advice sought re council benefit

[mum1966]

Hello All

 

I am a newbie to the forum, but have been watching from the sidelines for quite some time

 

I am writing about a friend of mine, as he has gotten himself into a bit of a pickle and im trying to help

 

I got together this guy 18 months ago and we really get on well,( we plan to live together after xmas) im a single mum of 3 and he has been BRILLIANT, i want to point out that he is bi-polar, but deals with it remarkably.

 

prior to my meeting him, he was a lad about town, and quite often ended up in trouble with the police, 20 years ago it was quite serious he ended up in prison a couple times, but he has straightened himself out in the last 5,

 

in 2010 he hit on hard times and had to claim benefits, as he just couldnt manage, we werent together at this time, he was going to come off benefits in 2011 but his home was burgled and he really found it difficult to cope, he therefore carried on claiming housing benefit, to help with his rent, he told the council that he was earning only £120.00 per week as a driver,although he was getting somewhere between £180.00 and £220.00, this was before he had to take out his expenses such as fuel running costs of vehicle etc, he was renting a trading name from someone who took a percentage of his incomings, in cash!

 

Things started to change for him this year and in August he contacted his council and notified them that as of september he wouldnt be claiming any further benefits, and on the 1st September he went into the housing benefit office and cancelled his claim in writing.

 

In August, he had a bit of an email arguement with someone, and they contacted the police stating he was harassing them, unfortunately he was arrested in september, and the police took away his laptop, even though he admitted to sending this guy 7 emails, the police put him on bail and told him to return in 6 weeks, he is now in a proper state because he is worried that the police will see his invoices on the laptop and get the council involved, even though he has already cancelled his claim, he never expected this to happen

 

I am deeply worried about him now, he isnt sleeping properly or eating, he thinks he is going to end up in prison, as this seems to be the norm of anyone convicted of benefit fraud, I just dont know what to do or say to help him, I tried to convince him that has he cancelled his claim before any of this happened, it will be ok, be he wont accept it, i really need help please, anyone who can advise please do, please dont write to tell me how wrong he was for doing what he did, we both realise this, thank you for reading my post

[estellyn]

housing and council tax benefit is based on net income not gross - so how much was his income after expenses and costs etc?

[MathewLisett]

as far as i am aware they will only look at emails, if they took his laptop they would have needed a warrant signed by a judge to do so.

 

invoices etc are not somethign they would be looking at, but if emails start stating something that the police believe the benefits office should be involved with, THEN thats soemthign to worry about as invoices etc would likely be involved.

 

being on bail is nothing really, pretty much its the time to which the cps decide if the case is worth going ahead with, in which case if the cps say yes, then thats when the person gets taken back to custody and charged. but even then, being charged and convicted are 2 seperate issues as you could get the charges dropped. get your "friend" to seek legal advice very quickly, as its much more wiser to have your own legal advice when in custody than have the ones that are appointed by the police.