employment history & Overpayment

Dear All Advisor,

I'll go to make an citizenship application on May 2016 but I concern about my situation, which as below

1. Employment History shows that I work at company "A" from 21/08/2008 to 09/07/2009( Part Time) ,
company "B" from 01/06/2009 to 28/08/2009( Part Time) with student Visa.

the time leaving company A at 09/07/2009 and start working at company B was 01/06/2009 which means that I worked "2" part time jobs at that period ( 01/06/2008 to 09/07/2009). Technically, I left company A at 23/05/2008 and start work at Company B 01/06/2009. To be honest, I never work more than 20 hours during with Student Visa.
NB: tax code for that period is 647L and Tax paid = 0.00 for both company A and B.

2. overpayment benefit at 09/2013 to 03/2014 ( £1300), I'm repaying back overpayment to council and will clear all overpayment by this month.
NB: I don't get any reminder letter from local council but a call from debt collector on behalf of city council.

my question is that will above situations gave negative impact to my citizenship application ?
if not, do i need to state my situation at my application.

many thanks for your advice and thanks in advance.

Hi Simonjang,


Benefit overpayment:
I had benefit overpayment as well back in 2011 and I was asked to refund the overpayment with an administrative penalty. i am making about £5 a month for the last four years. No has contacted me requesting anything further other than the money leaving my account every month. I did not declare this on my application, i am just going to wait and see if they ask me about it but i do not think it should be an issue as you have not been convicted for benefit fraud. Again that is my opinion.

I had a benefit overpayment in 2013. DWP deemed it a 'mistake' and there was no further action or penalty, they just sent me a letter asking to pay it back which I did in instalments at £150 per month. I did state this in my naturalisation application, after all it's better to declare everything and presumably HO are going to see this when they cross check HMRC / DWP systems and I didn't want it to seem like I was hiding anything.

I will let you know if it is approved when I hear something.

Ohara is right, you are best to tell them, i forgot to mention mine when i was at NCS until i got home. Once I realised, I didnt want to send a follow up letter incase it complicate things further.
Ohara, what is your time line?

AN submitted: 09/03/16
Biometrics enrolled: 23/03/16

imnewhere wrote:Hi Simonjang,


Benefit overpayment:
I had benefit overpayment as well back in 2011 and I was asked to refund the overpayment with an administrative penalty. i am making about £5 a month for the last four years. No has contacted me requesting anything further other than the money leaving my account every month. I did not declare this on my application, i am just going to wait and see if they ask me about it but i do not think it should be an issue as you have not been convicted for benefit fraud. Again that is my opinion.

thank you very much for your reply with your experience and best wishes for your application too.

thank Ohara, please do update me with the outcome. all the best

ohara wrote:I had a benefit overpayment in 2013. DWP deemed it a 'mistake' and there was no further action or penalty, they just sent me a letter asking to pay it back which I did in instalments at £150 per month. I did state this in my naturalisation application, after all it's better to declare everything and presumably HO are going to see this when they cross check HMRC / DWP systems and I didn't want it to seem like I was hiding anything.

I will let you know if it is approved when I hear something.

Hi Ohara,

could you please advise that how you state benefit overpayment at your application.
Any chance to share your template, much appreciate.
one more question, do you make the payment back to HMRC or your local city council ?

many thanks in advance.

I included a short covering letter with my application to explain a few things like my date of first entry into the UK and my signature being different between passports.

I think I just wrote something like "I had a child benefit / tax credit overpayment between 2013 and 2014."

Simple and to the point. They can see from HMRC files that it was a mistake. Repayments were directly to HMRC.

ohara wrote:I included a short covering letter with my application to explain a few things like my date of first entry into the UK and my signature being different between passports.

I think I just wrote something like "I had a child benefit / tax credit overpayment between 2013 and 2014."

Simple and to the point. They can see from HMRC files that it was a mistake. Repayments were directly to HMRC.

Hi Ohara,

thank you for your reply and advice.
My overpayment was request by local city council not HMRC.
So, do you think, HO will cross check with local council because housing benefit is related with local city council?

I have no idea. I don't work for the Home Office.

ohara wrote:I have no idea. I don't work for the Home Office.

thank you for your reply

I see Ohara received his approval. Congrats and thanks for all your invaluable support on this platform.

Please I have decided it might be wise to write a letter to the home office to advise about my benefit overpayment back in 2011 as I don't think it would affect the outcome of my case and to tell them I am making monthly payments of about £5

Please does anyone have a template that I can use to write to the home office?
I know my decision is likely to be next month and I don't want them to reject me based on this.
I would also send documentation showing I'm off good character such as awards I have won for my charity work etc

Thanks for your help

I didn't forget about this thread, and was trying to find it

If your application is already at HO, I don't think there's any point sending any more stuff in as it will just delay your application further. They might write to you to ask what happened, but what is more likely is that they will just cross check with the relevant departments (HMRC and DWP) who will have information about it.

As long as there is no sign of deception, I expect you'll be fine. HO didn't ask me for any further information before my approval.

Thanks Ohara, I will leave it in that case as this might just cause a delay.
Thanks for the update and all the best
Will update once I get a decision

imnewhere wrote:I see Ohara received his approval. Congrats and thanks for all your invaluable support on this platform.

Please I have decided it might be wise to write a letter to the home office to advise about my benefit overpayment back in 2011 as I don't think it would affect the outcome of my case and to tell them I am making monthly payments of about £5

Please does anyone have a template that I can use to write to the home office?
I know my decision is likely to be next month and I don't want them to reject me based on this.
I would also send documentation showing I'm off good character such as awards I have won for my charity work etc

Thanks for your help

Honestly I think you should just leave it. I also had benefit overpayment (which I paid off long before the application) which I didn't declare. I didn't even think about it until I came to this site and started worrying about it. You weren't prosecuted for and you are paying back so it does show good character. If you lie or completely ignore paying back what wasn't owed to you then that shows bad character. My application was approved on 31/05/2016. You do what is best for you, I just wanted to provide my insight as someone who chose not to write a follow up letter regarding the same issue.

Thanks Superlaylay, you have set my mind at ease. I am glad you said this. I never thought it was a problem as i am making repayment and has done so for over 4 years.
I will definitely not send the follow up letter and just wait for the outcome. Now i feel more optimistic.

Congrats on your approval.

imnewhere wrote:Thanks Superlaylay, you have set my mind at ease. I am glad you said this. I never thought it was a problem as i am making repayment and has done so for over 4 years.
I will definitely not send the follow up letter and just wait for the outcome. Now i feel more optimistic.

Congrats on your approval.

congrats Ohara & Imnewhere i saw you guys both been approved.

Hi Smonjang, thanks and I am sure you would get your approval too.

I still have outstanding amount due to DWP which i am making minimal payments.

As long as one has paid or making payment, it should be fine.

Yes.. fingercross lol...

Hi All,

thank you so much guys, my application have been approved.
thank you very much again for your support and advise.