hi eveybody,

i am having an "interview under caution" at the local authority on
friday next because of suspected housing benefit fraud!

the story;-

i moved into my present rented property in may 07. At the time i was
on a "back to work" scheme run by a private company.

within 2/3 weeks i was back in work, i informed the company who
informed the job centre who stopped my "training allowance"

around about august my landlord told me that the rent was still being
paid (in order to rent with him as dss, i had to have the rent paid
directly). he said to give it a month and if it was still being paid
then i should go and get it sorted.

so, mid september i went and told them, even getting a sheet of paper,
writing out that i had started work and having them sign for it.

october my rent was still being paid.

november it stopped!

i got an overpayment  bill december which the landlord paid in full
and sent off (i watched him fill in the check. he says its been
cashed) .

q: Do i have to turn up, i want to get this sorted , but taking a
morning off work 'cos they are idiots really sticks!

what should i expect?

cheers

g

"Vlad the accountant"  wrote in message 
news:baae261a-f05a-463e-95a4-1dd0d3dcc2b4@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com...
> hi eveybody,
>
> i am having an "interview under caution" at the local authority on
> friday next because of suspected housing benefit fraud!
>
> the story;-
>
> i moved into my present rented property in may 07. At the time i was
> on a "back to work" scheme run by a private company.
>
> within 2/3 weeks i was back in work, i informed the company who
> informed the job centre who stopped my "training allowance"
>
> around about august my landlord told me that the rent was still being
> paid (in order to rent with him as dss, i had to have the rent paid
> directly). he said to give it a month and if it was still being paid
> then i should go and get it sorted.
>
> so, mid september i went and told them, even getting a sheet of paper,
> writing out that i had started work and having them sign for it.
>
> october my rent was still being paid.
>
> november it stopped!
>
> i got an overpayment  bill december which the landlord paid in full
> and sent off (i watched him fill in the check. he says its been
> cashed) .
>


> q: Do i have to turn up, i want to get this sorted , but taking a
> morning off work 'cos they are idiots really sticks!
>

No, you do not have to turn up, they have had their money back. If they want 
to see you, tell them they are free to visit you anytime outside your normal 
working hours.


> what should i expect?
>

More incompetence :)

On 24 Jan, 17:15, "Niteawk"  wrote:
> "Vlad the accountant"  wrote in messagenews:baae261a-f05a-463e-95a4-1dd0d3dcc2b4@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > hi eveybody,
>
> > i am having an "interview under caution" at the local authority on
> > friday next because of suspected housing benefit fraud!
>
> > the story;-
>
> > i moved into my present rented property in may 07. At the time i was
> > on a "back to work" scheme run by a private company.
>
> > within 2/3 weeks i was back in work, i informed the company who
> > informed the job centre who stopped my "training allowance"
>
> > around about august my landlord told me that the rent was still being
> > paid (in order to rent with him as dss, i had to have the rent paid
> > directly). he said to give it a month and if it was still being paid
> > then i should go and get it sorted.
>
> > so, mid september i went and told them, even getting a sheet of paper,
> > writing out that i had started work and having them sign for it.
>
> > october my rent was still being paid.
>
> > november it stopped!
>
> > i got an overpayment  bill december which the landlord paid in full
> > and sent off (i watched him fill in the check. he says its been
> > cashed) .
>
> > q: Do i have to turn up, i want to get this sorted , but taking a
> > morning off work 'cos they are idiots really sticks!
>
> No, you do not have to turn up, they have had their money back. If they want
> to see you, tell them they are free to visit you anytime outside your normal
> working hours.
>
> > what should i expect?
>
> More incompetence :)- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

You don't have to turn up however the LA COULD decide they have
sufficient evidence (either in error or otherwise) and could charge
you, arrest court appearance etc etc.

Now assuming you are being completely honest you would have missed the
opportunity to clear the matter up and would be as much to blame for
the waste of everybody's time as the LA and their apparent
incompetence.

On the other hand it could be an unrelated matter which again could be
cleared up by your attendance.  Now if you fail to attend they may try
and prosecute or they may just calculate an overpayment which may or
may not stick.

They've invited you in because if they have a friendly chat without
the caution etc IF there is anything to the matter they would be very
unlikely to be able to prosecute.  That doesn't preclude the matter
from being sorted out.  This is why if you ring tomorrow they won't
tell you much.

You are in a dilemma however I doubt the problem will go away if you
ignore it and even if you attend you are not obliged ... oh hell
they'll tell you all that if it's an IUC.


Mike

Vlad the accountant  wrote in 
news:baae261a-f05a-463e-95a4-1dd0d3dcc2b4@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com:

[snip]

> q: Do i have to turn up, i want to get this sorted , but taking a
> morning off work 'cos they are idiots really sticks!

I strongly suggest that you turn up.

Seek advice from someone like CAB before you go.

Get a letter from the landlord saying he's going to repay overpayment.

Take that, and the letter you got telling them that you had started work, 
with you.

to us.

227. Order by dialogues.--What ought I to do? I see only darkness
everywhere. Shall I believe I am nothing? Shall I believe I am God?

"All things change and succeed each other." You are mistaken; there is...

