Interview under cauton. Please help

[Mumtoky]

Hi all......i'm going through excatly the same......had my ICU in December and at the begining of Febuary they stopped my IS/HB/CT Benefits......They to are accusing me of living with my bf because in March last year he lost his job and his flat....and so because he has NFA he must be living at mine.....which i pointed out was wrong as he doesn't need to live with me as his family are more than willing to help him out until he gets back on his feet.....all they had was that he had been using my address for postal reasons...which i explained that the fact that i was home all day so it was more easier for him to collect his mail from my house. They interviewed his mum and she confirmed he stops there a few nights a week as he does at his friends house.....my bf was present when his mum was being interviewed and he asked if they needed to interview him and she said that wouldn't be needed as they had enough information now.....so in Feb the letters came saying i wasn't entitled to IS/HB/CT as i have a partner living with me who is working....it really is like banging your head against a brick wall......i have sent an appeal in stating that my bf has never lived with me and that i feel that you are backing me into a corner where i have no choice but to let him move in with me....my health is in tatters ova all this....i suffer from high blood pressure and mental health issues...and this stress is not helping.....they don't care

[sea-sidelady]

Hello mumofky.

 

Welcome to CAG.

 

I have moved your post to make a thread of your own. It is very easy to get lost when you are on some one else's thread.

 

Have a good read around some of the threads in here. There is some invaluable information in them.

[jadeybags]

Have they not mentioned any over payment?

[Mumtoky]

Yeah they said i have been overpaid income support...and they are going to send me a separate decision advising me of the amount of the overpayment....my bf has told them he can provide the information they need to prove he is not living with me...and only stays 2 nights a week....but they are not interested in what he's got to say....it baffles me...they are accusing us of living together...and they have named by bf on the letters that they have sent....but they refuse to take a statement of him

[jadeybags]

Yeah they said i have been overpaid income support...and they are going to send me a separate decision advising me of the amount of the overpayment....my bf has told them he can provide the information they need to prove he is not living with me...and only stays 2 nights a week....but they are not interested in what he's got to say....it baffles me...they are accusing us of living together...and they have named by bf on the letters that they have sent....but they refuse to take a statement of him

 

Ok things are getting crazy aren't they! Wait until that over payment letter arrives, then appeal it, providing as much info as you can. If they dont reconsider, I think you can go to a tribunal, not too sure on that fact though, someone else will be able to advise you of that later on here. x

[Life-Goes-On]

There seems to be a big blitz on this issues and innocent people will get caught up in it.

 

The DWP should take some blame as they seem to use the term living together as man and wife LTAMAW but to be classed as a couple you don't need to live together.

[sea-sidelady]

The DWP should take some blame as they seem to use the term living together as man and wife LTAMAW but to be classed as a couple you don't need to live together.

 

Which is so insane! When 2 people are developing a relationship they have to build it, and do "couple" things, like go shopping, havings day/nights out, even staying over with each other. Just general seeing each other!!! How can some of these be defined as LTANAW? How can people build and grow together with so many rules against them

[Mumtoky]

Thank you so much for your comments.....its a real nightmare and i have to stay strong for my kids...cuz at the end of the day i'm all they have....so i can't crumble...just sob when they have gone to bed....i feel that the DWP are penalizing me for having a boyfriend...and its just not fair i deserve some happiness after all the years off hell i had of my kids dad x

[jadeybags]

There seems to be a big blitz on this issues and innocent people will get caught up in it.

 

The DWP should take some blame as they seem to use the term living together as man and wife LTAMAW but to be classed as a couple you don't need to live together.

 

I know it's mental isn't it now! Starting to wonder if they are trying to get people off benefits, I mean nooooo they wouldn't have any reason to do that would they :o\

People need to stick to the bit of law that states to be guilty you need to 'knowingly'....& we all know at the moment even the DWP dont seem to have a definite rule going on so how should jo public know! Anyway, we have said that before.

My mum rang earlier & said it was all over the news lunchtime how much the DWP are making mistakes & clawing back over payments off people, but there are a heck of a lot more people & money of people that have been underpaid & not got any back!

I will be watching for it on the news later..

[Life-Goes-On]

Which is so insane! When 2 people are developing a relationship they have to build it, and do "couple" things, like go shopping, havings day/nights out, even staying over with each other. Just general seeing each other!!! How can some of these be defined as LTANAW? How can people build and grow together with so many rules against them

 

I do agree, but sadly as there are people that are couples but claim not to be for benefits purposes then rest have to suffer.

 

That's is why it isn't black & white and exact rules on what is classed as a couple isn't published.

[jadeybags]

Thank you so much for your comments.....its a real nightmare and i have to stay strong for my kids...cuz at the end of the day i'm all they have....so i can't crumble...just sob when they have gone to bed....i feel that the DWP are penalizing me for having a boyfriend...and its just not fair i deserve some happiness after all the years off hell i had of my kids dad x

 

Of course you do. And it's actually good to have a boyfriend when you have younger children I think, because it's a bit of light relief from the daily routine! Now my 2 are getting older I have no interest in a boyfriend, been single 3 years & loving it.

But I am really disliking the way they are trying to push men into taking on someone & their children wihin a week of their first date.

Wrong wrong wrong! That's bad news for all the people involved, especially the kids, & if you have had a hard time in the past, even more reason for you to take it slowly!

[jadeybags]

I do agree, but sadly as there are people that are couples but claim not to be for benefits purposes then rest have to suffer.

 

That's is why it isn't black & white and exact rules on what is classed as a couple isn't published.

