On TV this morning (9/5/11) Martin said......

GaryBC

... that, "if you tell the benefits office of an overpayment, they cannot claim the overpayment back".

Well we did, and they are!

What if you tell them, and they acknowledge that you've told them (and even apologise - in writing - for failing to act), and yet they still nag for it back? In addition, subsequent phone calls made to them get lost (ie they "have no record")?

After telling them several times, and the payments remain the same, is it not reasonable to presume that the payments are correct? We did!!

But it not turns out they weren't, and they want it all back!!! But as we no longer qualify they have no payments to adjust so they're demanding thousands of pounds in one go! And as we presumed they were correct payments, we did not put them aside for paying back later.

Where does one turn? I've written to them several times but they will not move from their "sorry, we accept that we failed to act and that it was our mistake, but we want our money back anyway". I've written to my MP and cc'd the BBC's "Watchdog".

As far as we are concerned we fulfilled our part of the bargain by keeping them fully informed of our changing circumstances (going well beyond our responsibilities really by telling them many times). How do we ensure they keep to their part of the bargain and stop chasing us for money they are not entitled to (and which, incidentally, we don't have)?

Any advice would be welcome!

Cheers,
Gaz

WPN

The law states they can demand back overpayments and also they can hold back future payments if you cant pay it back in a lump sum.

In some occasions, they will write it off down to "error". But for thousands of pounds its unlikely.

May I ask what your circumstances are? i.e. do you have children and could you pay back the overpayments even by instalments?

You might be in your best interests to write to them stating you believe all payments were correct along with all details of reporting changes of circumstances (if you have that info available) - it could be an error on their part.

spadoosh

How are they not entitled to it? Its bad what they did but youve kinda got to accept that you do owe them money. I assume youve spoken to them about a payment plan? You can give them two options. Tell them there is no way you can afford it in one lump some but would like to set up a payment plan of £?(what you can afford)? per week/month. Or the other option is they take you to court the miagistrate decides you have no money and sets up the payment plan for you, probably reducing the amount to be paid aswell.

GaryBC

Hmm.. Interesting set of replies!!

It may not be enshrined in law but everybody, everybody (them included!), says that, when the mistake is their end, they write off the error!

Well this is most definitely their error: they have been told repeatedly and they have accepted - in writing - that it is their error. And yet they refuse to accept responsibility.

Thanks for the 'help and support'!!

spadoosh

No its definately not set in law. As buisness are run by people and people make mistakes (frequently) a business can not be held responsible (on all acounts) on a mistake. You see these issues everyday with pricing errors and invoicing times.

Im sorry but you do owe them the money. they can choose to right it off as any business could but they certainly dont 'have' to. They can accept responsibility but again that doesnt mean to say they have to write it off.

Good luck with this case.

AnxiousMum

I know that whenever I've had to report a change in the past, I would be told 'your award notice will come in the mail', did you get a new award notice when you reported the change? if not, then that is a good indicator to you that the change has not been actioned, and therefore, your payments have not been affected yet.

Cpt.Scarlet

What benefit have you been overpaid on as the law is different for some versus others?

richard9991

spadoosh wrote: »

How are they not entitled to it? Its bad what they did but youve kinda got to accept that you do owe them money. I assume youve spoken to them about a payment plan? You can give them two options. Tell them there is no way you can afford it in one lump some but would like to set up a payment plan of £?(what you can afford)? per week/month. Or the other option is they take you to court the miagistrate decides you have no money and sets up the payment plan for you, probably reducing the amount to be paid aswell.

surley you mean county court and the judge would order to pay, magistrates are for criminal acts and an overpayment with no fraud involved is not a criminal offence.

speedfreek1000

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/dec/08/benefit-overpayments-court-legal-action

The supreme court ruled today that the government cannot recover overpayments of social security benefits through the courts where the claimant is not at fault.

Although they still may try and reclaim via any future benefit payments.

AsknAnswer2

The supreme court ruling only applies to some benefits, certainly not all, so it would depend on what benefit it is that has been overpaid.

GAD161

You should find out whether you can appeal against the decision that you must repay the overpayment and, if so, do that rather than waste time having fruitless discussions with DWP. You could then have your case considered by a tribunal which is independent of DWP. You usually have only a month to appeal against a decision (this means from the date the DWP sent the decision) but this can be extended by a further 12 months if you have good reasons for appealing late. If out of time, you may be able to argue that any letters you sent to DWP challenging the overpayment should be treated as a request for an appeal.

Somebody has already mentioned that different benefits have different rules but most of the benefits paid by the DWP have the same rules about overpayments. From the info you have provided, it seems the reason the overpayment occured is that the DWP based payment on incorrect details of your circumstances. Unless you 'failed to disclose' or 'misrepresented' these circumstances to the DWP (and you clearly feel you didn't) then you could successfully argue you should not have to repay the overpayment.

The benefit system is based on regulations that give you certain rights as well as imposing obligations. The DWP can only recover overpayments if the regulations allow them to. They have tried to circumvent these regulations in the past by trying to reclaim, under common law, overpayments that they wouldn't be allowed to recover under Social Security law. This is the case they have lost at the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, there are also regulations about how and when you must appeal so if you are out of time and can't get a late appeal accepted, you could have the best arguments in the world and still end up having to repay. Get advice on this from a CAB or local Welfare Rights Service and don't delay if there is a chance of getting an appeal in.

The points above aren't supposed to be a definitive and comprehensive overview of the rules in all cases but just some suggestions to explore in your case. The rules for Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Tax Credits are different to other benefits (and tougher).