Overpaid Council Tax Benefit.

superbigal36

Hi perhaps someone can comment. (Lallyaya if your out their)
When I got a new job after redundancy I filled in the change of circumstances for the Job-Centre and Council Tax benefits.
Job seekers allowance was stopped okay. I had paid my council tax up to the end of the year so did not worry too much when a new book did not appear immediately.
Anyway ignorance is a wonderful thing and guess what.
Months on and the Council have sent out an overpayment of benefit bill.
No problem with paying this but also attached an invitation for an interview under caution as a possible fraudster ?
Now im sure everyone says they have "sent back the form" as an excuse but that is my only and genuine defence. I phoned the guy at the investigations dept and It was made out that they have heard it all before. I told the job-centre I was working im hardly likely to get away with the council tax money.
Yes I shouldnt have let it drift by for months without response.
Anyone got any advice. If I continue to tell the council that they have lost my correspondence and I have never actually re-applied for benefit, do I still have the possibility of them trying to prosecute. Overpayment is around £900.

Lesleyb_3

You need to seek some kind of legal advice. Although first off contact the council tax department and advise that you will seeking proof that you completed the appropriate forms at the job centre, I am sure your job centre will have copies in your file. To be able to produce these will help your case greatly. The next thing to do is contact a local legal advice centre, welfare rights or citizens advice centre, these places are normally located in the less well off areas of your city or town, however, they will fight your corner tooth and nail. Generally the kind of error made by council tax or indeed housing benefit can be written off due an administrative error, after all if you prove you acted on the advise provided by the job centre and completed the appropriate paperwork then you were led to believe you had acted responsibly. By dilligence and reasonableness you may convince the CT department you have acted in good faith. £900 is a lot to you but not enough for them to prosecute you, it will cost them a lot more to bring the case in front of a sheriff. Do not ignore this issue and try to deal with it to the best of your ability, you will probably feel bullied and therefore you more than likely need some kind of welfare advice. If you genuinely owe the money I am sure an arrangement of £2.50/3.00 per week will be acceptable repayment agreement. I hope this helps, if you live in Glasgow I can provide details of organisations who can act on your behalf.

pjclark52

With ref to your problem, when you signed off Job seekers did you also advise the council, I assume not. Where did you orignally claim Council Tax Benefit (CTB) was it at the job centre, if that was the case you could argue that the JSA section was going to advise the council. Either way you will still have to pay back the overpayment. The council will not take the case to court in this situation, although if you do not turn up for the interview they will have no other action to take. They will when the case is finished either offer you a Caution or an ADPEN which is like a fine and is usually around 30% on top of the overpayment. The reason I know this is I do this for a living.

asharon

How can they argue fraud. As long as you had not moved then the JC should autmatically let them know when you signed off. I'm sur esomeone might have said that to you at the time and then you thought nothing mor eabout it perhaps.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

You will have to make an offer of payment. My SIL had to go to court and she was only overpaid £235, so yes you could get prosecuted but will depend on the circumstances I assume. You should have chased it up instead of leaving it months and months-did you not put the money that you thought you were going to have to pay too one side Like you say though-hindsight is a good thing to have. When my SIL had to go to court she had to let them know how much the total household income was and all outgoings then they took a % of what was left. I dont think, unless your on Income Support or Jobseekers that they would accept £2-3 a week. SIL was on tax credits and she had to clear the debt in 3 months but managed to negotiate for 6 months.

I hope you get it sorted.

PP
xx

Savvy_Sue

Council Tax round here does try to go for a fixed percentage of your income, but we were able to argue it down for a former colleague who was badly behind. I don't think she would have managed to get this by herself, but our Treasurer (we're a charity) phoned up and laid it on the line that there was no point asking for too much as colleague would then be unable to pay the current year's bill!

I think LesleyB has given the best advice, so if superbigal hasn't yet been to Citizen's Advice or similar, that should be a priority once the holiday is over!

superscotsman

See a lawyer BEFORE you attend the interview. Don't go to the citizen's advice bureau. Don't ask the moneysavings expert. Don't ask your mates. See a fully-qualified solicitor. No one else.

gobbyash

I've encountered this problem too.

Was made redundant, claimed job seekers, went self-employed, signed off from job centre - 5 months later, forgot to advise Council till letter came through the door claiming possible fraud.

I've been for the taped interview where I agreed to repay the o/s amount (about £220 for 2 months) over the remaining DD for this year and explained it was an oversight (been busy setting up a new business from scratch) plus when I signed off with JC I asked 'if that was everything sorted' and they said 'yes'.

I was requested to attend a second interview where I was told that if I paid a 30% fine (about £65), the matter would be closed. I refused on the grounds that it was an oversite and that I had agreed to repay the o/s money but thought the fine was harsh as I had not had any reminder. If I was trying to comit fraud, why would I have signed off from jobseekers? I've paid by council tax for over 10 years via DD and the direct DD was still open.

Anyway, I've got an appointment with the courts in January. I'm not even sure whether I'm going to court because of my refusal to pay the fine or for the oversight. Never been in trouble with the law, not even a speeding fine and feel rather indignant over the way this has been dealt with.

However, after discussing it with the better half, we have agreed it makes sense to pay the fine and draw a line underneath it, but every time I ring the council, I get put through to a different dept, leave messages for people to ring me back, which they never do and am wondering how to sort it out before it goes to court (or am I too late??)

Any advise will be much appreciated.

superscotsman

gobbyash wrote:

I've encountered this problem too.



Never been in trouble with the law, not even a speeding fine and feel rather indignant over the way this has been dealt with.

However, after discussing it with the better half, we have agreed it makes sense to pay the fine and draw a line underneath it, but every time I ring the council, I get put through to a different dept, leave messages for people to ring me back, which they never do and am wondering how to sort it out before it goes to court (or am I too late??)

Any advise will be much appreciated.

You get found guilty and pay the fine, you will have a criminal record. This could get in your way if you try to get a job or if you try to emigrate or even ENTER some countries. (USA are getting tough.) My advice to anyone -guilty or innocent - if you get into any trouble with the law, get proper legal advice fast. Don't ever say: "Oh, I've done nothing wrong..." The Law doesn't work like that. You are now about to get a criminal record for a mistake that someone else made. It might not be too late to see a lawyer.

bigburd

Hiya, I'm a local government officer in scotland (the legislation differs) Your Benefits from DWP up here are not connected at all to your Council Tax and Housing Benefits. The DWP in our area do not contact us when you have stopped or amended your claim, it's up to you to let us know as soon as possible in writing. I'm assuming, therefore that it's your local Council's fraud dept who have arranged for the interview. Many people assume that the DWP are linked to CT/Housing Benefit and have made this mistake - you should make this clear in writing to the relevant department, send it recorded delivery marked urgent. This will at least make sure it gets immediate attention!!! You should also be able to email them to confirm they have recieved it and if you include a payment proposal for repayment this will also help your case!! Hope this helps. :rudolf:

Anthillmob

asharon wrote:

How can they argue fraud. As long as you had not moved then the JC should autmatically let them know when you signed off. I'm sur esomeone might have said that to you at the time and then you thought nothing mor eabout it perhaps.

the problem with the JC is that they take ages to inform the council of jsa ceasing, if they inform them at all. theres a regulation that i forget but it states that the claimant must inform the council of NAY change of circumstances. you cannot rely on the JC or other government body to do it for you.