Council Tax Benefit - Overpaid but not my fault - Options??

kiwichick

Hi Guys,

I had a letter tody from the benefits office of our local council. They've stated that they've amended the amount of ctb I am entitled to based on figures from the working tax credits award notice. I gve them this information on April when I got my award notice and they've admited on the phone tht they've only inputted it this month.

Ad a result of this I now owe them £553.41, they want a payment of half in jan and the remainder in feb and refused to speak to me about it further on the phone.

I've questioned them before now about the amount I am awarded as last finncial year I had the same problem and had an outstanding amount to pay (which I did) at the end of their financial year. Despite this they confirmed I was entitled to the full benefit and would have no monthly bill.

Does anyone know where I stand? They've had the information available to them since April, if they had inputted it then I could have managed the monthly payments but to ask me to find the full £553 in the 2 months after xmas is impossible for me.

Am I entitled to work out a payment plan that will continue beyond their financial year as they have demended I pay in full before march.

Thanks for any advice,
Allison

minimadtrix

You need to appeal the decision and must do it within a month of the letter you have received. If you gave them the information and they failed to act on it, its their fault and they have to stand the mistake, not as you to pay it back.

CIS

Irrespective of if they hold the information or not if the calculation was wrong its also the responsbility of the claimant to ensure that the award notice is correct. The crux of the argument is down to whether you could reasonably have been expected to realise the calculation was wrong, if so then its a recoverable overpayment. You can argue it was offical error but you may need to appeal the decision formally.

CIS

Am I entitled to work out a payment plan that will continue beyond their financial year as they have demended I pay in full before march.

The money is recoverable under council tax legislation, not council tax benefit legislation. At this stage in the year (any bill issued after 17 December) the statutory payment scheme is for 1 instalment, anything more and they are giving it discretionaly.

The council may allow you longer to pay but they dont have to and would be within their rights to allow recovery action to start if the payments aren't made.

enabledebra

CIS wrote: »

The money is recoverable under council tax legislation, not council tax benefit legislation. At this stage in the year (any bill issued after 17 December) the statutory payment scheme is for 1 instalment, anything more and they are giving it discretionaly.

The council may allow you longer to pay but they dont have to and would be within their rights to allow recovery action to start if the payments aren't made.

But it is considered good practice not to recover whilst an appeal against the CTB overpayment is pending, this is normal practice and policy in the LA's I'm familiar with. It's also not usually a problem rescheduling payment into the next financial year if no appeal is made (not always the best option though as next year's payments kick in whilst still clearing the last year's liability.)

The OP should submit an appeal, the circumstances as presented show a fair case (on the basis that queries were met with reassurance) because as other posters have stated, success will depend on whether it is reasonable to expect her to have known that an overpayment was occurring. Suspecting it as a possibility (evidence by calling to ask) is not 'knowing'. Even if the appeal fails it buys time to save up enough to repay.

fluffymovie

I would aak what period the overpayment actually covers.

What usually happens with CTB is that it is paid to the end of the financial year and so when things change, a technical overpayement is created. As this relates to a future period, it is not classed as an overpayment and so couldn't be appealed. The calculation of the benefit going forward could be however.

enabledebra

I agree. But they have revised her entitlement to CTB with effect from April 2010, this is not a change in circumstance it's a mistake as to a material fact. A change in circumstance leads to a supersession usually effective from the date of the change (edit- although this can have retrospective effect)

Council tax liability is based on estimates of the remaining charge based on expected CTB entitlement/disregards etc.

She would not be directly appealing the CT liability she would be appealing the amount of benefit she is entitled to in order to assist her to meet her liability.

So yes, the decision to revise the CTB entitlement can't assist with the Council Tax due from now until April 2011 but if successful it would leave her initial award in place until the date of the revised entitlement (9 months?)