The ex, identity theft and fraud.

benneh said:
Hopefully Leon's blind drunk and the kids are smiling from ear to ear :D.
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Quoted as it would be a great way to spend the day, but I bet he isn't blind drunk as he will be looking after the kids, rather than letting the idiot box do it, but the kids will have a huge grin!

FluffySheep
 
Hitman_Leon said:
This first Christmas with just me is a big part of that progress, my youngest daughter worries so much that she is going to wake on Christmas morning to absolutely nothing. It hurts to hear her say that. Last year on Christmas eve I phoned their mum and asked her if she had gifts for them; offering to bring what I had got and even go so far as to change the labels so the kids would think the presents were from mum and dad. All I got from her was abuse along the lines of how could I forget my own blood, laced with many insults and profanity. I could not get hold of anyone until lunch time Christmas day and then I learned the truth, they did not have one thing to open that morning. My eldest son has told me many times how his mum said to him she forgot it was Christmas. That was a heart-breaking day, when they got to me they had been crying most of the day. I rounded that day off the best way I could and by the finish of things I had them smiling and enjoying themselves.
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I've read the whole thread but this bit especially moves me to tears. Leon I hope you and your family had an amazing Christmas. You all thoroughly deserve it
 
The kids are still having a great time; playing with all their new things, enjoying their new clothes and smiling like it's still Christmas morning.

I was a tense Christmas morning for me; biting my lip and holding back for the good of the kids while their mum was here with their grandmother to bring them gifts and watch them unwrap. It went well though; the kids loved it, Lauren actually started crying when she came into the living room because she did not look in the right direction and missed the fact that the whole back wall of the living room was awash with presents. She then started laughing and crying again when she noticed them all.

I was pent up as I had a letter Christmas eve from tax credits saying that they had decided that I did not have main responsibility for my oldest son who has lived with me from June 10th. I then had a letter yesterday saying I have to pay back most of the tax credits I have had for him except for one days payment. Child benefit will follow soon, first to tell me I am not due any payments and then to say how much I have to pay back.

This has happened because I had a questionnaire sent to me in November, this asked what care financially I provide for my son. I promptly filled in this form but the form specified that I needed to send a supporting letter from whichever agency placed him with me to evidence when he came to me. I have repeatedly asked the social-worker by phone to provide me with this letter, also I asked her in person at the last meeting with the agencies involved on the 20th of November. Since that meeting I have repeatedly phoned and left messages for her to call me back or provide the letter I need so I can send in the tax credits questionnaire. She has returned no call and sent me no letter for proof of my sons residence.

This has now come to a head with the tax credits being withdrawn for my son and me getting an overpayment bill. The ex will have had the same questionnaire as me an it seems she has sent hers back saying my oldest son still lives with her. The situation it seems is that my ex has continually carried on claiming tax credits for my oldest son and her award will continue still because the useless social worker has not provided evidence of my sons residence.

I have not been able to contact tax-credits yet as the lines were busy on Friday and Saturday, I will try again tomorrow. The main thing is this all rests on two things, my ex obviously lying and saying my son still lives with her without having to provide proof of his residence. Secondly the inability of a social worker to provide a simple letter, the same letter that she provided for Tyler and Lauren.

Sorry for not updating earlier, its been a whirlwind couple of days. I've been weighed down with stress over the tax credits situation and yesterday of all things my younger brother disappeared. He left everyone fraught with worry as he has been very down over a girl he was seeing a little while ago, he also had not been to visit his sons which is very out of character for him. He had mentioned disappearing and then did just that, the worse part of the whole thing was his car was found first. He did however turn up late last night safe and well full of apologies, he had dumped his car and phone then gone walking off in no particular direction ending up a couple of towns away from where he left his car.

As I said the kids are having a wonderful time still and I cannot thank everyone enough for the help I've had this Christmas to make it special for them.
 
Chin up, chap. Admirable doesn't even begin to cover how well you're weathering all this.

I hope that the issue with HMRC gets resolved, I know how useless they can be firsthand.
 
