Housing Benefit claim & overpay from employer

stroodes

So u lived a life that was beyond ure means for a while, just pay it back and get over it.

Oldernotwiser

Rickee wrote: »

This is my point. I don't think it should be treated as income as we have to pay it back, it's more akin to a loan which is obviously something they wouldn't normally account as income..

Student loans are also treated as income, even if you don't actually take it out!

terryw

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Student loans are also treated as income, even if you don't actually take it out!

Yes but that is rather a special case.

Another analogy might be:

The bank make an error and credit £1,000,000 to your bank account. Having this amount of money in your bank account would negate any means-tested benefits. Surely, once this error is rectified, a claim for means-tested benefit for the period that the money was in the account would be quite acceptable.

I side with the OP here. A clear statement showing the true amount of earnings for the period in dispute would assist the HB people in calculating the true amount of HB due.

Oldernotwiser

Rickee wrote: »

No, it didn't occur to me that in receipt of our pay we should pay more rent, our rent is set at a certain amount and I don't think it should be adjusted depending on the amount of money we earn/did earn..

So, if you were promoted and your salary went up a large chunk, do you think that you'd still get the same HB?

Oldernotwiser

terryw wrote: »

Yes but that is rather a special case.

Another analogy might be:

The bank make an error and credit £1,000,000 to your bank account. Having this amount of money in your bank account would negate any means-tested benefits. Surely, once this error is rectified, a claim for means-tested benefit for the period that the money was in the account would be quite acceptable.

I side with the OP here. A clear statement showing the true amount of earnings for the period in dispute would assist the HB people in calculating the true amount of HB due.

I appreciate what you're saying but it does show how a loan can be treated as income.

Also, I'm fairly sure that people with offset mortgages have had problems with claiming means tested benefits because they have money available to them.

terryw

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I appreciate what you're saying but it does show how a loan can be treated as income.

Also, I'm fairly sure that people with offset mortgages have had problems with claiming means tested benefits because they have money available to them.

But in the OP's case this is not a loan - it is simply money that was paid in error and has to be repaid.

Rickee

stroodes wrote: »

So u lived a life that was beyond ure means for a while, just pay it back and get over it.

Wow, I never looked at it like that, thanks so much for your help and assistance, it's always great when someone makes a contribution that really hits the nail on the head. MSE forums are so much richer for having you as a member.

Rickee

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

So, if you were promoted and your salary went up a large chunk, do you think that you'd still get the same HB?

I think I'm missing the point of this line of enquiry, I'm fully aware of the fact that the more money you earn the less HB you're entitled to and that when you reach a certain threshold you're not entitled to any.

The question I was asked related to my rent which is set by my private landlord and has not changed and should not change depending on my earnings.

Lady_gaga

I'm just astounded that she doesn't know the maternity pay policies for the company she works for!!! is that not something you would check on? you would have to if you needed to budget surely?!?

Rickee

Lady_gaga wrote: »

I'm just astounded that she doesn't know the maternity pay policies for the company she works for!!! is that not something you would check on? you would have to if you needed to budget surely?!?

Well you just saw an opportunity to highlight someone's naivity/stupidity and took the bull by the horns there didn't you?

My wife used to work for the company that I work for and thought that the standard was six months at full pay. I can't really blame her for it as I found it slightly ridiculous that the legal requirement transpired to be six weeks of 90% before going down to just over £500 a month.

The company she worked for sent a letter which wasn't read and that was as far as it went. All we thought we needed to budget for was the drop in income we were expecting when the six months was up.

Obviously, hindsight suggests we should have checked things out properly, we're now sitting pretty with a £2,000 debt and no money to pay it back with. Thanks for pointing it out though.