Housing Benefit Fiasco

hillbilly5

My husband had a 'routine' operation just over a year ago and the surgeon made a mistake which has caused long term/possibly permanent health problems.

To cut a long story short this has reduced our income and since March have been claiming housing/council tax benefit. Every month I attend the council office and give my husbands payslip in and I have always kept them informed promptly of our income. Despite doing this in September I was informed that they had no record of a claim since June...basically they had terminated the claim in error. I had to fill in another claim form backdated to June and so had to fill it in with our circumstances in June and any changes since then.

I also had to send them a letter detailing all the other mistakes that had made in our claim and asking them to make a new assessment taking all of these into account. I finally had the backdated claim awarded and a letter from them saying that all changes had been taken into account.

In November I was making a claim for help with medical costs and had to refer back to the award notice we were finally sent through. I noticed that the child benefit amount was incorrect...my daughter had left full time education and so our CB reduced from approx £33 per week to £20 per week. I phoned the council and she said that I hadn't informed them although I was sure that I had mentioned this on the backdated claim form I had to send in. She said that it didn't matter as it wouldn't affect our benefit and that they just needed to have the correct amount. I promptly attended the office with these details.

In December I again attended with hubbys Dec payslip and asked about the CB as I still hadnt heard. I told her what that the person on the phone had said that it wouldnt affect our benefit and she said this was incorrect as our applicable amounts would change due to daughter no longer being in fulltime education. She confirmed that I had been told this from the notes on her computer regarding the phone conversation I had had.

Anyway after her workings out she has calculated that since the beginning of Sept we have been paid about double the amount of HB/CT benefit that we should have meaning that there is an overpayment on our account of somewhere in the region of about £700!! I also got her to check my claim form and I had stated on there that both our Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit reduced from 1st September - she confirmed that I had done this and that althought the tax credit had been amended on the claim the child benefit hadn't.

She told me that I have good grounds for appealing against having to pay back the £700 that has been overpaid as its their mistake.

The only thing that I cannot say is whether I expressly stated on the form in addition to the reduced child tax credit and child benefit amounts that this was due to daughter leaving fulltime education. If I didn't does that mean that I am liable for the overpaid amount or do I have grounds to say that all it would have taken was a phone call to confirm the reason for the reduction in this amount and that it was fairly obvious had they looked at the form properly that it was because my child left fulltime education.

Really fed up as I thought these benefits were there to help when you are in need but every single thing that I have told our council has ended up being dealt with incorrectly and causing us major stress.

Any advice on this would be gratefully accepted.....

Horseunderwater

Always keep a copy of anything you send in when doing a claim, that way you know what you wrote and can argue with them. Might be worth visiting them in person and to ask for sight of the application form perhaps. Because if it was stated that oldest had left FT ed then it is official error, but if not then you may have to pay it back. However, if this is likely to cause severe hardship to you, you may be able to reduce the repayments to a minimal amount. Just not sure what that may be. Worth asking though.

missapril75

It's been a while since I saw forms but I do remember someone leaving or starting education was one of the stated examples of the sort of change one had to report.

That might weaken your case although a reduction in child benefit (by the amount for a child) does suggest that child is no longer being claimed for.

The award notices issued might also have shown she had been included and officially that would have been your cue to have noticed something was amiss.

Your best argument would likely revolve around the errors made and that it was being reassessed all the time made it complicated plus personal stress/worry meant you received benefits in good faith and could not reasonably be expected to be aware they'd mistakenly included her.

Caz3121

Does your daughter still live with you and is she earning?
If so they will also need details on her income to calculate the non-dependant deduction (to avoid any further overpayment)

hillbilly5

As she is only 16 there is no non dependent deduction..apparently that doesnt happen until she is 18...so they have told me..however given that just about everything they have told me so far is wrong.....!!

asher_2

I was advised by my local council that unless a child is in full time education, they are classed as a non-dependent, whether they are working or not.

Caz3121

hillbilly5 wrote: »

As she is only 16 there is no non dependent deduction..apparently that doesnt happen until she is 18...so they have told me..however given that just about everything they have told me so far is wrong.....!!

I think that is correct - the councils website all give figures for the deduction for "Aged 18 or over and in paid work:"
..In my post I assumed she was older

shakeitright

If a non dependant is under the age of 18 then no deductions are made from your housing or council tax benefit.It should state this on the benefit page of your local councils website,I kow it does on mine.

asher_2

Guess it must vary with different councils? Have checked my local website an it definitely says that a dependent child is one you are receiving cb for (under 16, or 17, 18, 19 and in full time education)
Although I would agree that having a 16-18 year old who is seeking employment but cannot claim jobseekers would be a dependent!

coffeelover65

The rule of thumb is if you're in receipt of Child Benefit then its a dependent child, as soon as Child Benefit ends they are a non-dependent. If somebody is a non-dependent no deduction is taken whilst they are under the age of 18.

missapril75

coffeelover65 wrote: »

The rule of thumb is if you're in receipt of Child Benefit then its a dependent child, as soon as Child Benefit ends they are a non-dependent.

And this is key to the OP's question. She cannot recall if she explicitly stated her daughter was no longer dependent (meaning the dependent's allowances should no longer be included in the benefit calculation) but stating the child benefit has stopped effectively amounts to the same thing.