housing benefit & council tax major error!

pickle84_2

Hi,
I am new to this but thought i would see if anybody can give me some advice on a major issue i have been having with my local council.
I moved into my own home 2 years ago and lived there by myself. I was in a relationship and my partner was in the army and at the time of me moing into my flat he was away on tour and his battalion was based abroad for 2 years so i was advised i could claim single occupancy for my council tax which i have been doing now since April 2009.
I then got pregnant and had my son in November 2010. My partner had been moved from his base abroad to London where he is based for 2 years until they rotate again. I worked full time and went to see the council about any benefits i may be entitled to when i went on maternity leave.
I was advised on 3 occasions that as my partner does not live with me and pays his own rent and council tax to the army for his single man room, that i am eligible to claim as a single parent. I questioned this as i assumed if you were in a relationship then that was that, but they advised me that as we "were not a whole family unit", and that he was only home 2 days a week (when not on courses or tour) that i can claim single.
I have been doing this since my son was born, yet today i received the news that this information was actually wrong and i should never have claimed as a single parent?
Now there are 2 issues, one is that the council tax department have issued me with a bill dating back to when i moved into the flat as they say i was in a relationship and as my partner came back to visit me that i should have been claiming joint council tax? I did advise them that he only got leave once every 8-12 weeks but they said this doesn't matter.
The 2nd issue is the housing benefit claim. I was advised by 3 people and i have an email confirming i can claim as a single parent but they are saying that as i failed to tell them we have a joint bank account that i now owe them nearly £2,000 in housing benefit as i should have claimed jointly?
The joint account we have is purely used for my partner to pay money into for our son monthly and i use it to pay my rent from but we both have our own single bank accounts which our wages go into.
I have tried to understand how me not telling them i have a joint bank account now makes us living together?! I didn't withold information, i told them everything they wanted to know and nothing has changed with regards to my partner. He pays council tax and rent at his army barracks and i live in my flat with our son and he visits most weekends. We are getting married in august so i appreciate that then we will have to claim everything jointly, but surely they are wrong in what they have said?
Any help on this situation would be much appreciated as i now have a bill for nearly £4,000 which i honestly do not feel is correct.
Regards
Lori

lovetowinacar

Are you in a relationship together? The son is his? I may be reading this incorrectly but it appears you have always been in a relationship with him and so are not a single parent in the true meaning of the word. If you are not a single parent and in a relationship then you are assessed as a couple. His income and your income is counted as family income.

welshmoneylover

pickle84 wrote: »

Hi,
I am new to this but thought i would see if anybody can give me some advice on a major issue i have been having with my local council.
I moved into my own home 2 years ago and lived there by myself. I was in a relationship and my partner was in the army and at the time of me moing into my flat he was away on tour and his battalion was based abroad for 2 years so i was advised i could claim single occupancy for my council tax which i have been doing now since April 2009.
I then got pregnant and had my son in November 2010. My partner had been moved from his base abroad to London where he is based for 2 years until they rotate again. I worked full time and went to see the council about any benefits i may be entitled to when i went on maternity leave.
I was advised on 3 occasions that as my partner does not live with me and pays his own rent and council tax to the army for his single man room, that i am eligible to claim as a single parent. I questioned this as i assumed if you were in a relationship then that was that, but they advised me that as we "were not a whole family unit", and that he was only home 2 days a week (when not on courses or tour) that i can claim single.
I have been doing this since my son was born, yet today i received the news that this information was actually wrong and i should never have claimed as a single parent?
Now there are 2 issues, one is that the council tax department have issued me with a bill dating back to when i moved into the flat as they say i was in a relationship and as my partner came back to visit me that i should have been claiming joint council tax? I did advise them that he only got leave once every 8-12 weeks but they said this doesn't matter.
The 2nd issue is the housing benefit claim. I was advised by 3 people and i have an email confirming i can claim as a single parent but they are saying that as i failed to tell them we have a joint bank account that i now owe them nearly £2,000 in housing benefit as i should have claimed jointly?
The joint account we have is purely used for my partner to pay money into for our son monthly and i use it to pay my rent from but we both have our own single bank accounts which our wages go into.
I have tried to understand how me not telling them i have a joint bank account now makes us living together?! I didn't withold information, i told them everything they wanted to know and nothing has changed with regards to my partner. He pays council tax and rent at his army barracks and i live in my flat with our son and he visits most weekends. We are getting married in august so i appreciate that then we will have to claim everything jointly, but surely they are wrong in what they have said?
Any help on this situation would be much appreciated as i now have a bill for nearly £4,000 which i honestly do not feel is correct.
Regards
Lori

Sounds to me as if you are a couple.

Darlyd

lovetowinacar wrote: »

Are you in a relationship together? The son is his? I may be reading this incorrectly but it appears you have always been in a relationship with him and so are not a single parent in the true meaning of the word. If you are not a single parent and in a relationship then you are assessed as a couple. His income and your income is counted as family income.

That's not true.

OP I was in the exact same position as you, But my partner owned his own and lived in his home in one country and I rented in another, we had a child together too. But I claimed as a single person as that is what I was told by H/B and CT/B, He came to stay once a mnth if that. Everything was legal, but all told to me by mouth, this went on for a total of 6 years (child was 2 when I moved in with my partner).

If I was you I would go to CAB, take all your proof/emails etc with you.

Am almost certain a partner can stay with you no more than 4 nights a month if you claiming benefits.

fluffymovie

darlyd wrote: »

That's not true.

