Help, I'm being investigated for housing benefit fraud

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I started claiming housing benefit, council tax benefit when my husband and I separated. My daughter was 3 at the time.

When she turned 4, I started working part time and notified the HMRC so that my tax credits, housing benefit and council benefit would be updated/reduced/stopped. I also informed me every time I got a pay rise or if there was a change in my circumstances.

Now, 3.5 years later I have received a letter saying that I need to attend an interview under caution as I have been overpaid £9,000 in council tax benefit and housing benefit (which I have repaid in full).

I explained to them that I informed HMRC of every change in my circumstances. Was I supposed to inform the council too? Are the 2 not related when it comes to such issues?

I just want to point out, I am still a single parent so the only changes in circumstances that I notified HMRC about were purely financial ones relating to my salary.

Call me stupid, but don't call me a fraudster!

Yes the DWP is different to HMRC

did you not notice you were getting HB at the same rate as before you were working?

Oh dear

Unfortunately, they are absolutely and completely separate and I'm surprised you are unaware. Your tax credits award notices come from hmrc and you council tax/housing benefit award notices come from your local council.

Having said that, I'm also surprised that you didn't get asked for proof of earnings from the council. We get asked fairly regularly.

Are you saying that you didn't notice that completely different organisations were writing to you each year? The investigating team may find that hard to swallow, unfortunately.

I'm surprised, my council are shit hot on this, we get a housing benefit update letter pretty much the same day as our tax credit renewal comes through.

But yes, you should have notified them just the same as tax credits, because they're entirely separate entities. I think Tax Credits will pass on details such as change of address to Child Benefit, as they are linked, but not other places.

I don't think you're a fraudster, this is very obviously a mistake, but I think you should have been more on the ball with your finances.

They are supposed to communicate but they don't!

CAB for advice, I think. You will probably have to repay but can plead mitigating circumstances depending on your income to make the payments manageable.

If you have repaid in full then how are they wanting to interview you? And why is it a surprise?

I'm pretty sure that when I started claiming for help, all the benefits were sorted at the job centre in one go. I have never claimed benefits before so I just assumed HMRC talk to the council as, to me, it's all benefit-related. I usually renew my tax credits at the end of every financial year (obviously) and, shortly after receiving their confirmation lettesr, I get a revised notification from the council a few days later. Since my housing benefit payments had decreased, I assumed that my notifying HMRC of my pay rise had been passed on to the council. As ApplebyMennym said, the letters seem to coincide.

I feel like an idiot now. What a stupid assumption.

I've just gone through all the previous letters from the council and I quote what they wrote: "I am writing to tell you that your claim for housing benefit has been updated as we have been advised of changes to your tax credits. You continue to qualify for housing benefit".

This is why I thought HMRC talk to the councils.

All I can do is take this letter with me to the interview, admit I made the wrong assumption and see what comes my way. I know that paying it all back doesn't make it ok but I just went by the letters.

Thanks for all your comments and thanks EllaJayne123, it helps to hear from someone who works for housing benefits.

But did those letters not also give you a breakdown of why you were eligible for the rate you were awarded?

Our letters are sectioned:

income (list of all declared incomes), disregarded income, applicable amount (list of all components qualified for), excess income amount, eligible rent, maximum housing benefit, reduction due to excess income, total benefit payable, method of payment.

The same is done for council tax.

Surely you got a claim summary like this?

I did lougle. The thing that confused me was, back in November I informed HMRC that we were short staffed at work so, instead of working my contracted 16 hours a week, I had been working over 20 hours a week. I even told them that some weeks I had worked over 30 hours. I asked them to review my tax credits payments based on the fact that I was working way over my originally reported 16 hours a week as I was concerned about overpayments. I asked them in the letter what their procedure would now be. They didn't write back to explain (which I can sort of understand as they must process tons of letters and applications a day). Instead I got a revised tax credits summary based on a higher annual expected salary. I then got a letter from the council the next day to say that HMRC had informed them of a change in my tax credits payments but I still qualify for housing benefit and council tax reduction. They did section the letter as you have listed, but my weekly income is so irregular so I had no way of knowing how they had worked it out. I assumed (stupidly) that everything would have been processed based on my letter and then would have been reconciled at the end of the financial year???

take the letters with you. Its all been paid back. There was reason you thought it was above board. You thought youd notified the relevant people. It's just proceduce and its horrid but youll be fine

The tax credits people only tell them if your tax credits have changed, not why. If your tax credits go down, the council only see that you have less money coming in, not that they have gone down because you're earning more, so will increase your housing benefit. If your tax credits go up, again they don't know why, they just see it as an increase in income, so will reduce your housing benefit. The Inland Revenue and your council don't share information apart from this, so you had to notify the council of your change in earnings, so your income from your part time job. When you apply for housing and council tax benefit, the award letter says that you must notify them of changes to your income, which it looks as though you haven't done, hence the investigation.

You really need to go to the CAB and ask for advice.