Housing benefit overpayment

geordie_lass_2

Hi everyone, I hope someone can help.

I have been off work sick after major surgery in October 2009 and returned to work in February 2010. During that time I claimed Housing benefit as I was only receiving sick pay and my usual child tax credit and working tax credit.

Two weeks ago I was informed by the housing benefit office that they have overpayed me a total of £196.72 and want to recover the overpayment. When I enquired how the overpayment occurred I was told that although I had provided all the correct information, the clerk dealing with my case had wrongly entered information on the system, specifically, working tax credit had wrongly been entered as child tax credit along with the actual child tax credit that I receive.

My entitlement was being reviewed monthly each time I sent in a payslip with details of sick pay but their error did not come to light until earlier this month.

They have admitted that they were at fault, not me.

I have appealed against the decision to ask me to repay. Today I received a letter saying that I should have appealed when I received the original assessment back in November last year and therefore I am out of time.
I did check the original assessment at the time and it all appeared to be correct. I should add that I found the computer print out difficult to understand but all the amounts seemed to tally.

My questions are:
Should I have to repay the overpayment as the mistake was made by them, even though I had provided them with the correct information and evidence?

Is it reasonable of them to expect me to have spotted an error in their calculation, given that their clerks were unable to spot the same error, even though they were reviewing it every month? They are trained in calculating housing benefit and I am not. I was totally unaware which elements of tax credits were taken into account when calculating housing benefit and which were not.

Do I have grounds to appeal again or am I being unreasonable?

snapping_crocodile

I'm no expert, I'm sure someone with more knowledge will come along soon but I am assuming appealing will be fruitless as although it was their mistake, you were still overpaid. In the same way that if you are overpaid by work, they will expect the money back. Sorry if that's not what you want to hear

daimonde

from their point of view, the onus would have been on you to check the award notice & see that the incorrect figures were being used & raise it there and then.

they may well be trained in HB & you are not, and yes the letters can be a nightmare, but there should be a breakdown in them showing the figures used in the calculation & it should show the incorrect tax credits.

nothing to lose by appealing, but i wouldnt hold your breath for a positive outcome.

hannahO_2

Did you get a call from council's HB dept or DWP?
If it's a council HB dept's mistake and there was no statement sent to you then the overpayment could be written off as you weren't notified about it. It happened to me before. But it all depends on how often you receive your rent statement. Mine was quarterly and therefore it worked to my advantage.

Best to speak with CAB.

fluffymovie

Basically, the situation as you have described it sounds as though the HB department have acted wrongly. Let me explain.

If WTC had been used as CTC, it would not affect your award. However, if they had used the wrong amount of either of these, then there would be an issue. The classification of it being Working or Child Tax credit does not affect the amount of it that we use.

When an overpayment occurs, the person who creates it has to make a decision about whether the overpayment was claimant error, LA error, Fraud etc. If they decide that it is claimant error, then the amount is recoverable from the claimant ( example, claimant tells us they earn £60 per week but then provide payslip showing £100).

The situation as you describe it, sounds like LA error. In such a case, the authority can still seek to recover the overpayment if they consider that it was reasonable that you knew you were being overpaid at the time the overpayment occured. The argument is that we send you letters and you are obliged to check them and notify us if there is an error.

However, the decision you wish to appeal against is the overpayment and as a result, you have one calendar month to appeal against this decision. If it has only just been re-assessed, you are well within your rights to appeal. You can also submit a late appeal up to 13 months after the original decision if you can show reasons for not appealing at the time.

I would write to the Benefit Manager and explain these things and see if this makes a difference. If you want to appeal you will need to say why you could not reasonably have been aware that you were being overpaid.

Hope this helps

PaisleyPPL

im sorry if this comes across badly but...

if u were overpaid then why shouldnt you pay it back??????

u were lucky enough to be given it in the first place(believe me im in a similar siutation as u with my partner,minus having a child living with us ,and as he is entitled to nothing) ,now you wanna make appeals and basically keep the extra cash, as pointed out before if u were over paid u have to give it back,

as long as they are giving you 1. a reasonable time to pay it back ,or 2. repayment options? why do you think you should be allowed to keep it? Its obvious from your post u werent trying to get extra money intentionally but ultimately thats what happend, if everyone was to keep overpayments then the country would be in an even worse state than it is now ,sorry but its true

bestpud

PaisleyPPL wrote: »

im sorry if this comes across badly but...

if u were overpaid then why shouldnt you pay it back??????

u were lucky enough to be given it in the first place(believe me im in a similar siutation as u with my partner,minus having a child living with us ,and as he is entitled to nothing) ,now you wanna make appeals and basically keep the extra cash, as pointed out before if u were over paid u have to give it back,

as long as they are giving you 1. a reasonable time to pay it back ,or 2. repayment options? why do you think you should be allowed to keep it? Its obvious from your post u werent trying to get extra money intentionally but ultimately thats what happend, if everyone was to keep overpayments then the country would be in an even worse state than it is now ,sorry but its true

Fact is most do keep the overpayment if it occurred through no fault of their own and rightly so IMO.

Quite correct to claim it back when the claimant has messed up or when they have clearly ignored an overpayment, but not in a case like this.

If you are in the op's situation then you will be aware how significant it is to be told they must pay more rent as well as an overpayment when they've adjusted to the income they have!

Just my opinion of course!