DWP say paying back an overpayment to THEM is deprivation of capital is this right?

Mojisola

Does the RNIB have a local branch? Are they worth trying -
https://www.rnib.org.uk/livingwithsightloss/yourmoney/advice/Pages/debt_advice.aspx

diamonds

At £100 a week for DWP & arrange the council tax & housing benefit overpayment for the same amount per week, thus whilst over £16,000 in savings level is met, he will be paying FULL rent, council tax and supporting himself.....it will not take long to spend £9000 to get his DWP benefits reinstated, REMEMBER ! DLA is EXCEMPT as income for HB/CT and should be placed in a bank account of its own as PROOF of such and never be above £16,000.

Spend it or lose it !

Keep proof of purchase for EVERYTHING he buys until he is under £16,000 again.

Bank DLA in its own account, savings from DLA are excempt by law for CT/HB & someday someone will have them & "disability premuims" on benefits excluded as "savings" when they take the DWP to court for it - it takes one person to challenge such to change law.

mynameistallulah

diamonds wrote: »

At £100 a week for DWP & arrange the council tax & housing benefit overpayment for the same amount per week, thus whilst over £16,000 in savings level is met, he will be paying FULL rent, council tax and supporting himself.....it will not take long to spend £9000 to get his DWP benefits reinstated, REMEMBER ! DLA is EXCEMPT as income for HB/CT and should be placed in a bank account of its own as PROOF of such and never be above £16,000.

Spend it or lose it !

Keep proof of purchase for EVERYTHING he buys until he is under £16,000 again.

DLA is exempt from income calculations, but not capital calculations, which is what matters here.

Whiteknight

diamonds wrote: »

At £100 a week for DWP & arrange the council tax & housing benefit overpayment for the same amount per week, thus whilst over £16,000 in savings level is met, he will be paying FULL rent, council tax and supporting himself.....it will not take long to spend £9000 to get his DWP benefits reinstated, REMEMBER ! DLA is EXCEMPT as income for HB/CT and should be placed in a bank account of its own as PROOF of such and never be above £16,000.

Spend it or lose it !

Keep proof of purchase for EVERYTHING he buys until he is under £16,000 again.

Bank DLA in its own account, savings from DLA are excempt by law for CT/HB & someday someone will have them & "disability premuims" on benefits excluded as "savings" when they take the DWP to court for it - it takes one person to challenge such to change law.

So someone with DLA could open a separate account and pay only DLA into it and never take anything out and build up thousand of pounds worth of savings!

I don't think so - benefit department should already be deducting income from savings so that it is not counted twice. From the the OP has stated this has happened due to the friend not spending his benefit money as I see it if it has not been spent before the next payment was made it becomes savings.

dseventy

handlewithcare wrote: »

Ok a bit of background story my friend is blind and has been on benefits for a while IS, DLA, HB and CTB .........

Earlier this year he had an interview under caution because he had savings over £16,000 and didn't declare it. ( this is partly down to him not getting any support so wasn't managing his money / paperwork and also because he can't get out much because of disabilities his money accumlitated )

I don't know. He certainly sounds like he knows what he is doing regarding money and benefits.

IS, DLA, HB and CTB is at least 3 claims, if not 4, he sounds like he knew got advice and steering towards what he can claim and got the assitance he needed to claim being blind.

The letter is right, he needs to pay it back, but probably installements.

D70

handlewithcare

dseventy wrote: »

I don't know. He certainly sounds like he knows what he is doing regarding money and benefits.

IS, DLA, HB and CTB is at least 3 claims, if not 4, he sounds like he knew got advice and steering towards what he can claim and got the assitance he needed to claim being blind.

The letter is right, he needs to pay it back, but probably installements.

D70

Yes but advice and support for benefits ( which he got from RNIB) is different to everyday living where you are refused any help from social services at all and have struggled just to manage his daily affairs

handlewithcare

They are now telling him that they cannot take anything from his savings but will take 1/3 from his DLA. His CTB and HB have already been paid and the £23,000 is what was left over . He just confirmed this to me today. I did not know this when i initially posted

dseventy

handlewithcare wrote: »

Yes but advice and support for benefits ( which he got from RNIB) is different to everyday living where you are refused any help from social services at all and have struggled just to manage his daily affairs

But when he claimed and got help through the RNIB he would have been told about changes to circumstances and how they need to be reported.

handlewithcare wrote: »

They are now telling him that they cannot take anything from his savings but will take 1/3 from his DLA. His CTB and HB have already been paid and the £23,000 is what was left over . He just confirmed this to me today. I did not know this when i initially posted

Well at least there is some justice.
D70

handlewithcare

dseventy wrote: »

But when he claimed and got help through the RNIB he would have been told about changes to circumstances and how they need to be reported.



Well at least there is some justice.
D70

At the end of the day you do not know his circumstances or how he struggles with life in general. He was not born blind it happened in his late twenties due to a genetic illness . he lost it gradually and now he's 41 its completey gone so i would like to see other people cope in that situate and then make judgements

Mara69

handlewithcare wrote: »

All he wants to do is the right thing

As long as the 'right thing' means he can get more benefits, eh? :cool:

handlewithcare wrote: »

At the end of the day you do not know his circumstances or how he struggles with life in general. He was not born blind it happened in his late twenties due to a genetic illness . he lost it gradually and now he's 41 its completey gone so i would like to see other people cope in that situate and then make judgements

Oh stop it! There are many, many people with terrible debilitating illnesses that do not defraud the taxpayer to the tune of many thousands of pounds. Do not use his illness as an excuse.