Benefit interview

[LaurenAmmelliax]

My sister in law and her partner have not long got back together, he hasn’t been living there for over a year now and as they’ve decided to give things a go started staying over and moving his things in last week. She didn’t want to ring the benefits and let them know until he had 100% moved in because she didn’t want her money to be stopped and then it not work and not have any money for 6 weeks while she had to do another claim. She got a letter the other day from the council asking her to attend an interview as they’ve “received information her partner is living with her” and yet she’s claiming housing benefit and council tax support. It doesn't say an interview under caution so Shes confused whether it's just to get her side or whether she's being investigated for fraud? He’s only been “living there” for just about 2 weeks now. She said she’s happy to pay back what she owes but she’s really worried that they’re going to ask for loads of money back when they haven’t done anything wrong. She had even spoken to her landlord and asked to add him to the tenancy last week and was going to sort it all out as soon as he’s moved in. None of the bills are in his name, his work address is registered to his family’s where he’s been living, so there’s nothing that would show he’s been living there for longer than she says, his wages get paid into her bank simply because he has no account and they’ve always been civil. She’s not one to try and scan and is so scared she’s going to get into a lot of trouble and no ones going to believe her. Her partner hasn’t even taken paternity leave for their child because they had to be living together to claim it and they wasn’t.

Does anyone have any advice on questions they might ask and how she can prove that he’s not been there long. As she said she’s happy to pay back the money she may owe but doesn’t want to be accused of doing it for a long time when she hasn’t x

What actual proof does he have that he has been living somewhere else? Council tax, tenancy agreement, phone bills... he needs proof.

She's been a bit of an idiot. The day he moved back in should have been the day she updated them. Not the day he finished physically bringing all his belongings back but when he actually started staying there again. It doesn't sound like they have much proof to show he lived elsewhere, and continuing to share her bank account... It's not going to look good. All she can do is be honest but she might end up having to pay everything back since making the single person claim.

She couldn't ring them from the date he started moving back in as her claim would have been cancelled and if it hadn't have worked she'd have had to be without any money for 6 weeks.
He has no proof of living somewhere else as he previously lived with his family and doesn't even have any outgoings or bank accounts.
Surely if they can't prove that she's lying they can't force her to pay back money she was entitled to? She's not an untruthful person and would never like to scam. She's terrified

His work address and tax is all registered to the address he was living at before. That's the only proof he'd be able to show

That's the risk she takes when moving in then. She can't have him move in but continue claiming single person benefits "just incase". That's fraud. That's what she did. There isn't an excuse.

As I've said she's more than happy to pay back what she may owe. Even though she hasn't received any money since he's been there as it's only technically been 2 weeks so she hasn't even had this months money. She just doesn't want them asking for loads back when she is genuinely telling the truth and was entitled to that money.
As I said in the post she even went to her landlord and asked to add him to the tenancy last week and then was planning on ringing up, but since she's received this letter is concerned.

The benefits system isn't a loan system. You can't keep claiming for a few extra weeks and then say "well, I was willing to pay it back".

For those 2 weeks, she has committed fraud. Unfortunately for her, they have little proof he wasn't living there for the last year and because of she lied for 2 weeks, they might say she's been lieing the whole time. That would be really shit, but he could give his work any address so that might not be proof. His wages still went into her account. You wanted to know what might happen... well, they might simply not believe her and make her pay back the full year. If she's told the truth 2 weeks ago, none of this would have happened.

They could also believe her, and only ask for a few weeks back. But she should be prepared with as much evidence as possible and also be prepared for a bad outcome.

You are meant to tell them straight away - I heard 5 days was the maximum. She hasn't got a leg to stand on I'm afraid, it's fraud to not report it.

Obviously she knows it isn't a loan system, she's just made a mistake and wanted to know if anyone could shed any light, and offer some advice. not to be judged by people.

If she had proof that he really wasn't living there, then it wouldn't be so bad. But she doesn't, and he actually is living there now.
That's a hard sell. They might believe her, she much be fine. But it doesn't look great.

This is what she's concerned about. All she has is peoples word that he hasn't been and I'm assuming they wouldn't accept that as proof.
She can prove that he didn't take paternity leave because he wasn't living with her so wasn't entitled to claim it. But would they even accept that as proof?

If she tells them the truth on Thursday will they leave it at that? I'm not sure it's an actual investigation into fraud as the letter doesn't say interview under caution, it just says they've received information (ie someone has Reported it)
So could this just be to get her side of the story and if they feel she is lying could escalate it further?

Yes I’d imagine they want to hear what she has to say.
It does not look great though.

Why doesn't he have a bank account? That doesn't help the situation here.

I think this is an investigative interview to find out if she's been fraudulently claiming benefits she's not entitled to. She needs to be upfront and honest about the timeline of events. If her partner has proof of living elsewhere then hopefully she'll be okay. But the benefits agency are cracking down on any kind of fraud.

I'm not sure into the back ground of why he doesn't have a bank account, I just know he's had abit of a rough time ect but I'm honestly not sure.

Could she use the fact of the paternity leave to back her up?

Unfortunately she didn’t make a mistake- she purposely didn’t tell them. She’ll have to go with as much evidence as possible, be completely honest (not lie and say she didn’t know she had to report it- they will see straight through that) and they will decide.

A lot of men don't take paternity leave simply by choice. Also look at it from the investigators perspective.

I'd be thinking "well, they were deliberately trying to hide his living with her, so changed his work address as part of the fraud. That means he couldn't take paternity leave, but that's a small price to play in order to continue the fraud".

They may it may not think like that, and of course it is evidence. It just isn't all that concrete.

She could ask her landlord to write a letter to confirm he was contacted on x date asking for him to be put in the tenancy, I don’t know how much weight it would carry though.

I don't think this is as bad as all that.
She just needs to show up for the interview bringing all the evidence she has about the split. (statement from DP, tenancy agreement for the place he lived while he was away, or statement from relatives he was living with, work stuff showing different address).
Explain that they split up and are now back together and give the date he moved back in.
They might have to pay back those 2 weeks.
Tell her not to panic OP.

I'd also be wary of the fact his wages are paid into her account. She'd be asking an investigator to believe they'd split up and he moved out but didn't bother to set up his own account as he 'trusted her to give him his pay'. Was she drawing out say £1200+ a month in cash and then handing it over to him?

As far as I understand he hasn't got the correct ID for a bank account so just hasn't been able to set one up. It's never been an issue going into her account so she didn't give it a thought stupidly. Unfortunately I don't know the ins and outs. I'm aware that looks suspicious

If she was for example worst come to worst made to pay back the money they'd say she owed regardless of whether they believed her or not. Do they ask for it all at once or is it taken monthly?

It would depend how much they wanted back I guess. So was he originally on the tenancy for the house and was he taken off It? We're they in receipt on working tax credits and did they cancel them? Has she now been withdrawing his pay in one lump sum a month or does it still appear like it's used to pay rent/bills joint spending? Was she claiming maintaince from him? Honestly if he moved back in more than 2wks ago (or never moved out), then she needs to be honest with them because if an investigator has watched the house she'll be in trouble.