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What can I do

Hi all,

Hope someone can help or point me in the right direction, I recently had a letter from the local housing office to say that my claim for HB/CT was suspended due to information received that my now ex wife had moved back in with me.

She hasn't and changed her name some 2 years ago and moved out 2 years ago, she has never lived at this property. The letter still has her old married name as well, after spending quite a bit on 0845 numbers i finally got through to income support the department housing says informed them only for them to say they have no record and don't know how it has happened. I just recently went through a review and there was no changes to my circumstances and they are not stopping any money.

They say if housing looked at an internal system they would see clearly there are no changes.

My problem is I feel helpless as I am without much needed money and housing say I will go in the normal queue and it could take 6 weeks to get payment again.

I cant believe no one is taking ownership, I have lodged a complaint with housing and with DWP but that still does not stop me having to ask family to get me through this time.

The DWP will only take my complaint via phone, can I write or do I just have to wait for the system to catch up.

John
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Comments

  • nothing to stop you writing to either,if they now realise their decision was a mistake and wont sort it immediately go and see your MP see if they can put a rocket under them
  • missapril75
    missapril75 Posts: 1,669 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    So the HB office says the info came from the DWP.

    There are two ways that can happen. Either the DWP office actually tells them (memo or phone call) or they have taken it from their limited access to DWP computer records.

    If your IS has been reviewed with no changes and the DWP says they know nothing of this, then it could only have come from the HB office accessing the DWP records.

    If those records still show her old name then either those records have not been updated or your ex has changed without you knowing. But as she's never lived there, they wouldn't even misread an old address and mistake it for a current one.

    This suggests their info did not come from DWP or their records. They may have assumed it did (as it sometimes does) or they may have wanted to cover up their real source.

    Could it be a malicious report - especially from someone who doesn't know of her name change?
  • duchy
    duchy Posts: 19,511 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Xmas Saver!
    I'd send my MP an email today with all the details. Once they get involved these issues get resolved very quickly. http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/
    I Would Rather Climb A Mountain Than Crawl Into A Hole

    MSE Florida wedding .....no problem
  • lemontree
    lemontree Posts: 893 Forumite
    MP is a brilliant idea.You could probably ring his Secretary.
    This worked for me when I had spent 6 months trying to overturn an ATOS decision.
    My Son's MP took about 10 days to solve his problem!
  • lemontree wrote: »
    MP is a brilliant idea.You could probably ring his Secretary.
    This worked for me when I had spent 6 months trying to overturn an ATOS decision.
    My Son's MP took about 10 days to solve his problem!
    Hi
    Sorry to butt in but most MPs have e-mail addresses where you can write. Perhaps it might be better to put it in writing for them to see all the relevent details to help them to help you sooner.

    Just a thought;)

    Mo
  • missapril75
    missapril75 Posts: 1,669 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Not to rain on anyone's parade about an MP and obviously some MPs are better than others, but it's not that an MP solves the problem, it's simply that an MP is involved.

    An MP's enquiry not only results in priority being given to that case, but whatever happened has to be justified to the MP.

    If what happened was correct, an explanation is sent. If what happened is wrong, the error gets corrected almost instantly and an explanation is sent.

    At least that was my experience in 5 offices over 4 decades. :)
  • john1002
    john1002 Posts: 985 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    thanks to everyone who replied, will look into the Mp route.

    Missapril from what I have been told it was a form that gave the details, and from the information they gave me it was definetly the IS department, gave there address and telephone number and a reference for them to call if they had a query.

    If they had have checked the system they would see no changes.

    Not sure why now after 2 and a bit years someone would want to be malicious.

    john
  • missapril75
    missapril75 Posts: 1,669 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    edited 16 July 2012 pm31 10:11PM
    john1002 wrote: »
    Missapril from what I have been told it was a form that gave the details, and from the information they gave me it was definetly the IS department, gave there address and telephone number and a reference for them to call if they had a query.

    Yet the I/S dept tells you they're happy with matters and their system shows no change.

    Perhaps the HB office will give you the contact details ;)
  • minimadtrix
    minimadtrix Posts: 1,507 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Somewhere in the depths of the benefits system, could you still be married?

    Let me make myself clearer. Once I had a problem with Tax Credits - despite marrying and having a new name, every time my ex-husband moved, hubby and I would have a change of circs letter sent to the ex asking to update our information. Each time I would ring Tax Credits up and tell them that there was no way me and my hubby would move in with the ex!!

    After a long drawn out process and ex-hubby moving 3 times, I had to involve my MP to sort it out. It turned out that because my ex hadn't told the CSA that we had split up, every time he had a change of circs, it would flag up on my records (even though he was no longer paying maintenance as the child was 18) :mad:

    Anyway, once all the agencies knew we had severed all ties, we've had no problems.

    Of course, the problem for you is knowing of any government agency that might think you are still married. HTH
  • eadieb
    eadieb Posts: 238 Forumite
    the tax credits may be a clue. Tax credits might have an outstanding joint account in both your names which has not been 'finalised'. sometimes housing benefit check the shared system and think they are looking at current info but there may be several outstanding tax credit claims accounts.

    I had this when a client I was assisting was trying to get a council bus pass for her daughter to get to school. the local education department were checking the system for entitlement but the system kept saying the client was not entitled to tax credits. we eventually tracked down that she had a tax credits account from 3 years before, in her single name, and for some reason it had never been finalised and was now messing up the other claims.

    I would ring tax credits about any current account and/or joint account you may have had.
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