LA authority official error. Can they do this?

kez917

Hello there, I will try to be as breif as possible.

I made a complaint against my old LA over payments of Housing benefit being made following medical discharge from the forces. It turned out that they had made an official error from a claim we made between 2005 and 2007. We did not renew our claim back then, when we moved (to reduce the rental liability cos we could not afford it after they reduced the payments) as the rent had decreased and they had reduced the money because of this error down to £2 per month. They have admitted the mistake was made and have agreed to pay the money that was due during the times we were claiming. I made it clear that pending the outcome of the investigastion I would consider options of claiming for the remainder of the time we lived in the borough. to oct 2010. They have since replied that they will pay the money on agreement that it is for the duration of the initial two years and that I don't look to take the claim further. Can they do this? I was entitiled to this assistance and they are conciously detrementing my family. They have dragged this out for 9 months now to answer one question and have given false representation of the legislation along the way and ignored the technical authors opinion from the DWP, who wrote the rules. I need to know if they can withold this money if I do not agree to their terms when it was an entitlement that they have acknowledged as not being paid due to thier mistake. I don't qualify for Legal aid but can't afford to instruct a solicitor and as such I have been dealing with this on my own for the duration, but i am out of my depth now. Please help

real1314

kez917 wrote: »

Hello there, I will try to be as breif as possible.

Paragraphs might have helped!

I made a complaint against my old LA over payments of Housing benefit being made following medical discharge from the forces. It turned out that they had made an official error from a claim we made between 2005 and 2007. In whose favour? Yours?

We did not renew our claim back then, when we moved (to reduce the rental liability cos we could not afford it after they reduced the payments) as the rent had decreased and they had reduced the money because of this error down to £2 per month. They have admitted the mistake was made and have agreed to pay the money that was due during the times we were claiming.

So they owe you some money? Did they confirm this in writing?

I made it clear that pending the outcome of the investigastion I would consider options of claiming for the remainder of the time we lived in the borough. to oct 2010.

Right, I'm confused now. What has what happened in the past got to do with Oct 2010?

They have since replied that they will pay the money on agreement that it is for the duration of the initial two years and that I don't look to take the claim further. Can they do this?

I was entitiled to this assistance and they are conciously detrementing my family.
Do you mean for money that you *could* have claimed but *didn't* claim?

They have dragged this out for 9 months now to answer one question and have given false representation of the legislation along the way and ignored the technical authors opinion from the DWP, who wrote the rules.

I need to know if they can withold this money if I do not agree to their terms when it was an entitlement that they have acknowledged as not being paid due to thier mistake. I don't qualify for Legal aid but can't afford to instruct a solicitor and as such I have been dealing with this on my own for the duration, but i am out of my depth now. Please help

Please, do a timeline of events. don't muddy the timeline or jump back and forward.

From what I can understand:-

1. They owe you money from an error in 2005-2007.

They have agreed to pay you this money. If this was HB money, I think they will have to pay this from council taxpayers funds, rather than claiming it back from central government.

2. When this was being considered (in 2010?), you suggested that you might want to claim from that point onwards.

But you didn't claim. So you wouldn't get this money.

You cannot just say "I reserve the right to claim for money that might be due to me" - there is no law that would support such action.

:cool:

kez917

Thanks for the grammar pointers. I have a visual impairment and it is a little difficult, but I hope this is clearer. Yes in our favour.

Timeline.

2004 medical discharge from forces
2005 applied for HB approved
2005 MOD administered pension as a war disablement pension to be disregarded in calculations. Informed LA, but as pension went up they reduced HB instead of disregarding amount.

2006 got back into work after injuries. Part time work on a golf course

2007 moved property as payments continued to reduce to £2 per month, so, reduced rent and such a small amount meant did not qualify.

2010 moved to a different LA to be nearer family and a cheaper location to live.

Contacted them last June to ask them to reconsider the fact that they had not disregarded this amount and if they had made a mistake.

They have written saying they will pay the monies for the time period of 2005 to 2007 when we moved on the condition that we do not extend the time period to 2010 when we left the borough. They will release the funds upon my acceptance of these terms. Yes have the letter for all of this. When we moved in 2007 we would have continued our claim for assistance if we qualified for this as we have a young family with a special needs son (four boys) and I was determined 70% disabled following my injury, which after rehab and surgey I had reduced to 50%.

I do not get much help now and work hard for my family. I had a successful army career until my accident and the very system that I served to protect failed me when I needed it the most. Hope that is a little clearer. And I should be able to ask them to consider the time after because they messed up and have admitted it. Thanks

real1314

Thanks, that helps.

The first thing to say is that (iirc) War Disablement Pension are not ordinarily fully disregarded under HB regs. They are allowed a set disregard (£15 iirc) but can be further disregarded, up to fully disregarded, based on each LA's policy.

I *think* the LA has to meet the extra disregarded from council funds.
I don't know how they would make this decision, maybe it's a councillor's committe?

However, if they had a policy of allowing a full disregard, they have mis-administered their own policies.

On this basis, they have failed to pay you correctly for the period of your claim. Then, when you moved, you treated their previous assessments as advice and presumed based on this (mis)advice that you would not qualify.

I'd suggest you:

a) Put the point to them, that you did not claim at the new address due to their assessment being treated as advice of allowances and rates, and that their advice suggested you would not qualify. Your only reason for not claiming was due to their mis-advice.

b) get in touch with the Local Government Ombudsman - http://www.lgo.org.uk/

Good luck.

nb. I've been out of the benefits arena for a while, but afaik this post is still correct. If fluffymovie comes along and says I'm wrong, she is probably right. :cool:

kez917

Thank you very much for your advice. I will write to them on Monday using this advice. Thank you very much

kez917

I forgot to say that they had passed a resolution in 1997 to disregard beyond the statutory disregard and that is what I based the question on at the time. Thanks again

[Deleted User]

i appreciate that you cant afford a solicitor,but could you get legal advice via either the british legion or ssafa?

fluffymovie

Great post Real. Yes, War pensions are normally disregarded in full but this is a local scheme each council has to decide for themselves. We have to meet the costs lost from Council funds and the scheme is decided by members.

The post is a bit confusing and in cases like this, I;d normally ask to meet with the customers to discuss.

If I understand correctly, they used the pension as an MOD pension and not a War pension (they are different) and so you received a smaller amount of HB. As a result, you moved to a cheaper property and did not qualify.

If they are now saying that they acknowledge an error, this is called an Anytime supercession and they can correct the benefit going back anytime. There is no time limit and I personally would never offer people the money they are owed on the basis of anything! If they made an error, they are obliged to correct it going back as far as required. There should not be any time bar?

Housing Benefit is tax payers funds and there can be no implicit contract that they will only pay for a period if you remained entitled all this time>

CIS

If they are now saying that they acknowledge an error, this is called an Anytime supercession and they can correct the benefit going back anytime. There is no time limit and I personally would never offer people the money they are owed on the basis of anything! If they made an error, they are obliged to correct it going back as far as required. There should not be any time bar?

It does seem odd - I'm wondering if they're more acknowledging only a partial fault on the councils part rather than 100% and its on this basis. (possibly hedging their bets against a tribunal). I've never come across any local authority doing this for HB or CTB but maybe their conscious of the subsidy as I'd suspect they may have to foot the entire bill from council funds (is subsidy still paid a % for L/A error based on error rate ?).