Leon

About the letter from the social worker, what about if you at first don't succeed, make some noise with their boss, and if that doesn't work the head of social services?

Just an idea!

FluffySheep
 
Maybe ask your MP to get involved, sorry if that has already been mentioned, wish you and your kids all the very best for the future, being a single dad I know how hard it can be
 
Hitman_Leon said:
The kids are still having a great time; playing with all their new things, enjoying their new clothes and smiling like it's still Christmas morning.

I was a tense Christmas morning for me; biting my lip and holding back for the good of the kids while their mum was here with their grandmother to bring them gifts and watch them unwrap. It went well though; the kids loved it, Lauren actually started crying when she came into the living room because she did not look in the right direction and missed the fact that the whole back wall of the living room was awash with presents. She then started laughing and crying again when she noticed them all.

I was pent up as I had a letter Christmas eve from tax credits saying that they had decided that I did not have main responsibility for my oldest son who has lived with me from June 10th. I then had a letter yesterday saying I have to pay back most of the tax credits I have had for him except for one days payment. Child benefit will follow soon, first to tell me I am not due any payments and then to say how much I have to pay back.

This has happened because I had a questionnaire sent to me in November, this asked what care financially I provide for my son. I promptly filled in this form but the form specified that I needed to send a supporting letter from whichever agency placed him with me to evidence when he came to me. I have repeatedly asked the social-worker by phone to provide me with this letter, also I asked her in person at the last meeting with the agencies involved on the 20th of November. Since that meeting I have repeatedly phoned and left messages for her to call me back or provide the letter I need so I can send in the tax credits questionnaire. She has returned no call and sent me no letter for proof of my sons residence.

This has now come to a head with the tax credits being withdrawn for my son and me getting an overpayment bill. The ex will have had the same questionnaire as me an it seems she has sent hers back saying my oldest son still lives with her. The situation it seems is that my ex has continually carried on claiming tax credits for my oldest son and her award will continue still because the useless social worker has not provided evidence of my sons residence.

I have not been able to contact tax-credits yet as the lines were busy on Friday and Saturday, I will try again tomorrow. The main thing is this all rests on two things, my ex obviously lying and saying my son still lives with her without having to provide proof of his residence. Secondly the inability of a social worker to provide a simple letter, the same letter that she provided for Tyler and Lauren.

Sorry for not updating earlier, its been a whirlwind couple of days. I've been weighed down with stress over the tax credits situation and yesterday of all things my younger brother disappeared. He left everyone fraught with worry as he has been very down over a girl he was seeing a little while ago, he also had not been to visit his sons which is very out of character for him. He had mentioned disappearing and then did just that, the worse part of the whole thing was his car was found first. He did however turn up late last night safe and well full of apologies, he had dumped his car and phone then gone walking off in no particular direction ending up a couple of towns away from where he left his car.

As I said the kids are having a wonderful time still and I cannot thank everyone enough for the help I've had this Christmas to make it special for them.
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Get a residency order ASAP that's your proof that the kids live with you, then shove it at tax credits
 
Leon sorry to see your latest problems but try not to get worried. Get onto your MP, local paper, maybe try one of the local solicitors offering 30 mins free advice. Maybe try LBC radio’s legal hour phone in. Or even consider phoning Father's For Justice as I guess they may have someone on hand to give advice? How about the CAB?
 
I started reading this thread a while back, way before the donations. I've just re-read the entire thread and I admire you greatly for what you have done for your children.

The generosity in this thread is amazing, this is why these forums are my homepage. I've been through pretty much every emotion reading this thread (damn dirt in the air).

I only hope your children grow up to be as kind and caring as you are (and i'm sure they will).

I hope 2014 is a much better year for you and your children.
 
Just managed to read through this, speechless really. Sounds like you all had a good christmas. This sort of stuff is what the internet is for.
 
Talked to HMRC; or was it a talking brick, not sure..........

