Advice needed on CA overpayment

andrew71

My wife's mum came around for a couple of months then my wife started to leave my dinner in the fridge.
Taking that out of consideration what my wife was paid each week
was in 2008. £96. At the time the CA limit was £95. My wife paid over £5 per four weeks to her Union.
When the allowance went up to £100 my wife's earning increased to £101. Again she was above the threshold but again she paid over £5 into her Union.

When we filled the forms in originally to apply for CA we mentioned that she paid money into her Union on the form and it was accepted.
Nothing changed since the original application, she still works 16 hours (which she needs to to be able to claim WTC).
So after three years they suddenly turn around and say they have overpayed us when nothing changed, how can that make sense?

My wife phoned them up last night when she got in and the lady on the phone told her that they would put it on hold while somebody else looks into it.
From what I worked out from my wife's wage slips yesterday there maybe about 5-8 weeks over the years where she as been paid extra due to doing overtime (which she only does if it is something like training) and profit share. Other than that she is constantly below the limit to be paid.

DX2

andrew71 wrote: »

Taking that out of consideration what my wife was paid each week
was in 2008. £96. At the time the CA limit was £95. My wife paid over £5 per four weeks to her Union.
When the allowance went up to £100 my wife's earning increased to £101. Again she was above the threshold but again she paid over £5 into her Union.

Earnings Rules
[FONT=Arial,Arial]If you earn more than £100.00 per week (after deductions) you will not qualify for Carer’s Allowance. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]When calculating your earnings you should deduct from your gross wages: [/FONT]

*

[FONT=Arial,Arial]

Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. [/FONT]

*

[FONT=Arial,Arial]

Half of any contributions to an occupational or personal pension plan. [/FONT]

*

[FONT=Arial,Arial]

Any expenses "wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of the employment" (this includes, for example, equipment, specialist clothing, travelling at work, but

[/FONT]

not [FONT=Arial,Arial]travel between home and work or trade union subscriptions). [/FONT]

*

[FONT=Arial,Arial]

If you pay somebody other than a ‘close relative’ to look after the person in respect of whom you are claiming Carer’s Allowance, or to look after your child aged under 16, the payments are disregarded up to a maximum of half your net earnings. [/FONT]

andrew71

Ok you have to look after somebody for 35hours to be able to claim for CA.
My wife works only 16 hours so of 168 hours in a week there was still 152 hours. Taking out when she went shopping or to get out of the house she was still attending to me 35 hours.
Some of the times this was during the night (which we were told it didn't matter what time of day or night as long as you were caring for somebody for 35 hours then you could claim CA)

DX2

andrew71 wrote: »

Ok you have to look after somebody for 35hours to be able to claim for CA.
My wife works only 16 hours so of 168 hours in a week there was still 152 hours. Taking out when she went shopping or to get out of the house she was still attending to me 35 hours.
Some of the times this was during the night (which we were told it didn't matter what time of day or night as long as you were caring for somebody for 35 hours then you could claim CA)

But this doesn't matter, this is not what is being disputed.

andrew71

Ok fair enough if they have overpayed us but what my point is
(1) why did they accept the application at the time?
(2) Why take nearly 3 years to say that we have been overpayed?

How is somebody on benefits supposed to pay back nearly £3K?

DX2

andrew71 wrote: »

Ok fair enough if they have overpayed us but what my point is
(1) why did they accept the application at the time?
(2) Why take nearly 3 years to say that we have been overpayed?

How is somebody on benefits supposed to pay back nearly £3K?

This is something you need to ask them, if/when you dispute the overpayment. 3K isn't a 3 year overpayment, if your wife was earning too much to get CA then your overpayment would be far higher for 3 years. I personally would be asking questions especially if as you say they accepted all the facts at the time you made the application to them and sent wages slips etc.

nannytone_2

CA isnt paid for the actual 'care' that is given. it is paid in respect of a job that cannot be taken because you need to care for someone. it is in effect a wage 'replacement'
so the fact that you wife has 150+ hours a week in which to care for you isnt a valid point as she wouldnbt do a 'job' with that many hours.

hope that makes sense!

andrew71

Hi an update on this situation. We received a letter the other day to which they said they had looked into it and they have not changed their decision. When we applied for the CA we were given help filling it in by Signpost (a local council help) we are going to contact CA again and ask if they can send us a copy of our original form we sent to them. I'm doubting they will change their mind again so if I phone them up and tell them we cannot pay it back in full how do we go about paying them back a set amount per month? Can we do it over the phone or does it have to be done via an appeal? My wife says she would go to court if needs be but I really don't want her to do that.

Still angry that they waited for three years before contacting us. Anything like this should be looked atleat every 1 year.

Whiteknight

Why do you want the original application form back - do you think it was completed incorrectly by the person from Signpost?

Transformer

Even if signpost made an error, signing it and sending it off without checking you are happy with it, or agreeing to what signpost wrote then questioning it later, is well a bit late, so dont see how the original form can help you.