228. Objection of atheists: "But we have no light."

229. This is what I see and what troubles me. I look on all sides, and I see
only darkness everywhere. Nature presents to me nothing which is not matter
of doubt and concern. If I saw nothing there which revealed a Divinity, I
would come to a negative conclusion; if I saw everywhere the signs of a
Creator, I would remain peacefully in faith. But, seeing too much to deny
and too little to be sure, I am in a state to be pitied; wherefore I have a
hundred times wished that if a God maintains Nature, she should testify to
Him unequivocally, and that, if the signs she gives are deceptive, she
should suppress them altogether; that she should say everything or nothing,
that I might see which cause I ought to follow. Whereas in my present state,
ignorant of what I am or of what I ought to do, I know neither my condition
nor my duty. My heart inclines wholly to know where is the true good, in
order to follow it; nothing would be too dear to me for eternity.

I envy those whom I see living in the faith with such carelessness and who
make such a bad use of a gift of which it seems to me I would make such a
different use.

230. It is incomprehensible that God should

the reality.

But since dreams are all different, and each single one is diversified, what
is seen in them affects us much less than what we see when awake, because of
its continuity, which is not, however, so continuous and level as not to
change too; but it changes less abruptly, except rarely, as when we travel,
and then we say, "It seems to me I am dreaming." For life is a dream a
little less inconstant.

387. It may be that there are true demonstrations; but this is not certain.
Thus, this proves nothing else but that it is not certain that all is
uncertain, to the glory of scepticism.

388. Good sense.--They are compelled to say, "You are not acting in good
faith; we are not asleep," etc. How I love to see this proud reason
humiliated and suppliant! For this is not the language of a man whose right
is disputed, and who defends it with the power of armed hands. He is not
foolish enough to declare that men are not acting in good faith, but he
punishes this bad faith with force.

389. Ecclesiastes shows that man without God is in total ignorance and
inevitable misery. For it is wretched to have the wish, but not the power.
Now he would be happy and assured of some truth, and yet he can neither
know, nor desire not to know. He cannot even doubt.

390. My God! How foolish this talk is! "Would God have made the world to
damn it? Would He ask so much from persons so weak"? etc. Scepticism is the
cure for this evil, and will take down this vanity.

391. Conversation.--Great words: Religion, I deny it.

Conversation.--Scepticism helps religion.

392. Against Scepticism.--... It is, then, a strange fact that we cannot
define these things without obscuring them, while we speak of them with all
assurance. We assume that all conceive of them in the same way; but we
assume it quite gratuitously, for we have no proof of it. I see, in truth,
that th

On Jan 24, 9:18 pm, bealoid  wrote:
> Vlad the accountant  wrote innews:baae261a-f05a-463e-95a4-1dd0d3dcc2b4@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com:
>
> [snip]
>
> > q: Do i have to turn up, i want to get this sorted , but taking a
> > morning off work 'cos they are idiots really sticks!
>
> I strongly suggest that you turn up.
>
> Seek advice from someone like CAB before you go.
>
> Get a letter from the landlord saying he's going to repay overpayment.
>
> Take that, and the letter you got telling them that you had started work,
> with you.

thanks for that, but i dont need a letter from my landlord as i have
the cheque number and date it was cashed. he repaid the overpayment
the day i showed him the bill.

that is why im so riled about all this.

Vlad the accountant wrote:
> On Jan 24, 9:18 pm, bealoid  wrote:
>> Vlad the accountant  wrote innews:baae261a-f05a-463e-95a4-1dd0d3dcc2b4@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>> q: Do i have to turn up, i want to get this sorted , but taking a
>>> morning off work 'cos they are idiots really sticks!
>> I strongly suggest that you turn up.
>>
>> Seek advice from someone like CAB before you go.
>>
>> Get a letter from the landlord saying he's going to repay overpayment.
>>
>> Take that, and the letter you got telling them that you had started work,
>> with you.
> 
> thanks for that, but i dont need a letter from my landlord as i have
> the cheque number and date it was cashed. he repaid the overpayment
> the day i showed him the bill.
> 
> that is why im so riled about all this.

It might be that the benefit office doesn't know yet that the council 
has the money back. It can take time for bits of paper to migrate around 
the system. As the overpayment has been repaid you have nothing really 
to worry about. Show them the proof of repayment, and the receipt for 
your letter detailing your change in circs.

However, do take note that you were in the wrong here, up until 
September when you told the council you were working. You are obliged to 
  inform the council of changes in your circumstances, not just the 
Jobcentre. You should have told them in May. You agreed to this 
condition when you claimed. As a general rule, you should *never* rely 
on the JC to inform the council of anything to do with your claim. - 
Even if they tell you they will pass info on, far too often they don't.

One more thing, were you signing-on for more than 26 weeks? If so you 
might be entitled to an extended payment of HB and CTB if you were 
getting it. This is 4 weeks extra benefit. You also must expect the job 
to last more than 5 weeks when you sign off to qualify.

"anthonyberet" <nospam@me.invalid> wrote in message
>
> However, do take note that you were in the wrong here, up until September 
> when you told the council you were working. You are obliged to inform the 
> council of changes in your circumstances, not just the Jobcentre. You 
> should have told them in May. You agreed to this condition when you 
> claimed.

Possible not, Anthony, if Vlad completed the national HB forms and handed 
them into the jobcentre, rather than the local authority forms which are 
issued by the local authority.  If you fill a form for one body it hardly 
makes sense that you must inform another body as well when the claim ceases

Vlad has used the expression "one stop".  A while ago there was govt talk 
about having a one stop benefit shop.  It would make a lot sense if this was 
put into operation.

I agree with your other points particularly that Vlad has little to fear 
based on the information given.

terryw