Possibly over payment of housing benefit

butbo

Hello

I think I have been receiving housing benefits which I may not be entitled to and I am quite worried.

I claimed benefits last year May to July which were income based Jobseekers Allowance and Housing Benefit. I then began work for a month before beginning a masters degree. I informed the benefits agency of my change in circumstances and stopped signing on and wrote to the housing benefits as well.

My Jobseekers stopped and I began my university course, but my housing benefits continued to be payed every month. I assumed this was due to my course being bursary funded and also I had originally had to wait a few months for housing benefits so assumed it was arrears. I wrote to the housing benefist again to ask if this was the case, and heard nothing back. I called a few times but the number is constantly busy.

To this day I keep receiving housing benefit every month. I have written three times to the housing benefits to outline my situation but as yet no response. I am not signing for this every month, it just keeps getting paid. I am still a full time student and worried about what to do. Can anyone advise please? I really dont want to go to prison. I can imagine I will eventually have to pay this back which is fine but any criminal proceedings would be awful.

faerie_girl

Don't spend the money then if they ask for it back you can give it them. Can you pop into the job centre and see if they can advise you about it?

BigAunty

Generally only students in HE with disabilities or lone parents qualify for housing benefit, therefore if you don't fit this category, you have received an overpayment.

Have you spent the housing benefit money or is it available to refund to them now?

harleq1962

can you not go into a local office and see someone face to face, i had an overpayment a few years back, it was due to me thinking that they sent a housing benefit form out every year, which i found out they didnt when i went into the office for advice. they give me the you know this should have been declared etc etc and i ended up just getting a bill from them for the overpayment

mynameistallulah

Did you send the letters Recorded Delivery, and were they definitely received?

butbo

Thank you for all your replies.

I didnt send the letters recorded delivery unfortunately.

The Jobcentre and the housing benefits department are in different towns within this city, from my past experience they don't tend to speak to one another (hence possibly why this is happening - infact about 5 years ago I claimed benefits briefly and even when I stopped signing on it took 3 months for the housing benefit department to stop my claim, which I have paid back)

I have some money to pay them back, and paying them back would be fine with me; I am just mega scared of getting any criminal against my name, I am studying for a profession where having a CRB is mandatory. I hope I can get this cleared up soon. From what I have read getting a conviction occurs in circumstances where people are deliberately signing on and being duplicitious rather than a internal error where benefits just keep getting paid despite me not actually claiming them?

mynameistallulah

You need to contact them. If they realise the error and have to contact you chances are you will be investigated. If you tell them, you may well be interviewed under caution, but the likelihood of it going further than an administrative penalty is greatly reduced. An administrative penalty will not appear on a CRB.

BigAunty

It is up to the claimant to end the claim and it's generally not recommended to assume that one organisation issuing a benefit is in communication with a different organisation issuing another.

DWP for JSA is a separate organisation than the local council issuing HB, and although it wouldn't really harm them to have sensible data links, the onus is on the claimant to notify the relevant departments (plural) of their changes in circumstance, not for one organisation to randomly to tell another organisation to end a separate claim.

This is what you sign to say that you will do (notify them) of any changes of circumstances on your original claim forms and although you've clearly tried and been frustrated at doing this, it is ultimately your responsibility to end the HB claim yourself.

It is obviously a very good idea for you to resolve this proactively rather than the local council identify what they believe is fraudulent activity (as, yes, those claimants who continue with a claim when their circumstances have changed without notifying them can also be considered to be fraudulent - I'm not saying this applies to you - but some claimants who continue to receive a benefit they are not eligible for do actually get prosecuted, it's not just about active fraud, passive types of fraud are also criminal in nature, if this makes sense. Again, I'm not saying this applies to you).

Elvisia

I had an overpayment issue with the JC, and even though I had been in a meeting and had informed them I had overpaid, in person, writing and on the phone, it took about 3 months before they said "whoopsie, yes you are overpaid can we have out money back please". In the meantime I was still getting my benefits. They lost all three sets of my personal papers I sent them, and in the end I wrote in a recorded delivery letter saying if it wasn't sorted out I would inform my MP, at which point I got a phone call from the JC manager. This might be worth trying. The recorded delivery though only records it's gone to the main sorting office there, not to the right person. I very strongly doubt you would ever be pulled up in court for not paying, if you show you've made every reasonable attempt to stop the benefit they can't sue you for it, and in fact normally unless it's over about 2k they just want the money back.
My overpayment was due to the JC misinforming me but was done verbally and not written down, so when I was faced with it all I could say was 'I was told this, but I understand I can't prove it'. In theory they could have done me for benefits fraud but they didn't, and I just got a bill for the overpayment. At the point I knew I had an overpayment I battened down the financial hatches and stopped all spending so was able to save up my benefits to pay back to them!

Good luck with it all, and don't worry too much. You can always see the CAB, although they will probably say exactly what people will say on here.

butbo

Thank you, I will call them now and make sure I get through to someone to explain, hopefully it will be ok!