaid is a world away from being convicted of fraud in the terms of the law) it is highly unlikely you will go to prison - and even less likely still if you have no previous convictions. When considering a sentence, the court has to take account of the amount involved, the level of fraud and the nature of it as well as consider whether you are a risk to the public.

 

You haven't forged any documents

You haven't claimed fraudulently from the outset

It's not an organised fraud (professionally planned)

You haven't claimed under another person's identity

You haven't invented fake children

You haven't attempted to conceal or dispose of evidence

You haven't abused power or position of trust

 

All of these things are the sort of things that are more likely to lead to a prison sentence. You haven't done any of them. It is very, very unlikely that you would be sentenced to prison if it went as far as court. It may do, or it may not do. It depends what they discover during their investigation.

[jadeybags]

So lots of innocent people whose employers now wonder if they can trust them, seeing as the DWP have been checking them out for benefit fraud? Great.

They have seen payslips proving earnings from the company, yet they still go sniffing around this ladies work place?

Disgusting. If she hadn't supplied the payslips I could understand.

[lolarose66]

So lots of innocent people whose employers now wonder if they can trust them, seeing as the DWP have been checking them out for benefit fraud? Great.

They have seen payslips proving earnings from the company, yet they still go sniffing around this ladies work place?

Disgusting. If she hadn't supplied the payslips I could understand.

 

 

 

They haven't been in touch with me at all. If they had asked me for payslips I would have given them every one.

 

Your right it is disgusting. They contacted my employers telling them they were investigating me for fraud and This was way back early February. I did not claim fraudulently and even informed job centre plus that I started work and have added carers allowance to any income form I have completed. I have not hidden anything in any way.

 

Now I am worried that I could lose my job over this. I work for the NHS and don't know what sort of policy they have about this type of thing. I don't know if I could stay there now anyway with my superiors thinking I am dishonest.

[jadeybags]

They haven't been in touch with me at all. If they had asked me for payslips I would have given them every one.

 

Your right it is disgusting. They contacted my employers telling them they were investigating me for fraud and This was way back early February. I did not claim fraudulently and even informed job centre plus that I started work and have added carers allowance to any income form I have completed. I have not hidden anything in any way.

 

Now I am worried that I could lose my job over this. I work for the NHS and don't know what sort of policy they have about this type of thing. I don't know if I could stay there now anyway with my superiors thinking I am dishonest.

 

 

I hear ya Lolarose. Most people with any self respect would feel awful too knowing these people had gone to their employer.

I dont know what the NHS policy is to be honest.

Sorry, I thought you had mentioned up the top of the thread about giving them your payslips.

If there is a large over payment & they call you in for an interview, hopefully the person, or people that interview you are ok. To be honest the lady that interviewed me was real nice & we even had a few laughs between us all (I took my dad along) you do hear people say how nasty the interviewer was, but of course there are some fair ones too.

It does sound like there was a certain amount of lacking of 'duty of care' towards you. Similar to my situation. Unfortunately they usually still want the money back. But something like a lack of duty of care can make the whole thing less likely to end up in court. Fingers crossed anyway.

Lots of things are our responsibility when we claim benefits, we even sign to say we agree to it, but the people that deal with our claims also have a degree of responsibility too. But they rarely, if ever end up paying as dearly as we do when they mess up. That's the bit that riles me the most I think x

[ErikaPNP]

Let me put it another way. People do commit fraud, and most people who set about it in a deliberate fashion will attempt to conceal or dispose of evidence if they are alerted that an investigation is taking place, some will move in order to avoid detection. It is because of those people that these sort of enquiries need to be conducted. Payslips may not be the only matter relevant to their enquiry, or they may be seeking verification of some details already provided. They are investigating the possibility that this lady may have committed a criminal offence and as such are entitled to pursue an avenue of investigation to establish the facts. They are under no obligation to disclose to a suspect that their claim is the subject of an investigation; alerting a person who is commiting or has commited fraud provides opportunity for evidence to be concealed or disposed of and can jeopardise the investigation. They don't yet know whether or not this lady has commited benefit fraud and cannot know until they have conducted the relevant enquiries. It's no different to the police investigating a crime. They will initially investigate the matter and cannot bring charges or dispose of the investigation until they have concluded as much as they need to of their enquiries before they take such action.

 

Some people fail to declare material facts deliberately to defraud and some others fail to declare material facts but do not do it intentionally to defraud. The only way to find out is to perform an investigation. In this case, it is no secret that the lady has received more than she was entitled to by failing to disclose relevant changes in her circumstances. What the FIS need to do, is establish whether or not there is sufficient evidence of fraud.

 

I have seen a lot of information over the years relating to such enquiries, which make or break a case. Sometimes it is those enquiries which results in the case being discontinued. Sometimes it is those enquiries which result in the case being referred for prosecution.

 

However their enquiries must be reasonable and their actions appropriate in accordance with the circumstances of the case. If their enquiries or actions are inappropriate or unreasonable, that can be taken further. I'll attach some documents to the bottom of this message.

 

I know that you have recently been subject to an investigation so to that point I can appreciate why you feel it is disgusting. I have been the subject of investigation myself and it's not nice. I felt invaded and degraded, not to mention enraged because knowing the system as I do, I know what I need to declare and I had declared everything - to the point of having to chase them up to action changes in my circumstances. It did anger me that I had done everything possible in my power to ensure my claim was correct. I felt like someone had gone through my knicker drawer. But what I had to recognise was that although I knew everything was above board and everything I had provided was genuine, the investigators didn't know that and it was their duty to find out.

