DRO then increase in benefits

bornjoyful

I am the appointee for someone who got a DRO in August of 2012.
He was recieving JSA at the time but then moved onto ESA.
I did not tell the Insolvency service as the amount of benefit was the same at £71 weekly .
However, now after lots of forms and medical, he has been awarded the higher rate (119.50)for the support group of ESA and it was backdated . Then he also got middle and lower DLA at another £72 a week.- also backdated.

Can anyone tell me how the Insolvency Service will treat this ?
I have known for about a month but have not informed the Insovency Service as I thought that state benefits would not make a difference...but now I have started worrying about it .
thanks

UpToMyNeckInIt

Hopefully an expert in this sort of thing will be along to advise for sure.

My thought is that if this individual has already been means-tested (he would have been to receive ESA presumably), then he is deemed to have little/no surplus income, regardless of whether or not the payment is backdated.

Like you, I would hope therefore, that his DRO would be unaffected.

Keep us posted though.

Best of Luck.

debt_doctor

Hi,

Like others on here, I am an Intermediary so I process DROs. Firstly there is a duty to inform, so you should do so as soon as you can.

The first experience I had of this was a couple of months ago. One of my former clients contacted the IS with an increase in income and the IS reffered it back to me to complete a revised CFS (financial statement).

If I were your intermediary I would put in the new higher DLA and take out the exact same amount as 'care needs'.
Personally, I take the same view with any 'care components, or disability premiums' that is; in as income and out as care needs, but another intermediary might put that part of the income in and 'spend' it in the conventional way such as more housekeeping etc.

Any backdate should be apportioned over the time it was meant to be awarded, and it should be argued that higher needs were in place at that time.

The IS tend to keep out of the financial statement area and rely upon the intermediaries. For me, your DRO should be unaffected by the changes because your income increased as your assessed needs increased - but thats just me.

DD

wba31

I agree with debt doctor. As an intermediary who does many DRO's I know that you need to inform the DRO unit, but they will send you back to the original authority who processed the DRO for a new income expenditure summary.
Have a chat with whoever did the DRO, have a new budget drafted for them. Reality is that someone on benefits will not have a surplus, let alone one of more than £50 so it should be fine...