Housing benefit issue, not very helpful advisors

ryouga

Basically I have been signing on for like 8 months, lived in a house by myself for about 4 months till a student moved in so my entitlement went down but as it took about 4 weeks for HB to confirm then they suspended claim whilst reassessing I was overpaid about £100 which they took off my following payment which was in arrears meaning I owed nothing.

Then over Easter I got a wad of about 10 letters, one saying they had suspended my claim due to new evidence, about 3 different CT bills, 3 letters saying my CT benefit was stopped and my entitlement back to Feburary, Janurary, December,

I was going to ring next morning but got 2 more letters, 1 saying my claim has been reassessed and I am getting the same payment for shared accomodation and another saying I had been UNDERpaid £106 so I rang and was told it was a computer error and they would manually close and reassess that day then got a new letter of award a few days later saying my entitlement(which again was still the same shared rate!)

However 2 weeks later I get a letter saying I have been OVERpaid £106 which doesnt make sense so ring up and get this woman who seemed annoyed at me and acting as if I wasnt listening to her saying that yes I was overpaid and theres no record of my claim being closed in April or any letters saying I was underpaid.

I let it go for afew weeks but going through my letters I realise that I havent been overpaid so rang back and got this stroppy guy on the phone who seemed to not be bothered and huffing saying he has to manually check the system for each letter which takes a long time so he isnt going to do it whilst I am on the phone and I need to prove I havent been overpaid and bring in EVERY letter I have.

Basically I feel like I am being treated like a liar or the staff are either lying or lazy or just not that bothered as how can they not find records of me being rang, also they refused to let me speak to an assessor when it was an assessor who admited the fault before and rang me back.

What can I do to sort this mess?

fluffymovie

HI there

Did read this yesterday but TBH, I think you really need to go and see someone at HB. We aren't all lazy so hopefully you should get to speak to someone who can resolve your query!

If not, you need to ask, in writing, for a breakdown of the overpayment, and a statement of reasons. This is the first step before an appeal.

It would seem that there is a lot of confusion over what has happened on the system but I know from having done it myself, it can take time to work out what has happened if you are'nt the assessor who did it but it is poor customer service not to resolve!

ryouga

fluffymovie wrote: »

HI there

Did read this yesterday but TBH, I think you really need to go and see someone at HB. We aren't all lazy so hopefully you should get to speak to someone who can resolve your query!

If not, you need to ask, in writing, for a breakdown of the overpayment, and a statement of reasons. This is the first step before an appeal.

It would seem that there is a lot of confusion over what has happened on the system but I know from having done it myself, it can take time to work out what has happened if you are'nt the assessor who did it but it is poor customer service not to resolve!

Do you work in HB? Have been given a bit of a run around again as I found the letter saying I had been underpaid, and another 3 days later saying I was overpaid the same amount which IMO means they cancelled each other out since I was never given the "underpayment" into my bank account and the advisor claims it was because it took 2 months for the original overpayment to be taken back and I was getting the full £67 rate till the 5th April which is wrong since I had a award letter dated around the 21st March saying my new award was £54 and I was overpaid by £51 up to that point and would be reclaimed off my next payment(which it was) so that meant I owed nothing!

So why am I still paying £9 a week for overpayment and they claim thats correct!?!

I know you wont work for my council just seeing if you make sense of what has happened.

Wee_Willy_Harris

As aleady suggested, you need to take all those letters and go and see an adviser at the HB office. Sit down, face to face, and go through it with them until you all understand what has happened. Get ant resolution in writing before you leave.

ryouga

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

As aleady suggested, you need to take all those letters and go and see an adviser at the HB office. Sit down, face to face, and go through it with them until you all understand what has happened. Get ant resolution in writing before you leave.

Already went in with letters and was told they didnt know what the problem was, same as on the phone just that the system says I have been overpaid so I must of been overpaid and each time they cant find record of the letter saying I was overpaid £103.36 which is strange as I have it in front of me.

I never got a clear answer, girl at office told me that the £103 overpayment was sent with my regular payment on the 19th April, checking my bank I got a payment of £177 which is about right since I wasnt paid for about 3 weeks and get £54 though I dont know where the extra £15 came from and couldnt make sense of how on the 15th a letter was sent saying I was overpaid as none existed on the system though IMO if I was sent a letter saying I was overpaid on the 15th how could the payment on the 19th be the overpayment as it wouldnt of been sent out yet.

It seems they are basically treating me as some nutcase!

Wee_Willy_Harris

ryouga wrote: »

Already went in with letters and was told they didnt know what the problem was, same as on the phone just that the system says I have been overpaid so I must of been overpaid and each time they cant find record of the letter saying I was overpaid £103.36 which is strange as I have it in front of me.

I never got a clear answer, girl at office told me that the £103 overpayment was sent with my regular payment on the 19th April, checking my bank I got a payment of £177 which is about right since I wasnt paid for about 3 weeks and get £54 though I dont know where the extra £15 came from and couldnt make sense of how on the 15th a letter was sent saying I was overpaid as none existed on the system though IMO if I was sent a letter saying I was overpaid on the 15th how could the payment on the 19th be the overpayment as it wouldnt of been sent out yet.

It seems they are basically treating me as some nutcase!

Then go in again and put it in front of them. Only they can tell you where this overpayment has come from.

ryouga

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Then go in again and put it in front of them. Only they can tell you where this overpayment has come from.

I will try, all they have said so far is that its correct and keep mentioning how my entitlement changed like 2 months before the overpayment and are trying to say its for that period as if I have been paid up till the 5th when I was only paid up till start of March which was then taken off.

I as I say assume its just a glitch because I was assessed wrong after the computer glitch and when manually assessed again it should of cancelled out the overpayment which didnt exist anyway and I assume they have put the overpayment as an actual overpayment and are recovering that.

Wee_Willy_Harris

I wouild take all your letters, go in and see them and go through it until yo DO understand what ihas happened. If you don't understand, just tell them and ask them to clarify until you do. No-one on here has enough information to assist you. You need to discuss it with them.

[Deleted User]

Do you live in Nottingham by any chance? The Housing Benefit Staff at Broxtowe Council are also useless, thick, very rude and unhelpful!!! I get the same, everytime I tell them about a change (which you are obviously supposed to do) I get a snotty letter saying "You have been overpaid by 10p and you must repay this money immediately or be prosecuted!!!!!". I have been overpaid because they calculated mine totally incorrectly when I told them about a salary increase, I didn't notice at first as the calculations are so long and confusing I don't always bother to read them, but when I notced they dropped me a bill for £550!!! She had averaged it out over them whole Year!!! She said it wasn't clear when the increase took effect??? I'm sorry but when the letter from my Employer re increase said 'Your salary has increased with effect from 1st September 2009" How much clearer can you be?? Anyway the error was recalculated and was nearer £300 which they demanded back at £25 per week, might not sound alot but as I work I don't get all my rent paid, I get £48 per week in HB, so I rang and requested to pay £10 per week, but no I had to fill out a long incomings and outgoings form for them to consider it???? I'm not being funny but I work really hard and spend a lot of my day "form filling" then my evenings are taken up educating my Autistic Son (Who is not considered Autistic enough for any DLA) so why should I? Even my Mum said it was disgusting and if you had a spare £25 a week you wouldn't be claiming benefits in the first place. If I cocked someones wages up at work I would be mortified and rectify it immediately!
I put it down to the fact Councils are short of money so they are after every penny they can get! They are not there to help people, just to make life very difficult!!!! Rant over Good luck ryouga!!!!