HB overpayment - do I have to pay it back?

flutterby_lil

Hello I am hoping somebody can help me.

I stopped receiving HB in September of 2010 as I moved in with a partner.

Prior to this I received a letter stating I had been overpaid and this would be taken out of my HB every 4 weeks. I queried the overpayment and was told that they had used the wrong figures when assessing my claim and had in fact calculated it using the one of CTC/WTC figures I had supplied them and not my weekly payments. When i sent them proof of my CTC/WTC all the information was there for them to see, it was their error. My circumstancs never changed at all dutring the time I was claiming HB.

Surely if it is their error, and they used the wrong figures (when the right ones were given to them) I don't have to pay it back and can contest it?

The overpayment was just over £1,000 when it started but with them reducing my HB (when i received it) to take into account the O/P, the balnce is now about £640.

Please help. It is not as if I have witheld information, the full CTC/WTC info was supplied, they did it wrong. Not sure where I stand though, which is why I came here.

Thanks in advance

ceejaydee23

sounds like im not the only 1 in this situation. my council have done the same thing to me, and YES they will be clawing it back from source mines at 9.90 a week at the moment! so if you are still in receipt of any HB your payments will be lower cos of this x

cookie001

Did you receive a decision letter advising you of the OP? Usually if you disagree with a decision you have one month to appeal against the decision from the date on the decision letter. In some cases you can appeal against the decision for up to 52 weeks if you can show "good cause” as to why you did not appeal earlier, for example you were unwell, or abroad etc.

I would say that it was a clerical error on their part, therefore should not be recoverable in law. However, as you have re-paid some of the debt and did not appeal you have admitted liability; therefore I very much doubt you would be able to challenge the decision now.

ceejaydee23

I too thought this, and i will now quote what was said on my letter back from my council!

"I accept that the overpayment resulted from an omission on our part when originally calculating your benefit entitlement. However regulation 100 of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and regulation 83 of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 allow for this overpayment to be recovered"

cookie001 wrote: »

Did you receive a decision letter advising you of the OP? Usually if you disagree with a decision you have one month to appeal against the decision from the date on the decision letter. In some cases you can appeal against the decision for up to 52 weeks if you can show "good cause” as to why you did not appeal earlier, for example you were unwell, or abroad etc.

I would say that it was a clerical error on their part, therefore should not be recoverable in law. However, as you have re-paid some of the debt and did not appeal you have admitted liability; therefore I very much doubt you would be able to challenge the decision now.

flutterby_lil

Thanks for your replies - I will write them another letter and say I am appealing the decision - I suppose I do have a good enough reason for not appelaing sooner in that my son's father died on his first birthday last year and so things have been a bit hard - I will see what they say.

Thanks

flutterby_lil

So ceejay, that looks like it is their get out clause hey?

cookie001

Regulation 100(3) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and regulation 83(3) of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 in fact refers to the relevant authority or a person acting for that authority “acting as such”. “Relevant authority” means an authority administering housing benefit or council tax benefit.

Overpayments are recoverable under regulation 100(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and under regulation 83(1) of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 unless regulations 100(2) and 83(2) respectively of those regulations apply. These make irrecoverable overpayments or benefit which arose in consequence of official error where the claimant could not have been expected to realise, when the payment or benefit was received, that there was an overpayment. The issue is whether they were in consequence of an official error.

It would be different in each individual case depending on why the OP occurred.

cookie001

flutterby_lil wrote: »

Thanks for your replies - I will write them another letter and say I am appealing the decision - I suppose I do have a good enough reason for not appelaing sooner in that my son's father died on his first birthday last year and so things have been a bit hard - I will see what they say.

Thanks

Yes that would be accepted under good cause!! Go for it.

ceejaydee23

I Went to CAB today! OMG i'm soooo glad i did!

There is a letter they can send off, As they have knowledge of what our local councils paperwork is like and YES its their get out clause that i should have KNOWN that THEY got it wrong, but the man at CAB said unless the paperwork is 100% crystal clear in how it works out the claim then how can we KNOW they got it right! we just assume they have!

So I now have to fill in all the CAB's money forms and send them bk in to get an appointment with the Money advisor, My god its a wight off my shoulders it really is!

Flutterby I suggest you do exactly the same thing x

flutterby_lil

I'm in the process of writing a letter to the HB section and seeing what comes of that but thanks, I will try get there. I work full time and only got school hols off so next time i can go is february.

Good luck.

fluffymovie

Ceejaydee, it isn't a get out clause - at the end of the day, you have received more money than you should have done, you have had the benefit of that money and are now being asked to pay it back at a low level with no interest.

Notification letters are issued using the council's software system for benefits (usually Northgate or Academy) and these are in accordance with regulations following a number of appeals in 2004/05.

As long as the letters showed the income that they were using, I don't hold out too much hope but as you say, it is Local Authority error, they can use their discretion not to recover it in some cases. I agree write offs where for example, we allow an earnings disregard and shouldn't and how would we expect you to know about it etc.

I wish you the best of luck as I always want to see the right decision being made but I would suggest that you check the letters carefully in future as I would expect that they meet HB regulations for decision notices.