HB overpayment write off if pregnant??

originalacidman

We were both living at the same property and making separate claims at the shared room rate of £240 each, as we were not living as a couple at that time and I was sub-letting a room out.

We then changed our separate JSA into a joint JSA for us as we were a couple and as we were the only people living at the address I believe that the £240 I recieved after this should have been raised to the self contained rate as I am over 25. Also she should not have recieved any money after this had occured (i.e. her £240 monthly payments)
This means that we were technically overpaid by £30 a month based on the monthly figures of:
£240 (my monthly LHA payment for shared accomodation)
+ £240 (her monthly LHA payment for shared accomodation)
- £450 (the amount I think I should have recieved as our LHA self contained couple payment)
this results in a monthly overpayment of £30, which would be an overall overpayment of £250'ish.
This should enable me to clear the debt once the council pay me the £750 I am owed and if I add £250 to this then that should clear her total overpayment of £1000.

We assumed that we were receiving the correct amount as it was near enough to the LHA monthly amount I assume we were entitled to.

If this is the case then hopefully I can just pay it off and forget about it... hopefully the construction side of the economy wont be destroyed again and I wont need the benefits system in the future!

Caz3121

When you changed your JSA claim to a joint one did you also notify housing benefit people to close the single claims and make a joint one there? I think people have assumptions that all these departments are linked and you only need to tell one part when they are not

CPJames19

I claimed HB for a month in end. In that small time frame somehow I had an invoice that stated I had been overpaid.
I appealed the decision in writing. I stated that I had always told them of my wife and my employment situations in writing and I felt this was an official error. In fact I felt that I was owed money which they took to pay back the overpayment straight away.
Have a look here on direct.gov. It states "You will get a letter letting you know you've been overpaid." I never got this letter just an invoice so additionally asked for a letter of explanation of how the overpayment happened.
The appeals officer at the council office supported the decision made by her office, so the appeal was going to go to the tribunal service however 2 months after hearing I received a phone call from the appeals officer saying she re-considered the case and realised they had made a mistake infact I was owed money.
So always appeal if you feel you are not in the wrong.

originalacidman

As Im not used to the benefit system, we assumed as I obtained the benefits through my JSA application, that by updating the JSA people this would also update the HB and CTB aswell. Now I know that you have to contact every department as they dont communicate with each other.
Its a bit of a prolonged way of doing things in which you would end up spending all your 'free' time either in the benefits office signing on or on the phone and compiling letters rather than looking for work!, but if you dont then things like this happen and you get hounded rather than helped by them!

real1314

If I'm right in my interpretation of what you are saying here, you situation is that:-

1. The council has decided your GF has been overpaid as she was not eligible to claim as she was living with you as a partner.

Therefore her HB was overpaid.

2. During the period of the overpayment you were claiming HB for your own rent and were paid based on shared accomodation. This should have been based on the declaration you made when you claimed about which rooms were shared and which were for your sole use. it may also have been based on your GFs decalaration of which rooms were shared and which were for her sole use.

Unless the declarations back up the entitlement to the "non - shared" rate, your HB will not be increased for the period, as you would be deeemed to have failed to notify the change in time.

If this is the case, your "underpayment" will not exist.