Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

We have been informed that a claimant has been living with her partner since November 2003.

Her claim was ceased back to November 2003, the claimant has appealed and has stated that her partner is a lorry driver and is only in the country on a minimal basis, i.e. on the weekends, and at times stays at her property on the weekends. The partner also uses her address for mail correspondence!!!!

The partner has stated that when in the country he stays with his sister and pays her £80 per month for a room. The sister has also confirmed this and has provided us with receipts going back to January 2005.

This has become a debate, and some members of staff want to revise the decision, while others are pushing it forward for The Appeals Service.

The problem is that the partner has applied for 2 credit cards 1. December 04 and the other March 05 and has stated that he resides at the claimants address (the cards were turned down), however on the searches he is registered at a previous address until November 2004.

Any suggestions? 😕

[Anonymous]

Ok, difficult for us to make a decision purely on info given (I’m sure there is more to it!), but, you must weigh up your evidence and make a decision.

As we have all been reminded before, it is the evidence we must consider, not our feelings.

Is the only evidence of living together the credit card applications?

If I applied for a credit card and gave your address would you be happy for someone else to infer that I live with you?

From your post I would rather go with an attempt at credit card fraud prosecution than Hb revision!

If the only evidence are these credit card applications then I would be inclined to “fold this hand”; this does not stop an ongoing investigation but this may be fruitless without the gathering of further evidence.

[Anonymous]

Yes unfortunately the only evidence held are the credit card applications 🙄

I have put it forward that we should not go ahead on that basis and also the partner and claimant have both stated that the partner does not make any contributions towards the household bills…………..however I have been out voted and am in the process of submitting it to TAS 😡

This is going to be a tough one……. any help welcomed 😆

[Andy Thurman]

From the synopsis given, I’d back the “not enough evidence” call on this one – not only is the evidence for LT weak, but the existence of contradictory evidence (letter from sister), unless it can be disproved, makes me think you’ll struggle at appeal. 🙄 Given you’ve been out-voted, probably not what you want to hear! 🙄

[Kevin D]

An earlier thread may, or may not, be of help (includes CD refs):

new.hbinfo.org.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4887

Regards

[Anonymous]

Thank you all soo much for your help, it has been much appreciated.

Regards

Brenda 🙂

[Author]

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