notification of a visit by a compliance officer

[upcreekwithoutapaddle]

Hi, received a letter today ' Notification of a visit' by a compliance officer, im a lone parent on jsa.
It says on the letter a query has arisen on your claim, and benefits can be suspended when there is a doubt over a claim.
I rang the number on the letter and told them there had not been any changes, and i am actively seeking work and we were in this fix as my husband had buggered off and left us desolate and they said it was about that (husband) I have not seen/heard/received any money - nothing from him in a year, he has never lived at this address.
I don't work on the side, everythings above board, anyone had anything similar to this? what can i expect - as am worrying about this.

it means someone has put in a complaint about you. that you are either still living with partner or working when you shouldnt be something like that!! so they will come and make you sign a statement..

It's not necessarily a complaint, it's more likely it's exactly what it says - a query has arisen - this is often because DWP holds differing information to what your housing benefit has, or it could be because your ex has made a claim and what he's said conflicts with what's on your claim in some way.

Bottom line is this - have your various income and savings information to hand for them, answer the questions they have, and generally let them do their job.

Hi, thanks for your replies, i'm not working and not living with anyone except my children, everything's all above board.
Can't wait until they come next week to get this all sorted out, i have nothing to hide.
I have a job interview next week so trying to focus on that.

Do you think your EX might have tried to make a claim on your address??

Or perhaps a previous tenant who is male?

Hi swimming, i hope not !! he's never lived at this address so he he would have no right to do that - but my ex is a horrible man and if he thought he could do anything to cause us torment , he would do it, he was mentally abusive towards me for years.

They'll probably just come and look to see that you have no signs of a man living there, male shaving equipment, man's clothing lying around, extra toothbrush etc etc.

If everything is above board it will be fine, don't worry :)

Thanks bertie

If a concern has been registered then they have to follow it through, regardless of what you have said.

They know pretty much when someone is trying to pull fast one,which is why they visit.

Make them a cuppa & offer them a guided tour of the house & a neb at your paper work, you have nothing to hide so I'm sure it'll be fine.

PITA for you though.

Good luck with the interview too!

See this is the other side to all those "shouid I report" threads. Anyone who reports someone take note lives are disrupted and stress is intriduced in to already knife edge situations.

Upcreek I agree with other posters have all your documents to hand, including passport if you have one or any other form of photo id. You should also not attempt to be overly tidy just a normal clean would do. You start putting everything away etc and it might be seem your trying to hide things. The officer has no right to look in drawers etc, but you can invite them to look in places to see that no male clothes or grooming materials are in the house. Bank books, and a copy of the most recent bank statement would be helpful. Its fine if a friend or someone is their to observe and support you, but they should be silent and just watch.

Take a note of the name and any other details from the id of the officer who comes, they should show you this id before they come in.

It will be fine, it is not a biggy just a bit scary.

NOT I see what you're saying but the OP has nothing to worry about. She is genuine.

When poeple on here have said they are going to report someone they usually have quite a few facts that there is fraud taking place.

I wouldn't report someone on a wim but I would and have reported people for benefit fraud because I knew for a fact that they were commiting fraud.

And what happened to them?

Well one was my neighbour who decided to tell me that she hadn't claimed for her boyfriend on her tax credits claim because he wasn't her daughters dad even though he was living with them. She didn't know that I worked for tax credits at the time!! That is fraud. She was investigated and her claim was adjusted and she had to pay back the over payment out of her claim.

The other was another neighbour who was renting out a room in his council house and hadn't declared to H/CB. I'm not too sure the outcome of that claim but I know the lodger didn't move out so I'm assuming he declared him.

I understand its tough times but some poeple do it for extra money and that just isn't fair.

Hi, thank you all for your replies the home visit is tomoro, so i will come back and let you all know how it all went, will be glad when it's all over and then i can start preparing for my interview on Thursday.

Thinking of you upcreek hope its all gone ok.

Hi bossybritches, thank you!
Well the compliance officer has just gone, he was really nice, just a financial review checking all the accounts i had, i showed him them all, asked me if i had a partner or was working - no to both, asked about maintenance - i don't get anything from ex, he wrote everything on a statement and i signed it and that was about it, he said he was happy, i asked what would happen now and he said he would write it all up and thats that -

while i was waiting for compliance officer to come i thought i'd google compliance officer, forgot the computer was still on when he came in and saw it - DOH!!

hehehe - he won't be upset about you googling what he does . Sounds like he was doing a version of what I used to do - go and check what was on people's HB applications against what their circumstances actually were. No biggie so long as you've kept them up to date with any changes.

Splendid, now that's out of the way, concentrate on the interview!

Good luck!