False benefit fraud allegation

TeddyTooly

I don’t know if this is the right forum to put it in however I have just won my PIP claim at a tribunal and I am also on esa. I have very severe mental health issues which was proven at my pip tribunal. To cut a long story short, I have this neighbour who I used to be friends with however after a series of events we eventually had a falling out. This then resulted in months of harassment and intimation from said neighbour, not just to my own family but other neighbours also. We contacted crime stoppers under the pretence that it would be anonymous however the police visited and told them that the report was from a neighbour from crime stoppers and the neighbour put two and two together and realised it was us. This has resulted in her saying she is going to contact the dwp and report me for benefit fraud. I know I am entitled to pip as per the court ruling however I have read horror stories about dwp investigators taking photos of people that don’t tell the full story and then it resulted in their claim being stopped. I am terrified of this happening and I’m wondering if there is anything to do to stop this? When do the dwp usually start collecting evidence and how long does the process take? I’m going to be on pins for months thinking someone is watching me.

poppy123456

DWP are not in the habit of watching claimants in this way. If you are reported and you’ve done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about. 

TeddyTooly

poppy123456 said:

DWP are not in the habit of watching claimants in this way. If you are reported and you’ve done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about. 

Thank you for your response, I think I’m just reading too many horror stories about it and I’ve gotten myself all worked up over nothing probably!

AndrewHall

It depends on what you put on your claim forms. But as you won at the Tribunal, I hope you told the panel your conditions that affect you in various ways and unpredictable manners. That will be your defence against any fraud allegations. 

TeddyTooly

AndrewHall said:

It depends on what you put on your claim forms. But as you won at the Tribunal, I hope you told the panel your conditions that affect you in various ways and unpredictable manners. That will be your defence against any fraud allegations. 

Yep I did! I think everything should be okay because my claim is very legitimate, it’s just the anxiety probably making me worry about nothing

Tori_Scope

It can be tough when anxiety makes us worry about these types of things @teddytooly. Is there anything you can do that usually helps you to distract yourself, or keep the anxious thought cycles at bay a little?