Am almost certain a partner can stay with you no more than 4 nights a month if you claiming benefits.

This is a modern myth - there is NO particular number of days that a person can stay before they are considered a partner. Each case is looked at on it's own merits and so there is no set number of days.

I am not a Ctax expert but do sit next to the billing and recovery team leaders in my office and I am sure that I have heard them say that partners in the forces means that you are not classed as a single occupier. I also know that one of my assessors was not given an SPD when her partner was in the Navy.

I am a bit lost as to why HB would say that your failure to tell them about a joint bank account would mean that you aren't entitled to Housing Benefit. For any overpayment, there must be a decision notice which tells you the dates of the overpayment, benefit before the overpayment and after the change.

No overpayment is finalised until you have been offered the opportunity for underlying entitlement. This is the benefit that you would have been entitled to had the correct assessment been completed. Some LA's don't really push this so I always encourage you to ask.

Sounds to me like the benefit section think that you should have made a joint claim and as a result, have cancelled your claim back. Any overpayment as a result needs to be considered. If the LA think that you made the error, they can ask you to repay it. However, as you say that you have an e-mail saying that you can claim as a single person, it sounds like the error is Local Authority. They can only then recover this if they consider that you could have been aware of the overpayment at the time that it occurred.

I would urge you to ask them for a statement of reasons detailing the overpayment and then seek a reconsideration / appeal.

AnxiousMum

It sounds very much like you are a couple - separated during working time due to location only.

The money that he puts into this account - is it considered 'child support' - ie, is it about 15% of his wages? The fact that you ARE a couple, you have a child together, he contributes financially and returns 'home' on leave - really makes you a couple as far as I can see.

However, you say you questioned this, and that they replied in a written email to you that you could claim as a single parent. I would be talking to the CAB to find out if they can reclaim it from you - as they obviously not only gave you the impression you could claim this way, but gave it to you in writing that you could. if you still have the original email on your system - print off the 'details/header details' which will give the ip address of the computer that sent the email to you - this should help you back up the fact that it is in fact from who you say it is from.

I'm not into people getting benefits wrongfully, but you say you queried it, and they told you repeatedly it was okay - so good luck.

pickle84_2

Thank you for your replies. With regards to the housing benefit claim i have an email from the LA confirming i can claim as a single parent as my flat is not my partners main residency and that he pays rent and council tax elsewhere and i was also told by 3 people plus a manager this is correct yet they have suddenly changed their mind!
I honestly did not think for 1 minute i would be able to claim as a single parent nor did i even ask this as we are a couple and now have a son together but they actually told me i could claim as a single parent!!
With regards to the council tax issue, surely if i moved into a flat on my own with the tenancy in my name only and my partner lived abroad for 1 1/2 years of me living in this flat, then i am occupying the property as a single person? They are saying that as we have a joint bank account it means the flat is his main residency so can backdate to when i moved in and ask for money as a joint claim dating back 2 years, but i have explained to them that this account was never even used for years and that we only opened it as we were buying a property and had to have a joint bank account (it was shared ownership), but this fell through and i never closed the account as to be honest it wasn't something i thought was a problem!
I tried explaining to the patronising man at the council today that i have never misled them and pretended i was single, i have always told them i am in a relationship and the situation with my partner being in the army and if they had never told me i could claim single then i wouldn't have done. my partner and i work hard and have never tried to claim benefits so are pretty much in the dark with regards to how it works but it now seems i am being punished all because i was given the wrong information!

Morglin

Contact the CAB and get some advice:

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm

Lin

real1314

pickle84 wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. With regards to the housing benefit claim i have an email from the LA confirming i can claim as a single parent as my flat is not my partners main residency and that he pays rent and council tax elsewhere and i was also told by 3 people plus a manager this is correct yet they have suddenly changed their mind!
I honestly did not think for 1 minute i would be able to claim as a single parent nor did i even ask this as we are a couple and now have a son together but they actually told me i could claim as a single parent!!
With regards to the council tax issue, surely if i moved into a flat on my own with the tenancy in my name only and my partner lived abroad for 1 1/2 years of me living in this flat, then i am occupying the property as a single person? They are saying that as we have a joint bank account it means the flat is his main residency so can backdate to when i moved in and ask for money as a joint claim dating back 2 years, but i have explained to them that this account was never even used for years and that we only opened it as we were buying a property and had to have a joint bank account (it was shared ownership), but this fell through and i never closed the account as to be honest it wasn't something i thought was a problem!
I tried explaining to the patronising man at the council today that i have never misled them and pretended i was single, i have always told them i am in a relationship and the situation with my partner being in the army and if they had never told me i could claim single then i wouldn't have done. my partner and i work hard and have never tried to claim benefits so are pretty much in the dark with regards to how it works but it now seems i am being punished all because i was given the wrong information!

But did you give them the FULL facts before they gave this decision/advice?
You clearly didn't tell them about the joint bank account, by your own admission. :cool:

real1314

We're talking about HB/CTB over the past 2 years aren't we?

You said in your latter post:-

"but i have explained to them that this account was never even used for years and that we only opened it as we were buying a property and had to have a joint bank account"

You said in your first post:-

"The joint account we have is purely used for my partner to pay money into for our son monthly and i use it to pay my rent from but we both have our own single bank accounts which our wages go into."

It sounds very much like you are a couple, and should never have had the benefits.
Accordingly, having to pay the money back is the right course of action.
You're not being punished, you're just paying back what you should not have had. :cool: