Tribunal next week to decide If I should repay JSA - any advice ?

macintosh-uk

I claimed JSA on and off for 4 years , in between jobs.

They want most of it back, because at that time , I was getting full benefits, but I should have got less, or none at all in the final year.

I should have gotten about 20 pounds a week.
They paid me full.

Also, my savings in the last year I received JSA exceeded the limit of 16,000. I did not know of this. They were bonds, savings etc given to me by a now deceased relative.


So they are basically claiming I lied about my savings to get benefits, but I always told them I had roughly 13,000 in savings.

Upon hearing this, they still gave me benefits and told me to go to the job centre to claim them.

I only realised 4 years later they should have sent me some kind of letter to show all of my savings, they never did, they just took my word for it and let me claim.

But here is the situation, - whether I am a multi millionaire, or have no money at all - the principle if this - if i told them I had savings - it was their duty to confirm these savings existed.
(like I said, I only found out this when I was told they wanted their money back).

Secondly, even with 13,000 savings, why was I paid full JSA ? I should have gotten roughly 15 - 20 pounds a week.

This went on for four years, claiming on and off in between jobs,
in the last year my net savings went over 16,000, I claimed again and rightfully they want this money back too.

But isn't this their fault for allowing me to claim ?

Dunroamin

Pay it back immediately and hope they don't prosecute you.

dseventy

Ditto above.

Whilst you say things like "its their fault" and "its their responsibility" and "they still gave me benefits", what about your responsibilty?

If you knew at the time that you were getting more than you should be, what did you do? If you knew "they" didnt know about savings, what efforts did you make to tell them?

I would be apologetic and hope you don't get a criminal record.

D70

thorsoak

macintosh-uk wrote: »

I claimed JSA on and off for 4 years , in between jobs.

They want most of it back, because at that time , I was getting full benefits, but I should have got less, or none at all in the final year.

I should have gotten about 20 pounds a week.
They paid me full.

Also, my savings in the last year I received JSA exceeded the limit of 16,000. I did not know of this. They were bonds, savings etc given to me by a now deceased relative.


So they are basically claiming I lied about my savings to get benefits, but I always told them I had roughly 13,000 in savings.

Upon hearing this, they still gave me benefits and told me to go to the job centre to claim them.

I only realised 4 years later they should have sent me some kind of letter to show all of my savings, they never did, they just took my word for it and let me claim.

But here is the situation, - whether I am a multi millionaire, or have no money at all - the principle if this - if i told them I had savings - it was their duty to confirm these savings existed.
(like I said, I only found out this when I was told they wanted their money back).

Secondly, even with 13,000 savings, why was I paid full JSA ? I should have gotten roughly 15 - 20 pounds a week.

This went on for four years, claiming on and off in between jobs,
in the last year my net savings went over 16,000, I claimed again and rightfully they want this money back too.

But isn't this their fault for allowing me to claim ?

What absolute poppycock (this is me being polite because we're supposed to be nice to new posters!)

To take your point further, bank robbers could argue that any bank robbery is the fault of the bank concerned because they have counters and money ....or a mugging is the fault of the old lady for carrying her handbag!

Trit trot back under the bridge, methinks!

BrettMorganxD

You will more than likley have to pay it all back I am afraid, regardless who's fault it was.

Also is it me, or is someone considered a troll everytime they have a difference of opinion nowadays. jeez

Chrissiew

BrettMorganxD wrote: »

You will more than likley have to pay it all back I am afraid, regardless who's fault it was.

Also is it me, or is someone considered a troll everytime they have a difference of opinion nowadays. jeez

I have thought the same thing, especialy when its a new poster involved, I cannot for the life of me see how the OPs post can be considered as written by a troll.

Elvisia

Have you spoken to the CAB? If you have any written evidence then you might have a chance, but if not then no. Unfortunately in the forms they gave you when you signed on it does say you have to declare savings. It also says somewhere buried deep on their website that you can't have full JSA with savings over 6k and explains the 'lose a £1 for every £250 you have'. When I signed on and I got less money I got a letter saying why I was getting less money.

I too have a similar issue of being overpaid, this was due to a mistake on the JC's behalf but I have no written evidence of it, so the CAB said there is nothing I can do about it. I am currently in negotiations as to how I pay it back.

Arg

This seems straight forward for the first instance.
The jobcentre made the mistakes so their the ones fault.
At least someones gained money rather than lost it because of the jobcentres incompetence or fraud.

macintosh-uk

dseventy wrote: »

Ditto above.

Whilst you say things like "its their fault" and "its their responsibility" and "they still gave me benefits", what about your responsibilty?

If you knew at the time that you were getting more than you should be, what did you do? If you knew "they" didnt know about savings, what efforts did you make to tell them?

I would be apologetic and hope you don't get a criminal record.

D70

wait - how was I supposed to know how much they should be paying me ?? It was their fault

macintosh-uk

I didn't get the opportunity to delcare the savings, and I didn't know I needed to.

The only time I did was when I was asked if I had savings, I said roughly 14,000, and then the man moved onto the next question !

macintosh-uk

Surely they are in the wrong for letting me claim ?

how will my argument hold up in a tribunal ? Also, do I represent myself in the tribunal, and what is the tribunal like ?