Asked to attend interview under caution

[SargeBingo]

Hello everyone,

 

I received a letter yesterday asking me to attend an interview under caution, because my local authority suspects I have been committing benefit fraud. This is quite complicated, so please bear with me:

 

I lived in Wales until April last year, at which time I had to move to England to take care of my daughter full time (her mother is an alcoholic and mentally unstable , and was incapable of looking after her any longer.) I wasn't working at the time (claiming JSA), so all benefits were transferred over to me (HB, Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit).

 

In September, my girlfriend (we'll call her "C") also moved to the same town as me, having got a job in the area. However, the job only paid around £250 pcm, so she decided to stay with her sister (we'll call her "K") because she couldn't contribute half of the £1000 (approx) monthly outgoings of my household.

 

Here's where it gets complicated.

 

Although C was living with K, she was using my address as a postal address due to previous mail theft at K's residence. I knew this was a bad idea, but C didn't have much choice. C has also been staying at my house quite regularly, but not contributing to the household income (provable with my bank statements).

 

This arrangement continued, without incident, until February this year, when I got a part-time job working from home. Upon getting the job, I immediately signed off JSA, and my benefits were adjusted according to my new income.

 

Around a month ago, I received a letter from HMRC, asking why I was claiming Tax Credits as a single person when they have information which suggests that C was living with me. I called them to explain the situation, and offered to send them bank statements, utility bills, tenancy agreement etc to show that everything was in my name, and that C was not contributing to the household income. The man I spoke to said this was fine - I just needed to show I wasn't in any way financially dependent on C.

 

I was about to send all these documents off to HMRC when I received a letter from my council, asking me to attend an interview under caution because they suspected I had been committing benefit fraud.

 

I immediately phoned them (presuming this letter was a result of the HMRC investigation), and explained the situation as calmly as I could, and told them that I was already dealing with it. They then informed me that it was the DWP who had approached them (as a result of an allegation made to the DWP from an unknown source), and that the fraud investigation was tied to JSA claim, as opposed to Tax Credits. As I said, I stopped claiming JSA in February, so I'm baffled as to why that's an issue now.

 

The interview is next week, and while I've got all my documents ready, everything I've read about these interviews has said I should not attend alone. However, I don't qualify for legal aid and can't get hold of anyone at my local CAB. Should I just go alone anyway, and just try to stay calm?

 

Should I be worried that there's no documentation that proves that C lives with K? They have an informal arrangement, although K is willing to state that C is staying with her at the moment.

 

Is it likely that the interviewer will accept what I have to say, considering I have a year's worth of bank statements here which show I have been paying all bills, rent etc? There is one provable instance of C helping with money in that entire time - I borrowed £200 from her in January to cover my overspending at Xmas.

 

I'm obviously pretty concerned about this, and have never had to deal with anything like it, so some feedback would be much appreciated.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

I hope the guys who know about IUCs will be along over the course of the day. Please bear with us until they can get here. I'll keep an eye on your thread and try to call in some help if needed.

 

My best, HB

[SargeBingo]

Great, thanks HB.

[Guest]

Hmmm not sure if this is the same but when my adult son lived with his nan (rent free and spoilt lol) he chose to have his mail sent to my address as his nan would open it (not thinking to check it wasn't hers) and he visited me a lot through the week as I live very near to where he works, and he would call in for lunch or sometimes in the evening til late .... someone reported him living with me, which wasn't the case and it was dealt with by a letter from me stating his address and he confirming same in writing, as far as I know they didn't write to his nan but she would have confirmed same also. It wasn't suggested at all that using my address for mail wasn't allowed or proof of him living there.