How to handle an interview under caution: Jen's story

Jen didn't know what to do. She'd taken on a friend's shift at their local pub while he recovered from an operation and hadn't told the Job Seekers Allowance office about it. 'It hardly brought in a fortune and was only temporary,' Jen says. But she got found out and had to go to an interview under caution. 'To be honest, I didn't think the interview was too bad,' Jen explains, 'But that was before I got letters saying I was going to get a formal caution or get taken to court - and that I owed them over £1,000!'.

In the end, Jen made an appointment at the advice centre in town. The adviser listened to her story and talked through it all. She explained to Jen what a formal caution involved and reassured her that it wasn't a criminal record, which helped Jen decide whether to accept it or risk prosecution. The adviser spent ages with her calculator and on the phone to the DWP and they agreed the amount was nearer £600. 'And she said I could still get Job Seekers Allowance, so long as I told them when I worked and they’d knock some of my wage off my benefit each week, along with some towards clearing the money I’d been overpaid. By the time I left, it all felt a lot more manageable.'

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