Housing Benefit Overpayment

LuBo

My wife claims housing benefit and council tax benefit from the council.
She works 28 hours a week and gets WFTC and Child Tax Credit.
I do not work and get DLA high rate mobility and DLA mid rate care.
We have no savings.
I have two children from a previous marriage, both over 18 and living on their own.
My wife has two children, both living with us, one still at school the other 17 yrs and at college. Their father lives at the other side of the country and doesn't see them, but he pays spending money into their bank account. They divorced due to his violence and drug abuse, she also had to get a restraining order to keep him away from her and to stop him threatening her. She has no contact with him.

For the past couple of years we have been living in rented accommodation and receiving HB and CTB, however a couple of months ago it emerged that the spending money (£50 a week between them) should have been notified to the council, we didn't know how much he was giving them and also thought that as spending money we nor the council needed to know about it.
The council have decided that it was "maintenance" and have reassessed the claim counting £35 per week of it as income.
They now want nearly £3,000 to be repaid.

As already pointed out we are living on the breadline.

What is the minimum that we have to offer that they must accept?
My wife doesn't want to let them take her to court as she is on anti depressants and thinks it would make her suicidal.

Any advice apreciated.

Lubo

[Deleted User]

I`m abit puzzled by this for one reason and thats the fact that the children are allowed to have savings upto £3k without it affecting income support,i assume(?)the same for h/b and ctb,I`m also equally bemused by the fact that you and your wife had no idea that this not insignificant amount was being handed over each week even though maintenance wasnt?
As for the minimum amount i suggest you prepare a budget of income and out goings which you can use to show the council how much or how little you can afford to repay,although I suspect that as the amount owed is £3000 they would want probably £15-£20 per week
Out of interest how did the council find out about this "spending money"?

smileyhappy

Hi

If you still qualify for HB they will deduct it weekly from ongoing benefit payments at probably £9ish a week. This means if your landlord is paid direct he will now get £9 per week less which you will now need to pay to him.

If your claim has ended then they will send you an invoice for the full amount which you will then have to discuss with them.

LuBo

woodbine wrote: »

I`m abit puzzled by this for one reason and thats the fact that the children are allowed to have savings upto £3k without it affecting income support,i assume(?)the same for h/b and ctb,I`m also equally bemused by the fact that you and your wife had no idea that this not insignificant amount was being handed over each week even though maintenance wasnt?
As for the minimum amount i suggest you prepare a budget of income and out goings which you can use to show the council how much or how little you can afford to repay,although I suspect that as the amount owed is £3000 they would want probably £15-£20 per week
Out of interest how did the council find out about this "spending money"?

They haven't got savings, they spend it as they get it. The eldest lad is a bit wayward and smokes and drinks so he spends more of it than his brother, we thought they were getting about £10 each.
We have always listed the bank account on the claim forms, on a regular update of the claim (my wife had a small pay increase) it asked for copies of bank statements, when we got the statement of her son for the account we found out that his dad had been giving them the £50, it was a major shock to her as she has been trying to get the CSA to get money of him for years.
What I also find amazing is that from October the council don't take maintenance as income, yet spending money they do.

Lubo

LAINEY7571

Hi, We are a same sex couple and were claimilg hosing benefit until the law changed in Dec 05. Since we received the notification letters we were paying full council tax and rent.
My partner recently lost her job so applied for income support and HB & CTB.
We were granted all three, but when I looked closer there was a deduction of £9.15 a week on the HB due to overpaid benefit.
Irang straight away to find out what this was about and apparently it was for overpaid benefit from my previous claim.
They overpaid our benefit by £672.76 and only realised when we reapplied.
Can they do this, the woman I spoke to admitted that the council had overlooked this.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Elaine.

suelees1

Elaine this should have been in a new thread as it'll get mixed up with Lupo's . Yes they can but they have to have given you a decision letter which tells you about the overpayment and also tells you of your appeal rights. They can't just recover it without giving you the chance to challenge it.

Lubo - bit of a grey area but I'd advise you appeal if it's within a month of the overpayment decision.


For both Elaine and Lubo - try to find a welfare benefits adviser to help you. If you agree with the overpayment you can ask the LA to reduce the rate of recovery

fluffymovie

Hi there,

HB is a means tested benefit but if the money was paid to your son's, the council cannot say that it was your income and so can't cause an overpayment.

An overpayment of benefit can only be recovered if it is considered that the claimant was aware that they were being overpaid. In this case, the money was not paid to your wife and so you would not have been aware.

The council should not recover this. YOu need to make an appeal stating that you were not aware and that any money paid to a child does not affect the income of the parents.

simpywimpy

Am I also right in thinking that you are not obliged to repay an overpayment if the mistake was on the part of the council - not the claimant?

nottslass_2

simpywimpy wrote: »

Am I also right in thinking that you are not obliged to repay an overpayment if the mistake was on the part of the council - not the claimant?

Yes,but you need to "appeal" against the overpayment in writing,stating that because the o/p occurred due to an administrative error by the LA and under current guidance is not repayable.

Rabbitx

fluffymovie wrote: »

Hi there,


An overpayment of benefit can only be recovered if it is considered that the claimant was aware that they were being overpaid. In this case, the money was not paid to your wife and so you would not have been aware.

Hello, is this precisely true?
It seems to me that councils, certainly my own which is Ipswich, (though I'm sure they all operate within the same guidelines), put so many rules and regs in your way, that to avoid getting into the position of an overpayment with them is just about impossible, and rediculously stressful and time- consuming. I've suffered repeated obstacles, have also got into debt, felt extremely depressed and the rest. I can't help feeling that the government is making such strident efforts to limit the social security budget, that very vulnerable people are becoming more vulnerable. We are told we can appeal against decisions, but I don't have faith in that process either.

Rabbitx

Good news. Maybe I've been very unlucky. I now owe over £1000, with various 'overpayments', none of which were fraudulent claims, ie: I had no income or savings, the Benefits department have copies of bank statements, letters, records of my numerous visits to the HB department. They even refused a discretionary payment to help me avoid being evicted, although, (and I was able to avoid this in the end with the help of family, friends, and an extremely nice and patient landlord), it would have lead to me needing to move into a far more expensive property, and therefore could have potentially cost the council far more in benefit payments. I have sought advice often from the CAB, they are very helpful, but there is only so much they can do.