got a letter from JCP about a customer compliance officer

[dowaditty]

Hey

I got this letter this morning saying

Dear miss smith

we need to see you to discuss a query that has arisen conserning your benefit. It is important that you are available, as it may affect your benefit. A customer compliance officer M. STEWART, will be calling n thursday 07/08/08 betweeen the times of 9.30 and 4.00. Please note we will not be able to state a specific time.

If you are unavailable please let us know as soon as you can before our visit, our telephone number is at the top of this letter. We will then re-arrange the visit.

It goes on to tell me what id i will need ..

Passport, driving licence, bills, rent agreement, bank statement bearing your name and address.


My driving licence still has my parents address on it, as does my bank statements.

Does anyone know what it means? Could be about?

I live with my 7mo son, i had a 6 month check in june, and the guy said that they had no record of my son living there.. but i handed his birth cert into them when he was born. The guy marked it down at the time and said they hadnt recieved anything..

If i have posted this in the wrong place, sorry, please let me know!

Holly.

[prettybird]

Don't panic - just be honest with them. can you remember exactly when you told them aobut your ds? What benefits are you claiming?

What do have with your current address on it? Why are your bank statements still going to your parents - is it just that you hadn't got round to chaning them? Do you live clsoe to your parents?

[LIZS]

How long since you moved ? It is an offence not to change the address for driving licence. Utility or Council Tax bill may suffice to establish you do live there. Do you still have a copy of the birth certificate , do you claim Child Benefit ?

[dowaditty]

Hey,

They came for the 6 month check thing and said,
'we have it here that you live alone, but thats obviously not the case'.
nodding towards the high chair and baby walker surrounded by toys.
I said
' yeh i live with my 5 mo son, he's sleeping at the moment'
I had already showed them my passport for id and a bill, but i offered to go get ds passport and he said its okay.

I have the gas and electric bills, virgin phone and broadband bill, letters from the council and the jcp themselves all have my address on it, my mum lives around the corner from me. about 5 mins away.

I am claiming income support and child benefits.
In may i started claiming child tax credits because the job center told me i should be, but i didnt know ahything about it.
Last week... thursday i think, i was at the inland revenue sorting out my tax renewal foems.. dont know if that could have anything to do with it?

[prettybird]

Do you have any contact with ds' father? Has the CSA been in touch?

[dowaditty]

Well i dont drive, it is just a provisional licence, i dont use it, and if i was going to drive i would renew it.
I do have birth certificates yes, i moved in november 5th, i was 8 months preg when my oh and i split up. We lived in his flat and i moved here 30 miles away. him and my sister are now an item!

[dowaditty]

No i havent heard from CSA, the job center asked me if he made any contrabutions and i said no he didnt, i hardly heard from him. Now he takes ds one night a week, he picks him up and drops off again. but no contrabutions money wise. he brings us some bread or other food stuff sometimes though

[prettybird]

Just be open and upfront with them. Sounds like you have nothing to hide. Is your sister also on benefits? How well do you you get on with your sister now (if you don't mind me asking).

[dowaditty]

Yeh i will be, im still crapping myself though, because if they stop my payments thats all we have!
My sister has a 2 year old but she lives with our parents, im not sure what she claims though? She doesn't work though so might be the same as me.. i havent asked her.
We get on well actually, never used to though.

[charliecat]

Dont mention the bread or food, just to be on the safe side.
It might be to chase your babys dad for csa.
Just be honest, get all the paperwork out.

[prettybird]

Could it be that someone has confused you with your sister and thinks that you are still going out with your ds' father?

Make it very clear that you and he are no longer an item - and haven't been for 8 months. Your only contact with him is when he takes your ds for a night on a weekly basis and there is no mentaory contribution.

[prettybird]

mentaory = monetary

[LadyMuck]

I would recommend that you sort out a change of address with banks etc though. This can be fairly important for all concerned.

Presumably you are claiming IS, CTC, HB and CTB? If your ds' father is not making maintenance payments then that may be an issue (though for him in the first instance). But I suspect that first of all they will want to confirm who is living with you.

Did your other half go with you to register your ds's birth? They may be trying to check up on when exactly you split etc.

[dowaditty]

Thank you! Maybe someone has confused us? I dont know, she drives though, i walk everywhere, so i don't know how often people see her going about, compaired to me i mean.

If that is the case, im guessing they might be coming to look around my house. They will be able to tell i'm not with him from that im sure? There is nothing manly about my house. and no mens items in it really, that i can think of!

I have a male friend who i am not seeing who visits sometimes with his little girl.. but my ex has really long hair and he has short so no one could get them pair mixed up, i dont think!

Ah this is annoying

[dowaditty]

yeh, he came to reg him, but im pretty sure he had to give them his own address.. i think. plus my ds has my surname not xps..

[prettybird]

If you've got nothing to hide, then don't panic. You might even get a smile from the "cusomter compliance officer" if you tell him that far from beign your ds' father, he is now with your sister . But there again, maybe not.

Don't get defensive - they might think you are trying to hide something.

[IllegallyBrunette]

It is very possible that they have mixed things up.

They insisted that I owned a batter old metro, when it infact belonged to next door and was driven by a woamn who looked nothing like me.

[dowaditty]

Thank you all! I would be too scared to be defensive anyway. lol, ill probably just sit and answer all they have to ask.

lol brunette, what? Why did they think that.. and why would it matter if you did?
I thought anyone could have a car.

[dowaditty]

Just called the office and spoke to the officer who's coming to visit.
He said it is to check my details and to see who is living here as someone has said that my ex lives with me as a partner, they gave me his full name.
what the hell!
I have no idea who it could be. I havent fallen out with anyone or anything. I have had a few run ins with his mum though over her rights to ds.. don't think she would do that though because surely it could get her son into trouble also?
Does anyone know what will happen if i cant prove anything? I mean if a man lived here there would be clothes at least and i am sure that they will be able to see that. will that be enough? Will i have an officer visiting often to check up on me? Will they stop my payments untill they get things sorted?

[prettybird]

I bet it is 'cos some gossip has got you confused with your sister, got the wrong end of the stick and made 2 & 2 = 5.

Just tell them straight that you split up 8 months ago, that he is now going out with your sister and that yuo see him twice a week, briefly: once when he picks up your ds and once when he drops him off.

[prettybird]

Oh - and does he still live 30 miles away or does he stay over at your sister's/Mum's place at all?

[dowaditty]

Aw i am freaking out.
The guy seemed friendly on the phone but i understand that he has to do his job.
He lives 27 miles away (just googled it exact lol) but he reciently got a job here, in may/june something like that.

[prettybird]

You know that you are no longer with him. There is no evidence to the contrary. Don't worry.

[prettybird]

Oh - and don't make a special effort to tidy up in advance of the guy coming on Thursday. Leave your house as it is, so it doesn't look like you have been trying to tidy "evidence" away

[dowaditty]

hey,

yeh i mean there isn't a single bit of male clothing in this house, well except baby clothes!
And it's quite clearly a 22 year old girls house, with the straighners and shoes dotted about the place!
It is generally quite tidy though, if you dont count the baby toys that have overtaken the place and the washing moutain in the kitchen lol.

[LIZS]

Sounds like a misunderstanding re your xp and/or ds and they have a duty to look into anything reported. Just tell it as it is , produce whatever documentation is requested and get your postal address for bank etc updated so that there can be no further confusion of you with your sister.