Attachment of earnings from JSA claim

[bissssss]

My sister has been told by her employer of a few years that an attachment of earning has been put on her wages.

 

After some investigation and a few phone calls found that it relates to joint job seekers allowance claim she had with her ex in 2012.

 

 

Her apparently had £16,000 in a savings account that she had no knowledge of but as the main claimant she is liable for the full £7,500.

 

 

She has been advised to get her ex to write a letter saying she didn't know about the money which he won't do

because the money was his dads but his dad is on sickness benefit so put it in his sons name when he was first signed off.

 

Is there anything else she can do?

 

Thanks

[antone]

If she's only just found out about this overpayment then she can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration and, if necessary, appeal the decision to a Tribunal. She has one month to start this process, and the clock starts when she is first officially informed of the decision.

 

I'm not too sure how likely an appeal would be to succeed, though. As the main claimant, she is responsible for notifying any changes of circumstances to the DWP and partners who make joint claims to benefits really need to talk to each other about things like this.

 

The other complicating factor is, of course, the fact that her "best shot", the letter that you mentioned from her ex, is not likely to be available since it would clearly implicate his Dad in benefit fraud. In an imaginary "just world", her ex would compensate her for the money she's losing to the Attachment of Earnings, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen either. Also in a "just world", the Dad would declare the money to the DWP and "come clean" about his fraudulent claim.

 

So basically I'm not sure what she can do except appeal and hope for the best.

[sillygirl1]

The money was NOT in her account and she did NOT benefit in any way from the money her ex had - she needs to state this clearly in a one page document and if possible get it signed as a statement of truth by a solicitors. She would also have to provide bank statements for the period showing she did not benefit from the money in any way. If she was separated from her ex during the period they are claiming she can provide evidence for this too.

 

This type of case needs to be handled quickly. Sadly the DWP see ALL claimants as probably false claimants and tries to pursue the tiniest error to the maximum benefit for them.

[mikeymack2002]

If she provides proof that she was separated from her partner at that time the OP could face more issues if they didn't declare this.

 

Good luck with your appeal if you go this route...

[antone]

I was assuming that the ex mentioned was not an ex in 2012, but if that wasn't the case then yes, it's another complication.