Joint housing benefit overpayment. My sole responsibility

sophl25

Hi there,

My childrens father and I split up in February 2010 and I moved from Cornwall to Devon in May 2010. I have been advised by the council this morning that as we had a joint claim for housing benefit that there is an overpayment of £1916 outstanding for which they are making me solely responsible!
Can they do this?
There is a number of smaller overpayments dating back to 2007/08 which total add up to the amount above, and they want me to pay the whole lot.
I cannot afford it, as a single mother with two children under 5. I have had to fight tooth and nail with the CSA until last month when they finally agreed he had to pay me maintenance. I had a council tax attachment of earnings order which again he didnt have to pay which will be paid off at the end of the month and now this.

I am on medication for a stress related stomach ulcer because of all this and I just want to know why they can do this to me?

I have been more than accomodating so far but i am at my wits end with it.

Please help, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

welshmoneylover

sophl25 wrote: »

Hi there,

My childrens father and I split up in February 2010 and I moved from Cornwall to Devon in May 2010. I have been advised by the council this morning that as we had a joint claim for housing benefit that there is an overpayment of £1916 outstanding for which they are making me solely responsible!
Can they do this?
There is a number of smaller overpayments dating back to 2007/08 which total add up to the amount above, and they want me to pay the whole lot.
I cannot afford it, as a single mother with two children under 5. I have had to fight tooth and nail with the CSA until last month when they finally agreed he had to pay me maintenance. I had a council tax attachment of earnings order which again he didnt have to pay which will be paid off at the end of the month and now this.

I am on medication for a stress related stomach ulcer because of all this and I just want to know why they can do this to me?

I have been more than accomodating so far but i am at my wits end with it.

Please help, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yes they can do this as its tax payers money.

Can you state the reasons for the overpayment? Perhaps there is something amiss in there.

sophl25

I am not arguing with having to pay it back, what i do disagree with is having to pay the whole lot myself on a joint claim.
I dont know what the reasons where to be honest as they havent sent me a breakdown as yet.
I gave birth in September 2007 to twin boys who were premature and after a short stay in hospital they passed away. At that point i was unemployed and my ex partner failed to hold a regular job so i would imagine our entitlement changed regularly. Although i always did my best to inform them asap.
I went back to work in december 07 and Sept 2008 i had my daughter and went onto maternity leave.

If i ask them for a full breakdown can they tell me why the entitlements changed?

welshmoneylover

sophl25 wrote: »

I am not arguing with having to pay it back, what i do disagree with is having to pay the whole lot myself on a joint claim.
I dont know what the reasons where to be honest as they havent sent me a breakdown as yet.
I gave birth in September 2007 to twin boys who were premature and after a short stay in hospital they passed away. At that point i was unemployed and my ex partner failed to hold a regular job so i would imagine our entitlement changed regularly. Although i always did my best to inform them asap.
I went back to work in december 07 and Sept 2008 i had my daughter and went onto maternity leave.

If i ask them for a full breakdown can they tell me why the entitlements changed?

Sorry to hear about the twins, must have been a devastating time for you both.

If I were you, I'd certainly be asking for a full breakdown of the entitlements.
Does your ex-OH know about this predicament, have you contacted him to ask him to offer some financial assistance towards this?

flutterby_lil

I find it strange that you are liable for all of it. Is that because the claim is in your name now and he doesn't claim so they have nothing to offset it for him so to speak?

Sorry to hear about your terrible loss, hope you have found a way to move on although I know you will never forget.

Best wishes.

sophl25

I have told him and he is less than forthcoming with any offer to help financially.
As they have told me I am solely responsible as I was the main claimant he will not pay unless he has to. It took me a year to fight for child support from him despite him earning more than me!

I just dont know what to do. I cant afford it and they are getting very persistant despite my pleas that i cannot afford it.

fluffymovie

HI there

Google Housing Benefit Overpayment Guidance and you will find a lot of the paperwork we work from. Also, I would advise you to go and see CAB about this as soon as you can but I am of the view that you are stuck with it. However, I have found the following information for you;

A recoverable Housing Benefit (HB) overpayment could be recovered from
• the claimant
• their partner in certain circumstances and/or
• the person to whom it was paid
4.01 However, the decision of who to recover from differs depending on which regulations were in
force at the time of the overpayment decision. The regulations were amended with effect
from 10 April 2006 and will be explained later in this section.


Recovery from a partner
4.70 If HB has been overpaid to a claimant who has a partner, it may be deducted from the partner's
HB, or in the case of Excess CTB, it may be recovered from the partner's CTB, as long as the
claimant and partner were members of the same household both at the time the
• overpayment occurred, and
• when it is recovered
HB Reg 101(2) & (4) & (SPC) 82(2) & (4)
CTB Reg 85(2) & (SPC) 70(2)
Example 1
Claimant Mr X has an overpayment of £50. His HB has ended and his partner Mrs Z is
claiming HB. Mr X is now the partner on her claim. They were both living in the same
household at the time of the overpayment. Recovery may be made from Mrs Z's HB as
they were both members of the same household when the overpayment occurred and
when it was recovered.


Example 2
Claimant, Miss R has an overpayment of £70 that occurred when she was living with her
partner Mr S. Mr S is now claiming HB as a single person. Recovery cannot be made from
Mr S's HB because Miss R no longer lives with him.
Example 3
Claimant, Ms J has an overpayment of £100 that occurred when she was claiming HB as
a single person. Ms J is now resident with Mr H who is claiming HB. Recovery cannot be
made from Mr H's HB because they were not members of the same household when the
overpayment occurred.


HB Reg 101 & (SPC) 8

sophl25

We dont live together anymore and have not done for some time, he is out of the country with the territorial army until october and as i am the only one that responded to their letters apparently i am solely liable.

I am going to let them take me to court as i was not the only person the money was paying for and i am not solely responsible for a JOINT claim!