 

There are real pieces of work out there - I've dealt with them. I've had people come to me seeking help with the civil side (overpayments) of fraud, wishing to appeal against them and wanting my help to do it. I'm sure there are many CAB/Welfare rights/advocacy workers out there who have seen the same. They think that having an advocate, particularly an unpaid voluntary representative will make them appear more innocent. I'm happy to say that most of these people are genuine and I can help them. Even people who have failed to declare. Failing to declare does not immediately constitute fraud, and sometimes not even an overpayment. However there is the other end of it, people who get told to go forth and multiply and not to darken my doorstep ever again. I won't go into how it's been done, because that would provide examples to those who would defraud but I've seen some stuff which is plain stomach churning, including using dead children, and sometimes the families of those deceased children have been on the receiving end of letters in the names of their dead children. The lenghts that some people will go to in order to try and claim benefit or to try and make it look like it wasn't fraudulent are sometimes shocking. And sometimes the things that people produce can be believable. From some of the documents I've seen I can say that it is truely amazing how genuine a falsified document can appear, even to an eye who is trained to spot discrepancies - though I'm usually looking for discrepancies that DWP have made!

 

The point is that until these enquiries are conducted, the FIS cannot be certain of the situation, and alerting a suspect that their claim is being investigated can jeopardise an investigation and a potential prosecution - and regardless of anything, those types who will go to the sick lenghts that they do, deserve to be detected and punished. I'm the first to admit that on many an occasion some investigators can be overzealous, and will be determined to find something where there is nothing to find. However seeing the things that I have seen, it's understandable how cynical that must make someone who deals with it in a daily basis. Doesn't by any means excuse it though.

 

Disgusting though it makes the OP, you and I feel when we are the subject of an investigation, we should bear in mind that there are very, very good reasons why these things have to be done. If however at any point an authorised officer has not acted as they should, complain, complain and complain some more!

FISCOD.pdf

authorisedofficersguide.pdf

[id6052]

Many years ago I worked in the HR department of Post Office Counters Ltd

 

We used to get hundreds of such enquiries each month and the fact that the Department or an Authority was requesting such information was not perceived as being a black mark against the employee.

 

Most medium or large employers would see these as just routine enquiries, similar to lender's enquiries when you apply for a mortgage.

 

An employer would not be able to dismiss you for such an enquiry.

[jadeybags]

Yeh I see what you're saying. It's amazing the lengths people go to then at times.

And that's an interesting link, only looked at the first one so far. I do like the way they kept repeating about having proper reason to request info though, people have posted on here about how investigators dipping into their bank account put a spanner in the works for them getting a loan etc. When someone isn't committing fraud, that sucks doesn't it.

Surely in the OP's case it wouldn't have affected the investigation asking for payslips? It does say in those regs that first port of call should be the claimant?

[ErikaPNP]

Looking at people's bank accounts doesn't affect credit ratings because that is not entered on the credit record. A credit rating can be affected by potential creditors looking at a credit record, but not by a fraud investigation and they aren't logged on the credit record - or at least they shouldn't be.

 

The first port of call is usually the claimant but this shifts when there is a fraud investigation underway; it all depends on the case. If it's a compliance check, they aren't allowed to use authorised officers and must seek the information from the claimant but FIS are permitted to use authorised officers where there is a need.

[jadeybags]

Ah right, definitely remember someone saying they were refused credit & was told it was due to a benefit fraud investigation making enquiries on them. Cant remember now which thread it was I saw that on.

[ErikaPNP]

Ah right, definitely remember someone saying they were refused credit & was told it was due to a benefit fraud investigation making enquiries on them. Cant remember now which thread it was I saw that on.

 

That should never be the case, and if it is they need to find out how that got onto their file and complain to the agency who had placed that on their record. I think what you may have seen is the threads where it was reported that benefit officers were going to be given information on credit files for normal claims processing. On those threads there were a lot of concerns that it could ruin a credit rating if someone looked at their file and this could jeopardise the credit rating of innocents, it was mentioned a lot. But it is only creditors accessing a credit record that should be recorded.

[id6052]

I agree with Erika, from experience, I have never seen a DWP/LA fraud investigion credit checks appear on credit records.

Edited April 7, 2011 by id6052

[jadeybags]

That's good then. I remember when I told my dept manager about my benefit muck up at the time, she told me to not stress too much as she had seen people actually change the dates on their payslips to cover things up! So I guess these investigators do get a lot of tryers!

[lolarose66]

I was informed by a colleague that I was being investigated (previous post) and know that the investigator phoned my employer two months after sending forms to be completed. I am wondering what they are discussing with my employers. Are they allowed to discuss the details of your case with your employers or can they only ask questions regarding your employment.

 

Plus how long do they normally take from starting the investigation and calling you for interview.

 

I can't stop thinking about this as I am mortified that this happened and I am seriously thinking about handing in my notice. I am sure I will get a disciplinary for this and be dismissed. I work for NHS. Before I let that happen I will leave. Infact sometimes I think I should just end it all as this is an absolute nightmare.