Large benefits overpayment

dougymac

I'm going to try and give as much info as possible.

A few years ago my wife was invited to an IUC. The allegation was that housing benefit and income support had been overpaid.

My wife sought legal advice and attended the IUC but her solicitor spoke to the fraud investigators before hand to get some disclosure. He came out of the room walked over to my wife and told her to go home and don't even bother with IUC as they have nothing.

She heard nothing for a month or so. A letter arrived saying that she had received an overpayment for housing benefit and income support and she needed to pay it back. She disputed the dates in question via a tribunal and lost.


This was 5 years ago. She has been chipping away at the debt at an affordable amount with agreement from council and dwp however now the council want to increase the repayment by 10 times what it currently is and say that they will register a CCJ if she doesn't pay. The dwp aren't taking this aggressive line.

My wife has no assets, her name isn't on my mortgage or on any bills at all and the only joint thing we have together is a child tax credit claim.

Can my wife write this money off through an iva or bankruptcy? I am getting conflicting stories from different companies regarding this. The national Debtline say the money can be written off If no administravive penalty was given, no caution was given or no successful prosecution took place.

They also say that my equity in the house will likely be unaffected as she's not named on it and has never made a single payment towards it.

I'd like other people's opinions please on how to proceed?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

What an idiot solicitor!

Yes Housing Benefit overpayments can be part of the Bankruptcy Order.

[Deleted User]

I dont think dwp over-payments can though

dougymac

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

What an idiot solicitor!

Yes Housing Benefit overpayments can be part of the Bankruptcy Order.

What if the council initially alleged fraud? But then never took the fraud bit any further however insisted on money back and put it down as a failure to disclose a change in circumstances?

paddedjohn

While you are married your assets are hers, don't believe me then try and get a divorce.

dougymac

Everyone agrees (legal experts) that unless her name is on mortgage and she has directly paid to it then they can't do much about equity. The national Debtline say that divorce law is totally different to bankrupt law and the two are not to be confused

Dunroamin

There must have been enormous sums involved for bankruptcy to be a reasonable option - unless she has other debts?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Fraudulent DWP and HB overpayments are excluded - ordinary overpayments are not.

dougymac

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Fraudulent DWP and HB overpayments are excluded - ordinary overpayments are not.

Whats the difference between the two? An overpayment or a fraudulent overpayment? How can we know what the council class it as? Do they have to administer a caution, penalty or prosecution for it to be considered a fraudulent overpayment?

dougymac

Dunroamin wrote: »

There must have been enormous sums involved for bankruptcy to be a reasonable option - unless she has other debts?

Yes large overpayment. 5 figures

Housing_Benefit_Officer

dougymac wrote: »

Whats the difference between the two? An overpayment or a fraudulent overpayment? How can we know what the council class it as? Do they have to administer a caution, penalty or prosecution for it to be considered a fraudulent overpayment?

Believe so. Debts arising from fraudulent conduct are outside of bankruptcy. You would need to seek clarification on how this HB overpayment would be treated.