Benefit advice / worried

[betty419419]

hi I'm a single mum to 2 dc and although I do work part time I do get some help towards my rent and council tax. I'm a worrier anyway but I'm in a right state over my housing and council claim and wondered if anyone could offer advice / reassurance?

Here goes:- I'm pretty fanactical about sending any wage slips to my council if I've had a bonus or done over time but last jan I made a phone call to my housing benefit department as I hadn't sent them details of the increase in my wtc and ctc - the person on end of phone said "don't worry we have access to wtc &ctc and we update those ourselves" so I thought no more about it but recently I was having a discussion about housing benefit etc with friend and she said no you still have to tell them about wtc & ctc so in a state of sheer panic I ring them and sure enough you do need to tell them as they don't automatically look at it! I've sent in a change of circ's form and my latest wtc notice and a brief explanation of above but I'm worried they'll accuse me if fraud etc I wish I didn't have to claim any benefits as the worry of it and whether I'm doing it right is freaking me out - please help x

Just to add I sent a change of circa's form a few weeks back I've yet to receive a new statement to show whether my benefit has gone up or down but I did get my housing benefit paid into my accoutrements as normal on Friday just gone so is this a good sign?

I think you are fine, you've not attempted to defraud them and were given crap advice. The worst that could happen is that they say "we've slightly overpaid you" and you need to pay a bit back (you can negotiate these terms if this happens).

I'm really worry as I still haven't received the new statement that normally comes through when I sent a change if circ's form - I'm so worried I've got myself in aright state that the crap advise I was given wl count for nothing and I'll get done for fraud when I've been so bloody particular about telling them about the slightest change - just want some reassurance as its really freaking me out x

All I can say is due to the HB going in on friday I wouldn't worry, if you don't receive it by next week, why not give them a call!

They will take the fact that you got crap advice and any previous no notifications of changes in circs (however there hasn't been any so that'll definatly help!) Into account when deciding to investigate any fraud! You need to chill out!! They can't investigate something that (from what you've described) isn't there!!

They won't accuse you of fraud for something like that. They may work out that you've had a small overpayment and knock it off future payments, but that's all. Don't worry!

Betty, you sound like me up until someone said to me last year, why do u waste energy worrying about something that will never happen.. i bet you are having conversations in your head all the time... this was the best bit of advice i have ever had. As others have said leave it a week, then ring to make sure they have recieved it, post in and ot of big departments is vast!! they may have a back log or something, or they may have made the changes and your new statement is lost in the post.

From one worrier to another, use your energy on getting throu today. woryy about tomorrow, tomorrow..what i do now is have that conversation in my head.(i sometimes write it down in my diary) so that should my worry come to fruition i have the answer.....as a lone parent we dont have much energy to spare.......

best wishes

Well I bit the bullet and rang the hb office the day after I posted this thread. They were helpful - said I should have sent in the wtc and ctc change but thankfully they had automatically updated my tax credit amount so there probably won't be an overpayment. The thing is I still haven't received the statement admittedly she said there was a backlog from Christmas but this was over two weeks ago and I'm freaking out that they are looking to get me for fraud - any advice would be gratefully received as I'm making myself I'll over this :(

You are not about to be done for fraud! You have given them all the information they need and they have told you it's all OK. They're just slow and incompetant - not out to frame innocent people for things they haven't done. I'm quite sure that when they tell you there's a backlong they're telling the truth. Relax :)

I made the fatal error of looking at a couple of forums to see what others have been through and i thought it would make me feel better but it hasn't :(

I think you need to speak to your GP about the amount of free-floating worry and anxiety you have, perhaps with a view to doing some sort of Cognitive Based Therapy.

I happily echo what purpleroses and others have said - you're not about to be done for fraud (and even if you were, what do you honestly think will happen? They will want the money back, that is all - if if there's anything to pay back, they'll dock it from your on-going HB and for a time you'll have to pay a bit more rent, and that's it). But I think the level of anxiety and worry you're having about this is the thing you need to really deal with.