Step-by-step: preparing for an interview under caution

Some of the steps outlined here may be difficult to manage without an adviser or solicitor, but working through the guide should help you to feel more prepared.

Try and put any worries, embarrassment or anger aside to think about the situation and decide what to do next. Talking it through with a friend and working through this guide could help.

It's important to know what the DWP/council thinks you might have done wrong so that you can answer their questions. If the letter asking you to interview doesn't tell you much you could try to get more information from them. Contact them (if the number on your letter is a switchboard you will need to ask for the fraud section) and ask them what they think the problem is and what they think you might have done wrong.

They ought to outline what the problem is, but probably won’t want to discuss details until they caution you.

If they won’t tell you anything before the interview it may be reasonable to refuse to go until they do. If they won’t give you all the information you ask for they should explain to you why not.

You can request a copy of your file using the Data Protection Act, although there are rules about how to do this and what information they can refuse to give you.

An advice centre may be able to help you get the information you need.

Once you know what the DWP/council's suspicions are you may be able to sort it out without an interview, for example if you think they’ve made a mistake or you have a simple explanation for what happened.

While they are looking at whether you committed fraud you may need to appeal against a decision to stop or reduce your benefit, or against a decision that says you were paid too much benefit. You may be able to claim other benefits instead. An adviser can look at your income and situation and work out which benefits you should be getting and help you with the appeal.

To decide what to do next, you will need to decide whether to go to the interview or not, find out if anyone can go with you (see Do I have to go to the interview? in the menu on the right hand side), and know what it will be like when you get there. Knowing what all the possible outcomes might be (see After the interview under caution in the menu) may help you understand the interview better.

If there are things which might make it difficult for you to go to the interview, for example, if you have difficulty climbing stairs, let them know and they should try and help you, for instance by having the interview on the ground floor.

They should also try and take account of any reasonable special request, such as that a woman interviewer is present.

If the time of the interview is inconvenient, ask for a different time.

Writing down exactly what you think happened or how you think the problems came about can help you to get it clear in your head.

If you have other things that may back up your version of what happened, such as letters from your doctor, or statements from ‘witnesses’, you should collect them too. If you need time to gather this kind of information (for example if your doctor is away, or you can't get an appointment at the advice centre straight away), ask them to delay the interview.

Take all this information with you to the interview. It will help you to answer their questions and remember what you want to tell them.

If you know exactly what they think the problem is, you could choose to send them details of what you think happened beforehand, especially if you think it may clear the matter up. However, it is very important to get advice before doing this as you need to be sure that what you say will help and won’t make things worse.

September 2007