Benefit Fraud

[deadlydavid]

hi im new here and really worried, i was invited to an interview under caution for benefit fraud, i am just claiming job seekers. i live with a friend but they dont believe me. my main worry is that it will go to court and i will be sent to prison and have a criminal record, i dont work and that is what the job seeker money is used for. if i get a criminal record it would make it a lot harder to get a job. what do i do? do i admit it even though its not true or....any help? lol

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

I've moved your thread to the benefits forum where the guys should be able to advise you on this.

 

Have you already been to the IUC please? I'm not sure from what you say.

 

My best, HB

[deadlydavid]

thanks, and yes i have been to the interview stupidly i didnt get legal help to begin with

[honeybee13]

Thank you for that.

 

Have they said how much they think you have been overpaid and why they don't believe you're living with a friend?

 

How was it left at the end of the IUC?

 

HB

[deadlydavid]

no they said nothing about how much overpayment, and not sure they said they'll have to do more invetigating. they saw something on facebook about a relationship about 4 years ago. the main thing i'm worried about is going to court i'd rather just pay them back than go to court i already find it hard to find a job...with a criminal record i feel it would be next to impossible

[deadlydavid]

I really need help I feel so lost

[deadlydavid]

Also how will it affect my friend....I've already told her to kick me out. I don't want her getting into trouble aswell?

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

This isn't my field, I'm afraid, I've tried to ask questions that will help the people who know to advise you. Please bear with us until they're able to get here.

 

I'm not clear why living with a friend would exclude you from getting JSA, could you expand on that too please?

 

HB

[2ltr16valve]

What I suspect has happened here is that jcp/Dwp has assumed your in a relationship and financially dependant on each other.

I had the very same things when I split with an ex partner but had to carry on living together for a period of time.

 

You will need to provide proof you have your own bills for things and split the electricity and gas etc.

[deadlydavid]

They think we're living as a couple...so I've been getting too much money because I've not declared it

[deadlydavid]

That's the problem I don't pay for anything I just give her money

[deadlydavid]

And now an worried that she'll get into trouble for helping a friend

[2ltr16valve]

Will she make a written statement that your not in a relationship ?

As long as your not in a relationship with her then you have not been getting too much money. You need to fight this as long as it's the case.

As far as I'm aware they can't treat people living together in a house as a shared home as living together as a couple and dependant on each other.

[abc123def]

I assume that they are suggesting that you are in a relationship with the person you are sharing accommodation with, whereas you are saying that you are purely friends? What evidence did they put forward at the IUC that there is such a relationship, apart from a facebook comment 4 years ago? They won't get far unless they have more evidence than that.

 

Personally I would only tell the truth, so if I wasn't in a relationship with someone, then that is what I would say. Owning up to something whether you're guilty or not doesn't mean you would only repay any overpayment, prosecution is always a possibility even with a guilty plea.

[deadlydavid]

Is honestly don't know I'm just so worried

[deadlydavid]

And I think she will make a statement...coz it's not her fault that's why I've told her to kick me out. They said about the comment and that she pays all bills and stuff like that....so

I dunno what they have. I phoned a solicitor and they said to get back in touch with them when the

J.c has made a decision.

[estellyn]

There is nothing you can do until they give you a decision stopping your jsa or telling you that you have an overpayment. At that point you need to request a mandatory reconsideration of both decisions, and if the decisions still don't change then appeal the decisions.

 

 

If you can get the decision changed at appeal then there can be no fraud prosecution. In my experience Tribunal judges are far more reasonable than DWP decision makers.

 

 

Other things that say if you are living together as husband and wife are do you have joint bank accounts, do you buy your own food, do you have your own bedroom (some people claim to be living as friends and sleeping on the sofa - generally unsuccessfully), do you have a tenancy agreement, do you share vehicles, do you have kids together, how do friends/neighbours see your relationship?.

 

 

I house shared a lot when younger and the arrangement of paying a single amount which covers rent and bills and the live-in landlord pays all the bills is a common arrangement.

[alpo287]

Jobcentre people are now allowed to look peoples personal Facebook to check on their relationship status??

[deadlydavid]

I have my own room I do buy my own food (should I keep receipts?) we don't have joint bank accounts or a car and I had to be on the tennancy agreement or I would be living here illegally? No kids and friends would see us as friends, not sure about neighbours never really spoke to them.

Edited June 3, 2014 by deadlydavid

[deadlydavid]

Apparently alpo and it means something? Even though people say they're married to people when they're not...I can't imagine that really being used as evidence

[estellyn]

I have my own room I do buy my own food (should I keep receipts?) we don't have joint bank accounts or a car and I had to be on the tennancy agreement or I would be living here illegally? No kids and friends would see us as friends, not sure about neighbours never really spoke to them.

 

 

You'd be surprised how neighbours see you. Our last next door neighbours could have been house sharing - as we didn't speak to them ever, we just assumed they were a couple.

 

 

Any evidence you can offer will be helpful. Do either of you have (or recently had) boyfriends/girlfriends? Statements from them would be useful. I take it your friend works - would their boss/supervisor offer a statement about their understanding of your relationship?

[deadlydavid]

Yeah they work and not sure will have to ask and she's had dates I don't think nothing serious though again will ask. Thanks a lot by the way, you've helped a lot.

[estellyn]

Yeah they work and not sure will have to ask and she's had dates I don't think nothing serious though again will ask. Thanks a lot by the way, you've helped a lot.

 

 

No problem. Just remember that the only way to end a fraud prosecution is to win a mandatory recon or appeal, and you'll need to challenge both decisions - the one to end the JSA and the overpayment within one month of the decisions.

[antone]

Jobcentre people are now allowed to look peoples personal Facebook to check on their relationship status??

 

Jobcentre staff have the same right to look at information posted on your public Facebook page as anyone else does.

[alpo287]

Jobcentre staff have the same right to look at information posted on your public Facebook page as anyone else does.

 

But they can use that information they see on there to report someone for benefit fraud? Seems a bit extreme. Someone I know has their FB location set to Tokyo, Japan. Could an adviser then report that person for claiming income support while supposedly living in Tokyo based only off Facebook information?