HB and CT calculations .

Jayleen

Hi , can someone explain to me how they work out the Housing benefit and CT benefit ? I am on IB and my son started a new job last October and we get non dependent deductions . The place where he works pays him on the 15th of every month but for the whole of the previous month .
On the 15th November he received one weeks pay for the work he did when he first started for the period 25th October - 31st October inclusive to the amount of £136.50 gross .
On the 15th December he received £734.50 gross for work done 1st-30th November .
On 15th Jan £867.75 gross for 1st-31st December , this wage was higher because he covered for someone .
I expected us to have to pay more rent and council tax for December because he earned more , but first they took it back to the 15th November saying there was an overpayment and so I appealed and asked how our circumstances had changed on the 15th ? Now they have taken the overpayments back to the 8th November .
They have his wage slips and confirmation from work for the dates each wage slip applies to . In November he earned the equivalent of £171.38 per week , but they have added November and December together so that it works out more a week and I can't understand why it's from 8th of November when they know he was paid for the 1st -30th .
If I or anyone else had said he'd earned less than he had that would have been fraud , so what is it when they can just change the figures ?

His January wage is back down again to £689.00 gross , but they said they would only treat this as a change of circumstances from 1st January . Can they do this ???
I have been trying to find out more myself and found this on the internet but part of it I don't understand , namely part b) and 3) . Do you think this applies to us and if so what does it mean ? Sorry , I keep reading part b) over and over but I still don't understand what they are saying .:question:

29.—(1) Where a claimant’s income consists of earnings from employment as an employed earner his average weekly earnings shall be estimated by reference to his earnings from that employment—

(a)over a period immediately preceding the benefit week in which the claim is made or treated as made and being a period of—.

(i)5 weeks, if he is paid weekly; or.
(ii)2 months, if he is paid monthly; or.

(b)whether or not sub-paragraph (a)(i) or (ii) applies, where a claimant’s earnings fluctuate, over such other period preceding the benefit week in which the claim is made or treated as made as may, in any particular case, enable his average weekly earnings to be estimated more accurately.


(3) Where the amount of a claimant’s earnings changes during an award the relevant authority shall estimate his average weekly earnings by reference to his likely earnings from the employment over such period as is appropriate in order that his average weekly earnings may be estimated accurately but the length of the period shall not in any case exceed 52 weeks.

Have I still got a case to appeal about them taking the overpayments back to 8th November ?
Any help appreciated ,thanks .

pandaspot

Hi

The reason it's the 8/11 is because the change happened on 01/11 but with hb the changes always apply from the following Monday. So that is correct.

They are also correct in using two months pay and average it out.

So don't think you would win an appeal sorry

Jayleen

Thanks for your reply , but on the 1st November nothing actually changed as the band we should have been on was the same as when my son started work on the 25th October . The amount you can earn for that band is between £120-£179 per week . I thought he should have stayed on that band until 1st December .

pandaspot

Hi

So are you saying that you think they have added together the nov and dec pay? Personally if I was assessing this claim I would not use the pay he recd for nov as it's only a week but I would use dec pay from 25/10 and then I would add on febs pay to make the average. I wouldn't use jans as it's got overtime on it, if it doesn't say it's overtime I would use it instead of febs payslip

What deduction are you having at the moment?

pandaspot

The average with November and dec is £184.87

Did you know the deductions are increasing in April? I tried to paste a table for you but think it's messed up. The first figure under each category is the current deduction, the second is the rate from April

Non-dependants income

Current deduction Deduction from April 2011

Aged 25 or over and on Income Support or Job Seeker’s Allowance(Income-Based), or aged 18 or over and not in paid work
£7.40. £9.40
On main phase Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Related)
£7.40. £9.40
Not on the main phase Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Related) rate
Nil Nil
On Pension Credit
Nil Nil


Aged 18 or over and in paid work:
Gross weekly income £387 or more
£47.75. £60.60
Gross weekly income of between £310 and £386.99
£43.50. £55.20
Gross weekly income of between £234 and £309.99
£38.20. £48.45
Gross weekly income of between £180 and £233.99
£23.35. £29.60
Gross weekly income of between £122 and £179.99
£17.00. £21.55
Gross weekly income of less than £122
£7.40. £9.40

Jayleen

No , sorry I haven't explained it very well .

October is one weeks pay £136.50 received 15th Nov.
November £734.50 received 15th Dec.
December had to cover £867.75 recieved 15th Jan

His January wage is back to normal and is £689.00 .

The weekly benefit award for someone earning between £120-£179 should be £43.40 which is what we were on . Now they are saying from 8th November it is £36.53 less overpayment recovery of £9.90 even though he only earned the equivalent of £171.38 per week then . This is for HB only their is CT too .
They have added Nov & Dec together and said we have to pay more from the 8th nov.

pandaspot

Did the pay in jan have overtime written on it or did it just look like his wages increased? If it didn't have overtime on it might be worth explaining why it had increased and ask for a reconsideration?

Ask them to use the pay slips separately month by month until the pay returns to normal, which it has done now.

That's the only thing I can think of now for you.

Jayleen

Hi Pandaspot ,
I was looking at your table and ours is slightly more than that now at least for the 2 I know about .

I have £18.42 for £120-£177.99
£25.30 for £178-£230.99

Do you think they vary for different areas ?

Jayleen

Yeah , I did explain in my first appeal that his colleague was off and my son had to cover for him , hence the extra hours , so they already know that .
All they did was move the overpayment back even more by another week .

pandaspot

They probably realised they amended it from the wrong date. The correct date is 8/11.

Nondep deductions are the same all over the uk, they haven't altered since 2001.

Jayleen

Well these are the amounts they are using for us .
Also £2.30 CT and £4.60 CT