IUC for benefit Fraud - Afterwards ?

[melanie999]

Hi,

 

I wonder if anyone can tell me, after an IUC do you get a letter to say that they are going to prosecute? and can you appeal their decision to prosecute?

 

Many thanks in advance

[estellyn]

there are two parts to benefit fraud, the civil matter and the criminal case - these need to both be dealt with.

 

After an IUC, eventually you will first get a decision regarding the benefit - so this could be no further action or a finding of an overpayment, and if not happened already, current benefit claim being ended.

 

The Civil case - at this point if you disagree with the benefit decisions you will need to challenge them within one month of the decision for each benefit. For instance a living together as husband and wife decision following iuc might mean needing to request a mandatory reconsideration for income based esa, request a review for child tax credit and request a review for housing benefit and council tax benefit. You would then need to follow the dispute process until you went to a Tribunal where you would be able to put your case before a judge.

 

The criminal matter is separate and no you can't appeal their decision but you should get experienced advice from BOTH a solicitor and experience welfare rights benefits worker regarding your case, as there are options that may be made available to you such as accepting a caution and/or paying a fine rather than going to court.

 

The most important thing to realise is that the civil side is pivotal to the criminal side but is often ignored or overlooked by solicitors. If you win your civil case at Tribunal this will mean no prosecution, so if fighting the civil case ensure your solicitor gets the criminal case held until the outcome of the Tribunal.

 

Hope that helps.

[melanie999]

there are two parts to benefit fraud, the civil matter and the criminal case - these need to both be dealt with.

 

After an IUC, eventually you will first get a decision regarding the benefit - so this could be no further action or a finding of an overpayment, and if not happened already, current benefit claim being ended.

 

 

 

The Civil case - at this point if you disagree with the benefit decisions you will need to challenge them within one month of the decision for each benefit. For instance a living together as husband and wife decision following iuc might mean needing to request a mandatory reconsideration for income based esa, request a review for child tax credit and request a review for housing benefit and council tax benefit. You would then need to follow the dispute process until you went to a Tribunal where you would be able to put your case before a judge.

 

The criminal matter is separate and no you can't appeal their decision but you should get experienced advice from BOTH a solicitor and experience welfare rights benefits worker regarding your case, as there are options that may be made available to you such as accepting a caution and/or paying a fine rather than going to court.

 

The most important thing to realise is that the civil side is pivotal to the criminal side but is often ignored or overlooked by solicitors. If you win your civil case at Tribunal this will mean no prosecution, so if fighting the civil case ensure your solicitor gets the criminal case held until the outcome of the Tribunal.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it is all very confusing. If they come back with an overpayment and a prosecution which I think will I will appeal, so they won't go ahead with prosecution until tribunal has been heard is that correct? I have a solicitor who attended with me on iuc so I would need to ask them to get case adjourned until tribunal has an outcome? Can I just ask also is the esa what the entitlement would of been? If their decision was to be followed? Thanks very much for your time

[melanie999]

Do you have any idea also on time frame? Waiting for decision is it weeks/months?

[melanie999]

Can I ask in appeal to consider what I would of been entitled to? And offset it so to speak?

[Shoelover]

The length of time to get the decision to some extent depends on which benefit & how complex the case is.

You can ask for underlying entitlement to be considered in some cases - without knowing which benefit and a few more details it's difficult to say.

[melanie999]

It's prodominately Hb for roughly a year, its a very confusing case as I was claiming as I assumed was correctly and never intended to commit anything I genuinely believed what I was claiming I was entitled to and after checking on various immigration and ukba websites assumed I had taken the right path. There was never any deception on my part, only not being fully aware of the actual facts. In hindsight if I had claimed as they now say I should of the payments may well of been bigger than I actually received.

[estellyn]

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it is all very confusing. If they come back with an overpayment and a prosecution which I think will I will appeal, so they won't go ahead with prosecution until tribunal has been heard is that correct? I have a solicitor who attended with me on iuc so I would need to ask them to get case adjourned until tribunal has an outcome? Can I just ask also is the esa what the entitlement would of been? If their decision was to be followed? Thanks very much for your time

 

Yes, they would go ahead with the prosecution, so it will be important to ensure your solicitor is on the ball in delaying a court date until the Tribunal has been heard.

 

esa is a benefit (employment and support allowance) for people too sick or disabled to work - I just used it as an example, it isn't relevant unless you were claiming it.

[Shoelover]

So are they saying you were not entitled because of your immigration status?

 

What would your grounds for appeal be?

 

You really are in a complex area of benefit law & need proper advice

[melanie999]

thankyou again for your reply xx i wasnt sure of esa so thankyou for clarifying that. I will ensure that my solicitor takes relevant steps to make sure any court case is after any tribunal. Makes you wonder how many people go to court for prosecution, who maybe shouldnt of been there or had mitigating circumstances to take them out of the prosecution line and preferably into the fines/close of case area. Dealing with immigration law and UKBA and housing benefit apparently now i find isnt as easy as i thought! I can not say im guilty because i truly believed i wasnt. I thought i was doing what i was supposed to do. So what am I to do,as their findings might well be correct, in their eyes, but for me goes against everything i had researched and believed.

Edited July 1, 2015 by melanie999
spelling

[Shoelover]

What you believed will be relevant for the criminal side... If there was intent. How much weight they attach to it I don't know.

 

What I would say is immigration law & intent are both difficult. Stick to the expert help if your solicitor if you can

[estellyn]

the important things for HB are whether you gave all relevant (asked for) information and documents and were truthful in your claim. If that is the case and you were completely truthful and provided everything asked for, then the next question is whether you could reasonably have known you were being overpaid.