it doesn't sound right. Normally, no overpayment decision can be made until the conclusion of investigations, but neither can a decision to prosecute. it sounds odd that an arrest has been made during cohab investigations, but maybe there are other factors unclear to me.
with social security benefits, an overpayment decision is requisite in prosecution cases, which are mainly under the Theft Act. The size of the overpayment also informs the decision to prosecute, itself. The prosecution informs the court of the amount of benefit overpaid, and the court determines whether an offence was committed in the obtaining of the benefit.
i don't have experience of tax credit overpayments, but i can't really see it being greatly different. the information given to you implies a radical shift in jurisdiction from the Inland Revenue to the criminal courts, to determine tax credit overpayments. i don't think it can be correct...but i also have been completely wrong before...
btw, you might find the rightsnet link to the tax credit prosecution policy interesting if you haven't seen it.
jj
http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/cgi-bin/forwardsql/search.cgi?template2=user_details2.htm&output_number=1&sort=news.submission_date+desc&news.ID=&start=138
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