need to know correct term please?

homealone_2

i am trying to appeal some housing benefit over payment. i know there is a ruling that says something along the lines of you can not be expected to pay overpayments that you had no way of knowing that you were in receipt of. i want to find the exact quote so i can use it in letter, anyone know it??

dmg24

How did you not know?

real1314

homealone wrote: »

i am trying to appeal some housing benefit over payment. i know there is a ruling that says something along the lines of you can not be expected to pay overpayments that you had no way of knowing that you were in receipt of. i want to find the exact quote so i can use it in letter, anyone know it??

I think that in most cases the HB teams rely on the fact that they provide you with a written copy of the way they have assessed your HB and directly state that you should contact them if any of the information is incorrect. As you will be privvy to the exact details of your circumstances and are in the best position to advise of an incorrectness.

It might help if you provided some further info on what the overpayment relates to and how it arose.

Vader123

homealone wrote: »

i am trying to appeal some housing benefit over payment. i know there is a ruling that says something along the lines of you can not be expected to pay overpayments that you had no way of knowing that you were in receipt of. i want to find the exact quote so i can use it in letter, anyone know it??

I repeat dmg24s question.

How did you not know?

What did you claim and what should you have claimed?

Vader

wardende

They ask you to report a change in cicrumstances that you believe may affect your housing benefit entitlement.

If you couldnt have reasonably known that you were being overpaid, for example you had a change in circumstances that you didnt realize would affect your HB, then you may be able to get them to write this off, however it is very unlikely they'd ever agree to do it.

You'll get no help from DMG and Vader, they are very anti benefits.

Vader even re-reported me for benefit fraud - Vader could you chase up the DWP for me? I'm still waiting to hear from them....

mistiforme

This actually happened to me I was overpaid LHA/CTB I gave all the correct information but my LA made an adminstration error and calculated my benefit wrongly. A third party pointed this out to me and I advised my LA right away

They wrote to me to ask if I would repay it I just said no and they accepted this. I was overpaid @ £1900
I am now receiving HB/CT benefit at the correct rate

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit

If there's been an overpayment because of an administrative error, you may have to repay it if, at the time of the payments, you could reasonably have been expected to realise you were being overpaid.

I found this on the directgov website

So if you could not reasonably have been expected to realise you were being overpaid I should write to your LA and tell them this stating you do not wish to repay the monies

Misti

fluffymovie

It really depends on the reason for the overpayment and we classify them in this way.

Claimant error - where the claimant didn't tell us of something (tax credits increase) for example. When the overpayment is created, the decision maker has to decide who was incorrect and if claimant error, we recover.

LA error - If the LA made a mistake which has led to the overpayment (weekly wages input as monthly for example) and they correct the error which leads to an o/p, the LA have to decide if the "claimant could reasonably have been aware that they were being overpaid" and if so, we can seek to recover from you even though we made the mistake. Usually, the LA will argue that the notification letters if checked, would detail the error, you should have known but if it was something like the calculation of student income, they may decide that you couldn't have known that an error had been made and would consider writing it off.

If in doubt, you should ask for a Statement of Reasons to find out why the overpayment was created in the first place and if it is an LA error where they consider you could have been aware, you can appeal