Soo... benefits want to charge me £3000? help.

Mehman_2

Hi,

So.. i was getting benefits, incapacity benefit and income support through the jobcentre because i had some surgeries done back in 2009...

Anyway the jobcentre got me a placement at a job around feb 2010 i started fulltime at a place working... It didnt work out, i was still a bit ill, but my point is, the job centre got me the job and it lasted for months...

At that time i also stopped sending in doctors certificates and dealing with benefits because i assumed (as i had been going fortnightly to 'prove' i was still disabled to the job centre) that them getting me a job would in turn lead to them stopping my benefits.


So, since then i'm better, i've started work full time self employed...
Back in June 2011 i was curious what the DWP payments were on my bank statements, i was getting back to work money for a while.. Working tax credit but these were for something else and i had already rang up to query it but got nowhere...

So again i persued it, worst mistake i have ever made.. Apparently i -was- still sending in certificates and i have failed to disclose that i started fulltime work, even though the job centre got me the job... and i wasnt sending in certificates which should have alone made them stop the benefits and furthermore i was the one to bring the whole thing to their attention... Without which i'd be sitting here merrily accepting free government cash but instead i've got a bill. For my honesty.


Anyway, ive sent off an appeal about it..

But its now came back and they've basically said that their new decision is the same as their old decision that its my fault for not telling them that they got me a job... but thanks for pointing out their error and can they have the £3,4000 back.

I just think its a bit sad that this is my reward for querying the overpayment, and i was advised when talking to one of the people on the benefits line that there was 'no way they could ask me to repay it, since it's their mistake' but apparently the blame has all shifted on to me that i didnt warn them soon enough...


In the last letter i'm told i can contact Citizens advice bereau, Welfare Rights Unit or the Commuity Legal Service but i'd really be interested in anyones positive advice they can give...

Because i'm a bit lost as to what to do now.. i went down their official route and made an appeal, but apparently they're doing everything within their power to get a return on their money.

I guess a final question im wondering about it.. Is it all completely my fault too?
I mean, if my benefits would have carried on forever without my input... why was i literally limping my !!!, painkillered up to my eyeballs every fortnight to meet with the jobcentre people to show that i was still ill and handing in doctors certificates?

Meh, this has made my day really.

Lady_gaga

Even if you get a job through the job centre, you have to follow that up and let them know that you have started work, they don't always communicate with every department!! Yes it is your fault for not following due process...

Fiver29

It's your responsibility to make sure the correct department knows. You must have realised you were getting benefits you weren't entitled to

shegirl

It's your duty to tell them that you are starting work!!!

How on earth could you not notice the benefits going into your bank account,seriously?!!!

borders

Yeah, doesn't matter what involvement the job centre had or didnt have in your job. You got benefits that you weren't entitled to and they want them back. Best you can ask for is some kind of payment plan that's acceptable to both sides.

cit_k

Your lucky their not prosecuting you, I guess the fact you contacted them first is the reason why your not on the front page of a future daily mail...

Lady_gaga

Just a thought op, but I hope you wern't also getting HB/CTB all this time?!? as they will be expecting money back also if you have...

Mehman_2

and so the fact i was no longer sending in sick notes which entitled me to the benefit...
or going down to the job centre fortnightly to see my advisor to confirm my still-unable-to-work status

has no bearing on this what-so-ever...
..I appreciate you lot explaining its my fault, i just feel its bad that my reward for enquiring about the payments is a bill.

And yes, i did notice the payments.. i enquired as to what they were in 2009, got passed around through different jobcentre departments and nobody could explain what they were... So nothing came of it. All i had was the numbering on my bank statements and nobody on the phone was very helpful.

This is my following up on it, when i queried it back in June.
But at the same time i was on (at one point) Income support, incapacity benefit and disability living allowance.. i think

and they're not clearly labelled on your bank statements, so i dont understand how anyone could think its incomprehensable to not know what every single statement is on your bank statements...

...Not to mention when you're doing 40 hours a week full time, coming home to pour over bank statements is not my idea of a fun friday night..

But glad you all read the part where i asked for positive advice, and thanks for all your positive advice. Appreciated.

shegirl

Mehman wrote: »

and so the fact i was no longer sending in sick notes which entitled me to the benefit...
or going down to the job centre fortnightly to see my advisor to confirm my still-unable-to-work status

has no bearing on this what-so-ever...
..I appreciate you lot explaining its my fault, i just feel its bad that my reward for enquiring about the payments is a bill.

And yes, i did notice the payments.. i enquired as to what they were in 2009, got passed around through different jobcentre departments and nobody could explain what they were... So nothing came of it. All i had was the numbering on my bank statements and nobody on the phone was very helpful.

This is my following up on it, when i queried it back in June.
But at the same time i was on (at one point) Income support, incapacity benefit and disability living allowance.. i think

and they're not clearly labelled on your bank statements, so i dont understand how anyone could think its incomprehensable to not know what every single statement is on your bank statements...

...Not to mention when you're doing 40 hours a week full time, coming home to pour over bank statements is not my idea of a fun friday night..

But glad you all read the part where i asked for positive advice, and thanks for all your positive advice. Appreciated.

Yes they are,reference number followed by DWP followed by the initials of the benefits.

Even if they weren't (which they are) then you knew there was something wrong!

you said you queried them in 2009 (surely that should be 2010?) and didn't get an answer.So you knew there was something not right in your payments so you should've sorted it long before now.

Rikki

I thought you only had to sign on for job seeker allowance?

Income support and Incapacity benefits were paid automatically without the need to sign every two weeks.

FBaby

It's not a matter of whose fault it is or not. Yes, they could have noticed you had a job, therefore not entitled to the benefits you were receiving and yes, they could have acted on it, but they didn't HAVE to do so, the onus was on you to do so. You claim that you didn't keep the money fraudulently and you informed them in the end, so you will not be prosecuted. In between that, there is a large payment that you received that you were not entitled to. You are not totally blameless for it, not only you didn't do what you were supposed to, but it's not as if you couldn't have known, surely seeing your benefits had not changed at all should have alerted you to a point of not satisfying yourself of just making a couple of phone call and leaving it to that.

You've got to repay what you enjoyed but were not entitled to.