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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Other benefit issues  →  Thread

Benefit paid fraudulently to another person

SamW
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Lambeth Every Pound Counts

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Total Posts: 430

Joined: 26 July 2012

Hi people,

Client was in custody on remand and then in hospital. He was so unwell that he is not sure what his trial outcome was and whether he went to hospital under a conviction or whether he was found not guilty of the criminal matter but ended up in hospital regardless. He had been on WTCs. They were not aware of the change. Whilst he was away an ex-partner accessed his online TC account and changed the bank details so that the WTCs were paid into her account. They eventually stopped when the renewal form was not sent back.

If you are able to show that your entitlement was paid to somebody else due to their fraud is there any way to ask that HMRC/DWP pay your entitlement to you? Or would it a civil/criminal compensation matter against the person who committed the fraud?

If client was found not guilty I think there may be a very tenuous argument that he could have remained entitled to WTCs whilst on remand and then whilst in hospital. But if he is not going to be able to easily get his money back from HMRC if successful then I don’t think I can really justify working on it.