Compliance Office Interview letter come through...!!??

[Maxfell2008]

Hey, not sure if any others have ever had one of these.

Just got one out of the blue today, asking me to attend an interview relating to my benefits...

I do not receive benefits anymore.

Tbh i am panicking as it is a fraud interview and a 2 against 1.

I have declared every single little change in my life so far, even ringing sometimes to double check info.

I have rung the number on the letter, but its an answer phone only, and you cannot cancel meeting at all.

All i can think of is, if its my ex partner a few months ago, saying my bf moved in- which he did (and i declared it)!

Thanks x

Don't worry. If you can make a note of the calls you've made - as accurately as you can - and correspondence you've had - bring all that with you to the interview.

Be clear, straightforward. They will be very used to third party complaints/stirrings. Stand your ground.

'Fraud' is a scary work and no doubt massively overused by the DWP etc to scare often innocent people.

Could you bring your bf with you for morale support - and as a witness. Ask, perhaps, for a copy of any notes that they take and, of course, under data protection, you can have access to the record that they hold for you. You might want this record before agreeing to go to a meeting?

If you do go, stay as calm as you can. This is pretty routine for them. Good luck.

No you can't cancel it.

You'll attend, and they'll tell you that they are going to record the meeting and introduce themselves. You are entitled to take legal representation if you want too, but most people don't. They will explain anything about the process to you, they are nice people.

Once everything is being recorded, they will ask you about your claim and tell you what information they have. It's usually if someone has forgotten to declare an income, or money in a bank account, or a partner moving in. They may not tell you where the information has come from. They usually have all your claim forms and renewal data but take your own, if you can.

Depending on the circumstances, they may go and do more investigating afterwards, or they may already know everything that they need to know. If you have forgotten to declare anything and it's minor, you may be offered a caution. If it's more serious, they will contact you by letter after the meeting.

You can request a copy of all the data they hold on you but it won't include anything that would put their investigation at risk, and they have around a month to send anything to you, so they'd likely send it once the investigation has concluded.

Don't worry about it being two against one, the interviews themselves are designed to be as easy and not scary as possible. You have a mutual cause - getting to the bottom of this - so they'll be as friendly as they can. I've accompanied a few people to these and even in cases of deliberate large fraud, these initial investigations are okay.

I'd guess that they've either had a report that your partner moved in before he did or have found something suggesting that he was contributing before he moved in or there was an overlap, and they are seeking to recover that money. It could be anything, though, and they are trained to deal with malicious complaints, so don't worry.

Do make sure you attend though.