Gave the advisor all the details; she said that nothing will change until I get the letter proving residence of my son (I expected this). I went on to say his mum must be claiming fraudulently; her retort was "I cannot discuss other peoples claims", I asked if she could just take the details and make a note on the system she gave the same retort. After going around in circles for a while I asked her for a way to report a suspected fraudulent claim, her retort was "I'll just open up the system for that". Why she could not have said this when I first asked if I could giver her the details I do not know, it would have saved so much time. I gave her everything I knew and she has passed this on to an external department to be investigated. If they view this as fraud and not a simple overpayment the ex might find herself in trouble with the courts once again after the conditional discharge she was given in February (I stress might as the way a lot of cases go these days leaves this open to debate).

Called the social workers office again; she is on leave while the 6th of January. Told the person handling the call the full context of what was happening, she said someone may be able to help and they will call me if they can. There were no managers available as they are running a low staff level over this period, also the social worker who is supposed to handle this is herself one of the managers. This leaves me thinking that none of the other staff will call me back as they don't want to step on a senior staff members toes.
 
Only just read this thread, if I wore a hat I would take it off for you Leon.

Credit to you and I'm sure the biggest reward in doing this will come in years to come when your youngest realises how much you have done for them and thanks you:)

Enjoy the rest of the festive period:)
 
Only just spotted this thread and have read it start to finish. Had me clubbing like a baby. Wishing you and your family all the best in 2014. Your efforts in support of your kids are admirable good sir.
 
Hitman_Leon said:
Talked to HMRC; or was it a talking brick, not sure..........

Gave the advisor all the details; she said that nothing will change until I get the letter proving residence of my son (I expected this). I went on to say his mum must be claiming fraudulently; her retort was "I cannot discuss other peoples claims", I asked if she could just take the details and make a note on the system she gave the same retort. After going around in circles for a while I asked her for a way to report a suspected fraudulent claim, her retort was "I'll just open up the system for that". Why she could not have said this when I first asked if I could giver her the details I do not know, it would have saved so much time. I gave her everything I knew and she has passed this on to an external department to be investigated. If they view this as fraud and not a simple overpayment the ex might find herself in trouble with the courts once again after the conditional discharge she was given in February (I stress might as the way a lot of cases go these days leaves this open to debate).

Called the social workers office again; she is on leave while the 6th of January. Told the person handling the call the full context of what was happening, she said someone may be able to help and they will call me if they can. There were no managers available as they are running a low staff level over this period, also the social worker who is supposed to handle this is herself one of the managers. This leaves me thinking that none of the other staff will call me back as they don't want to step on a senior staff members toes.
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My next step would be to call back Social Services, and tell the person you wish to make a formal complaint regarding it. Get your complaint in writing and things should get treated with a bit more urgency. They should have a dedicated complaints manager who won't be afraid of stepping on peoples toes.

Your next step on the ladder after a formal complaint is to the Local Government Ombudsman. Hopefully that shouldn't be necessary as this is simply a case of them sending you a letter as proof of residency of the child.
 
Fr0dders said:
My next step would be to call back Social Services, and tell the person you wish to make a formal complaint regarding it. Get your complaint in writing and things should get treated with a bit more urgency. They should have a dedicated complaints manager who won't be afraid of stepping on peoples toes.

Your next step on the ladder after a formal complaint is to the Local Government Ombudsman. Hopefully that shouldn't be necessary as this is simply a case of them sending you a letter as proof of residency of the child.
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This. Though I'd also copy in your local councilor (and possibly MP) to any correspondence as they are your elected officials and should be able to help get the ball rolling.

I don't know how I managed to miss this thread completely, but having just read through the whole thing I had tears in my eyes. You're an inspiration and you've done everything that you can to help your children. Where most people would have given up you've kept persevering. I hope you had a fantastic Christmas and I'm really sorry to hear about the issues with HMRC, I hope you get them sorted as soon as possible.

I know I missed the deadline for donation, but I'd really like to donate a small amount (I'm a poor student, so can't afford much!), does anyone know of paypal details so that I could do so?
 
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