 

Well all I can say is they are brave! I would be thinking I was being watched all the time. I was a bit naughty really because the last boyfriend I had could get a bit intense & I do like my independance & space, so I actually USED the DWP excuse to an extreme so he couldn't stay over more than one night a week, usually weekend night (he actually owned his own house) because I hate sharing my bed & he snored something rotten LOL who says the DWP doesn't have its uses!

[Mumtoky]

Yeah i agree with you fully.....i've been with my bf ova 3 years he lived abt 60 miles away from me and we use to see each otha every weekend which at the time worked for us....then last year he lost his job..(.which he is still fightin the goverment for cuz he didn't get paid for 2 months before they laid him off) so he came down to the town i live in.....which is the same town his mum and all his family live in.....he has been stayin at his mum's and various other places during the week...which he doesn't mind because he has no dependents and he can live like that....i just can't bring myself to live with another man...but i feel like i really have no choice....the DWP are just not listening....they say cuz he has NFA we must be living together...which they are so wrong....i've even told them they are welcome to search my house...and they told me that won't be nessery....my bf mum even offered to show the benefits woman while she was at her house, the room where my bf sleeps with his things in it but she said the was no reason to see it...you really can't win with these people x

[Life-Goes-On]

What puzzles me in your case is your BF isn't working there would be no need for you to lie, normally it's because one of the people is working.

 

You BF won't be getting HB so can't see a reason the DWP won't believe you.

[Mumtoky]

Sorry don't mean to confuse you....yeah he was out of work frm march 10 till july 2010 when he found a job....so he is working now....and they are sayin he has been living with me since march last year....which he hasn't...its just the fact that he lost his flat and everything that he had to stay at his mum's friends and so on....which happen to be in the same town as me:???:

[jadeybags]

Yeah i agree with you fully.....i've been with my bf ova 3 years he lived abt 60 miles away from me and we use to see each otha every weekend which at the time worked for us....then last year he lost his job..(.which he is still fightin the goverment for cuz he didn't get paid for 2 months before they laid him off) so he came down to the town i live in.....which is the same town his mum and all his family live in.....he has been stayin at his mum's and various other places during the week...which he doesn't mind because he has no dependents and he can live like that....i just can't bring myself to live with another man...but i feel like i really have no choice....the DWP are just not listening....they say cuz he has NFA we must be living together...which they are so wrong....i've even told them they are welcome to search my house...and they told me that won't be nessery....my bf mum even offered to show the benefits woman while she was at her house, the room where my bf sleeps with his things in it but she said the was no reason to see it...you really can't win with these people x

 

Oh you're kidding. That is so wrong. So they won let you prove your innocence & are happy to cut you off something you have a right to claim. I wonder how it stands if you just reclaim again then? Although I really think you need to go down the appeal route here. Are you saying the appeal has come back as rejected?

If so if I was you I would get on to a benefits solicitor now just on the phone for advice where to go next. CAB aren't really much use, they can negotiate over payment repayments with them but that's about it. Once they open up their laptop & go into google, you know you are getting nowhere that you couldn't yourself.

Have a look on here for some numbers of legal aid solicitors near you. Make sure they 'specialise' in welfare benefits & not just offer 'general' advice on it hun...

 

http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/en/directory/directorysearch.jsp

[jadeybags]

Sorry don't mean to confuse you....yeah he was out of work frm march 10 till july 2010 when he found a job....so he is working now....and they are sayin he has been living with me since march last year....which he hasn't...its just the fact that he lost his flat and everything that he had to stay at his mum's friends and so on....which happen to be in the same town as me:???:

 

So if he WAS living with you when he was unemployed, you would have been BETTER OFF claiming as a couple. Dont know if I have that right with the dates they're saying about. Which would bring down the over payment anyway. Officially speaking.

[Life-Goes-On]

Thanks for clearing that bit up.

 

Have you asked for the SOR? (statement of reasons)

[jadeybags]

Thanks for clearing that bit up.

 

Have you asked for the SOR? (statement of reasons)

 

Is that if they take no further action?

[Life-Goes-On]

I suppose you can ask for it either way.

 

What the OP needs is why the DM came to that decision, what evidence was used.

[jadeybags]

I suppose you can ask for it either way.

 

What the OP needs is why the DM came to that decision, what evidence was used.

 

Good thinking batman!

[Life-Goes-On]

I would have thought they needed more that him using her address as he is of no fixed abode.

[jadeybags]

I would have thought they needed more that him using her address as he is of no fixed abode.

 

Of course they would. That's what IUC's are for lol I still get mail for some bloke that must have lived here before me, & I have been here nearly 6 years. I just stick it in the recycling. I dont know him from Adam, I even got an xmas card adressed to him, I assumed it was one as it came in december with a xmas stamp on & felt just like one. Like to see them try linking me to whoever that is.

[Mumtoky]

No all they had when i went for my ICU was that he has been using my address....for his car...mobile...and bank statements....and that his car had been seen outside my house...which i replied of course his car has been outside my house he's my bf and he visits me...i also stated that my friends,neighbour and the local plumber park outside my house it DOESN'T mean i'm living with them!!!....they had no pictures or video footage of him coming and going from my house....or if they did they never showed me....and as far as i'm aware they haven't asked my neighbours if he lives with me......which i know they asked my neighbour when about 5 years ago when i split up from my ex husband they sent him a letter confirming that my ex had left....i attended the ICU alone as i believe i have done nothing wrong...i know it was very intense....but i told them he has only ever spent weekends at my house which is the truth

[jadeybags]

Then you have done your bit. They haven't produced any evidence yet to prosecute. If they do that, you see a solicitor. Living with someone as if married, is very hard to prove by the looks of it. And it also looks like they haven't got the evidence of him being at yours overnight in the week, which I dont doubt they have tried checking out!

Speak to a solicitor x