Mistake in benefits in favour of claimant - repayment

mancmum

OK this follows on from an earlier post but now I have more info.

Claimant had savings of 18K but made claim for JSA in summer mainly to ensure National Insurance Contributions were made.

Claimant received income based JSA of approx £26.00 for 5 weeks then signed off.

This is the amount someone would get if they had about 13,000 in savings.

I think there has been a mistake. Claimant is adamant they took all financial information along. Benefits agency appears to have made a mistake.

I am now managing claimants financial affairs but not with power of attorney just informally. They made a second claim in January which has been refused because savings are too high which is correct.

My question is if the mistake is discovered will claimant be regarded as having committed fraud. I think fault rests with benefits agency but of course claimant could have left one account statement in bottom of bag or similar. Is it possible to repay amount paid out? How would this be treated? Does benefit agency list accounts seen/copy statements. Is there any automatic reconciliation of savings accounts records with benefit agency records. Claimant absolutely must not have any criminal record because of job. Is there a window of opportunity to repay here because present claim notification letter is what has flagged up mistake. If I attempt to repay could I hit jobs worth who just initiates a fraud investigation.

Help, please.

viktory

So you are talking about a potential £130 overpayment? Can your friend not just stick this amount in an account somewhere just in case the mistake (if there has been one) is uncovered? I would imagine that the DWP would photocopy all relevant paperwork offered when making a claim. Personally, I'd not worry about it until you need to.

Aarons_mummy

Anytime I have taken documents anywhere they have been photocopied so I imagine that they would have photocopied them all.

As above has said stick the overpaid amount into another account and if it does have to be paid back then the money is there. Personally I wouldn't worry about it, it's not thousands upon thousands of pounds so I doubt there would be any prosecution etc it usually is just a repayment.

Arg

Hopefully you would be looking to take action against the jobcentre should it turn out the claimant was in the clear.

mancmum

There's no problem about re-paying a relatively small amount. My dilemma is whether to advise the claimant to repay or whether any attempt to repay would prompt to the benefits agency to start a fraud process.

-BA-

For such a short period, I would have thought it would prove too costly to put together an investigation, particularly where a voluntary repayment is concerned. Does the person stand to lose out from an investigation? By that I mean, do they receive other benefits that may be frozen during an investigation?

If there are no complications like that and no other periods of benefit payment between the two periods, I would encourage them to make the repayment and get the issue in the past.

Are you managing the persons affairs (albeit informally) on the grounds of some form of incapability? Are they vulnerable? Do they have a recognised mental health condition? DWP often don't pursue repayment of overpayment when mental health problems are an issue.

mancmum

Claimant would not lose out...there are no other benefits at stake. Claimant would be in real problems ... criminal record....if by approaching benefits agency they took the view that fraud had taken place.

I would like to just repay...but want to make sure that is the right thing. It is only a matter of days since I have had the evidence that an error has been made.

I genuinely think an error has been made 18 written as 13 or some such or someone muddling up the account statements. But of course the person could have ended up with a statement stuck a the bottom of their bag. Lets say filing is not a strong point. That's partly why I am actually trying to find out what is the process that a benefits agency staff member would go through when looking at bankstatement records...copy down the amounts or photocopy each statement?

So there is a little time to play with.

I'm not managing affairs because they are out of the country at the moment. I'm opening letters and relaying the contents.

-BA-

I still maintain that I can't see them pursuing a fraud investigation where someone has voluntarily repaid an overpayment. Perhaps a visit to CAB or Welfare Rights might be appropriate, I am not a legal expert and don't think I could offer further advice I'm afraid.