advice on this letter please?

red_devil

I had an overpayment of housing benefit letter which i appealed against? I have just been told the decision is the same but I can appeal again although if its not granted it will go to a tribunal?

Can someone please tell about tribunals? How long they take? Where they are held? What happens? I know nothing about them and also is it worth it? Does it have to go to tribubunal if second appeal is thrown out? It says it does?

Also it says if you cant manage the payments please send in an income and expenditure form does that mean they will look at reducing the amount or just give me longer to pay? Also they have started to take payments from my hb already and the landlord is asking me for the money he is down? he is paid directly? Why do they take the money if you are appealing? Couldnt they wait?

Confused? Thanks.

red_devil

anyone know?

viktory

The only two questions I can answer with any certainty are the following:

If you appeal the rate at which HB are claming the overpayment, they might reduce the amount they are taking from you which will, in turn, extend the length of time you pay the money back. They will not reduce the overall amount owed.

If you are having monies deducted directly from your HB then you will need to make it up. Your landlord will not be getting his full rent and is of course perfectly entitled to it. He should not be paying back your overpayment - you should and therefore you will need to make up the difference to ensure you have paid the full rent owed.

karenx

How was it overpaid? Did you not inform them of a change of circumstance etc?

leemack

If you have made a proper appeal then the LA are very naughty having you make a further appeal. It is a tactic that's used by LA's to keep down the number of appeals going to tribunal.

What they may have done so far is to treat the challenge that you've made as a request for a revision - did you put in writing that you appealed or did you just ask them to look at the decision again?

Overpayment recovery will only be stopped once a formal appeal has been made, this has to be in writing and signed by you and on the letter you should request that overpayment recovery is stopped pending the outcome of the appeal. You will need to hand in this letter within one month of the date on the latest decision letter you've received.

Tribunals are a hearing where a solicitor will hear your case. You should go and see a specialist benefit adviser to look at your case, they will assess your chances and if you have a case help you with your appeal. The LA may be able to point you in the direction of a local agency who can help or look for a local welfare rights or cab.

At the hearing you will be able to present evidence and the solicitor will ask you questions. A rep from the council may attend and present their case.

If you don't have a case and you are liable for the overpayment you can in some circumstances have the amount of weekly recovery reduced.

The best thing you can do for now is to try and find a rep asap.

fluffymovie

Hi there

I would suggest that it sounds as though the council have looked again at their original decision and seen if they could review it. If you didn't specifically state that it was an appeal, it would always be treated this way. It is not a tactic by an LA as they don't really mind taking cases to appeal tribunals but it is sometimes time consuming if the wrong decision was made in the first place.

The Tribunal Service are independent of the LA. You are given the opportunity to have a paper or oral hearing so if you don't want to attend and discuss in person, you don't have to. As someone who has been to an appeal from the LA side, I would say an oral hearing gives you more opportunities to get your side of the case across.

The length of the appeal hearing is really dependent on the circumstances of your case. If it is a point of law that you wish to appeal against, it would ber very quick (if it got there at all) but if it was more complex, it could be a couple of hours.

I would always recommend you contact CAB to see if they can help with your appeal as we see a lot of appeals struck out as the claimant has not replied to the Tribunal Service in their time limits.

With regard to the recovery of the overpayment, this is most likely a standard amount set by law (£9.75 pw or £12 if a fraud op + 50% of any earnings disregard). They will continue to recover this until you make a formal appeal and then should put this on hold. However, by telling you that they will not amend their decision, they are offering you the chance to tell them what income and outgoings you have to see if they can lower the weekly reclaim for you. You will need to make this amount up to your landlord however.

suelees1

It sounds like you asked them to look at the overpayment decision again (a review or reconsideration) rather specifically tell them you wanted to appeal (as leemack says).

If you had actually told them you wanted to appeal they have to look at it again anyway and only if they don't change the decision in your favour then will it be automatically treated as an appeal to the Tribunal Service. In these cases they don't ask you to appeal again but will prepare the submission (which is all the evidence they have used to make the decision). This will then be sent to the Tribunal Service for a decision to be made. Again as leemack says it will be a legally qualified member who makes a decision. They used to be called chairmen but are now known as judges.

Because it sounds like you didn't ask for an appeal you do need to put it in writing again within one calendar month of the most recent decision,

No recovery will be made until and unless you 'lose' your appeal. Hearings can and do take several months before they are heard. The Tribunal Service is completely independent of the LA and DWP.

They have informed you about repayments in case you decide not to appeal.

Here is some info about the Tribunal Service
http://www.appeals-service.gov.uk/

suelees1

I must have been typing my response when fluffymovie did theirs. Same info !

I missed the bit about it ws already being recovered. Sorry. Do as fluffymovie suggests

dmg24

suelees1 wrote: »

It sounds like you asked them to look at the overpayment decision again (a review or reconsideration) rather specifically tell them you wanted to appeal (as leemack says).

If you had actually told them you wanted to appeal they have to look at it again anyway and only if they don't change the decision in your favour then will it be automatically treated as an appeal to the Tribunal Service. In these cases they don't ask you to appeal again but will prepare the submission (which is all the evidence they have used to make the decision). This will then be sent to the Tribunal Service for a decision to be made. Again as leemack says it will be a legally qualified member who makes a decision. They used to be called chairmen but are now known as judges.

Because it sounds like you didn't ask for an appeal you do need to put it in writing again within one calendar month of the most recent decision,

No recovery will be made until and unless you 'lose' your appeal. Hearings can and do take several months before they are heard. The Tribunal Service is completely independent of the LA and DWP.

They have informed you about repayments in case you decide not to appeal.

Here is some info about the Tribunal Service
http://www.appeals-service.gov.uk/

You are making the assumption that it is the OP that has made a mistake. As leemack states, what the LA has done could also be a ploy to delay going to Tribunal. This is not the first time I have heard of this happening.

leemack

fluffymovie wrote: »

Hi there

I would suggest that it sounds as though the council have looked again at their original decision and seen if they could review it. If you didn't specifically state that it was an appeal, it would always be treated this way. It is not a tactic by an LA.'


It's a tactic with several LA's I deal with, even when 'I want to make an appeal' has been written. They should look again at the decision when an appeal is received, it's part of the process, but they shouldn't make the appellant have to make another appeal. If the decision has not been changed then it should be sent to The Tribunal Service.

Not to suggest all LA's are the same, I realise there is good and bad, I can only speak from from experience.

Vixie_Pixie

What aspect of the overpayment are you appealing?

This is what the law says in terms of overpayment recoverability -

The LA must decide what caused an overpayment to enable it to decide whether or not the overpayment is recoverable.

Most overpayments of HB or CTB are recoverable, with the exception of some caused by official and departmental error.

Overpayments caused by official error are recoverable only where the local authority considers that the claimant, his appointee or agent or the person to whom benefit was paid could, have reasonably been expected to know that an overpayment had been made.

Fluffymovie has already gave great info regarding overpayment recovery and the appeal process