Interview Under Caution - HB

[borisbeaver]

A colleage of mine has come to me in a state of panic saying that he has received a letter from the council inviting him and his wife to an interview under caution for an overpayment of HB.

 

After I managed to calm him down I managed to get him to show me the letter.He says that he informed the council for all change of circumstance since making the claim. He has also shown me a 20 page letter from the council - this is complete gobbledegook to me.

 

I know nothing about these things so was only able to offer general advice, i.e. are you sure you told them about everything, how did you tell them, have you spoken to CAB, etc..The over payment is about £4000.

 

He has managed to get a postponement of the interview, but wants to know what happens at these interviews.

[annie4567]

Hi

 

I am no expert, but it sounds to me like they have looked into his claim, or at least investigated it for some reason, what did the letter say it usually gives some reason as to why they think an overpayment might have occured?

[borisbeaver]

It mentions income and tax credits. The only income change was his wife starting work in September. He swears blind that he notified the council.

[annie4567]

Do the awards he received show his wifes income on there? If he did notify them then he should have received a new award with updated information on. Might be worth him looking to see if it does show the change in income.

[borisbeaver]

I'm popping over later, I'll see if he can find it.

[borisbeaver]

Update.

 

I went along with my colleague as support to his IUC. There were 2 issues, firstly he hadn't declared changes to his tax credits. He countered this by saying that in a previous contact with the council, he didn't need to notify them as they can get this information themselves. Secondly, they stated that they had not received the notification that his wife had started work. He showed them a copy of the letter that was sent advising them. The whole interview took 90 minutes.

 

We were advised that it would be at least six weeks before anything would be done.

 

He received a letter asking him to come to the council offices today. I went with him. He was advised that in normal circumstances, this would be an automatic prosecution, because he had health problems, the decision was made to give him an administrative penalty. This was 30% of the overpayment and would be added to the overpayment. The council has stated that no further action will be taken.

 

He got off lightly, but will be paying the council back for some years.

 

Moral of the story, ensure that you inform the council of any change of income and more importantly, follow it up.

[watchinginvestigation2011]

Glad to hear you friend is sorted.

 

As you say always a good idea if notififed change of cirucmstance and not received new notification award or contact, to give them a ring to check, they are always friendly and helpful I have found when have query

[Nystagmite]

It does say on any letters about benefits that you must inform them and not to rely on other departments to talk to each other.

[watchinginvestigation2011]

Yep you are right it does. But a lot seem to miss it and need to be careful.

No telling off intended