Single Person discount problems

[Asmiras]

Ive just received a letter from the council asking me to be interviewed under caution as someone has complained I received a single persons discount when I was not the only person in a property, which I have now moved from .
For the last five years I have been the sole occupant for about 80% of time , however both my adult son and partner (we have now all moved in together to a different property and are no longer claiming a discount)used my address for correspondence etc. Neither have ever been on the electoral role. The problem is , neither have actually been registered for, or paid, council tax anywhere..my partner has mainly worked abroad and my son has sofa surfed, lived with various girlfriends etc.
I do realise I ought to have told the council when either of them was there but it was usually for periods of less than a week. Im very worried about being prosecuted, and even more about having to find five years of backdated council tax (my sons 23 and ive known my partner about five years)
whats the best way to deal with this ?

[bluebottle]

Re: Single Person discount problems

Asmiras,

Firstly, stop panicking. In order for your son to be considered resident at your previous address, he has to have lived their habitually, that is, at least five days a week. These council fraud investigators are, in my experience, complete and total power-freaks. If you have a solicitor, ask them to go with you. Your council have to comply with the Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) to the word and the letter. They are not exempt. Having a solicitor with you will have the effect of making the council muppets watch what they do and say. The big problem with anonymous reports - which this clearly appears to be - is that it results in people making false and/or malicious allegations. I am a retired police officer and I've seen, at first-hand, what false and malicious allegations can do and the time it wastes. My advice to you is to secure the services of a solicitor to go with you to this interview and force the council to prove their allegations. If they can't prove their allegations, I would get a solicitor to write a very strongly-worded letter demanding a full retraction and an unreserved apology.

[Asmiras]

Re: Single Person discount problems

thank you for your advice, the interview was supposed to be on Monday ,I emailed to ask for a different day as thats the one day I work all day, nobody got back to me so I eventually phoned (I always try not to phone due to the costs of calls) the woman wasnt available but i left a message..the next day I got an answer to the email saying she was going on holiday for three weeks and the "case" would be allocated to someone else. Ive now found out this has come about because my son used my address to apply for a council flat. This was five years ago and as he was never offered a flat or contacted by the council it seems a bit flimsy to me .

[wales01man]

Re: Single Person discount problems

Sounds about right for council workers busy doing nothing then holiday

[bluebottle]

Re: Single Person discount problems

If you were unaware that your son had used your address to apply for a council flat, then, the council have to prove you did know. Unless they have very strong and reliable evidence, which I very much doubt they have, they are treading on very dangerous ground, in the legal sense. I would still take a solicitor with you to any interview. Let the council dig a bloody great hole for themselves, then bury them in it.