Carers allowance overpayment problem

Lorna_Bear

Hi,
A brief rundown on the situation first. I have an autistic son for whom I am the main carer. I have claimed carers allowance for him since he was 2 years old. He is now 14. When he was 9 years old we managed finally to get him a place in residential school. When I talked to the carers allowance people they said that I would now be able to claim for him as a boarder case i.e I would fill in a form every three months or so and give dates for when he was at home. Then they would send me a cheque for those weeks he was at home.

5 years ago my husband was made redundant, so I managed to find a job that would fit around the children (we have three) and bring in a bit of cash. The job was worked at on a term time basis. I got paid when I worked. I notified the carers allowance people of this development by phone and they advised me that I would still be able to claim carers allowance for our son as a boarder case as I did not work or earn when he was at home. I checked this twice and followed up with a letter to confirm.

This continued for nearly two years when the carers allowance people sent me a form asking me for more details of my employment including dates and salary. They then sent me another letter after two months stating that there had been a change to their decision and they had overpaid me!! After another phone call I discover that my case was being referred to the debt managment team to be sorted. This was 2 years ago. Yesterday I received another letter stating that they have decided that I have been overpaid and by law I have to pay them back £3772.10. I am upset and worried and not really sure what to do next.

Any advice gratefully received and I really appreciate your patience in reading this. I am sorry it is such a long one. I have tried to be as concise as possible.

Thanks again
Lorna

welshcakes

Hi Lorna

I am so sorry to hear of the added pressure this must be placing on you and your husband. When you say the DWP wrote "stating that there had been a change to their decision and they had overpaid me" is the letter actually worded to suggest that they had now altered their initial decision as oppose to suggesting that you had failed to provide them with sufficient info for them to have made the right decision in the first place?

There is a very real difference between them making a decision/administrative error -v- them not being able to accurately assess the award due to annual income details for the period being wrongly estimated.

Have they provided in writing the exact reason for why they believe you were overpaid? Do you think they are wrong in their calculations or is it a case of you agree there was an overpayment but as you weren't to know at time, you are arguing that you need greater time to repay?

I'm sure you'll get lots of good advise from the site shortly. Stick in there, I'm a carer and it's emotionally exhausting I know so just hang in there.

Lorna_Bear

Hi,
Thank you for replying to my problem.Very much appreciated.
The letter that I received in 2005 after I filled in yet another lot of forms detailing my work states that they have

"looked again at the facts and evidence that we used to make our decision.As a result we have changed our decision.
You are not entitled from 11/8/2003.This is because your earnings are over the carers earnings limit "

When I telephoned the DWP to question this.They explained to me that they took the total of my annual earnings and averaged it out over the years in question which then brought my weekly salary to just over the limit .( I worked with disabled adults so you can imagine salary was not that high )When I started my job back in 2003 I would be paid only when I worked ( Mon to Friday initially and then Monday to Thursday 9 am till 3pm ) my salary was not averaged out over the year.I claimed carers allowance when my son came home from school for the holiday and I was not working .I explained all this to them and they do have records of the two phone calls and a letter that I wrote to them when I first started work.I have always been up front with them and I now feel that they are tweaking the rules to suit them.

To compound the situation more the DWP stopped paying us carers allowance from April 2005 . In the October 2005 our other son was diagnosed with Leukaemia so we were advised to apply for carers allowance for him which we started receiving in Jan 2006.I had stopped my job in the July 2006 in order to look for something else but because our eldest got poorly I have been unable to get a job because of his treatment commitments. Does this mean that the DWP owe us carers allowance from the July to the Jan ?

The biggest problem I have with all of this is that it goes back so far ( Aug 2003 ) that I don't have all the documents that relate to it. And some of my defence as it were is wrapped up in phone calls that I made that I of course did not keep records .

Going to ring them in a minute and see what happens next,

cheers

welshcakes

Lorna

I think you need to instruct them that firstly, you dispute their calculations and that in order to resolve the matter you require a copy of all documentation held in regard of the DLA and Carer's Allowance making up this case. Advise then that you additionally will be seeking transcript of all telephone calls made and received (they are legally obliged to provide these in a suitable format which I understand to currently be audio CD).

Ensure you get the name of the person you tell this to and then back up your verbal request in a written letter and name the person with whom you spoke. Under the Data Protection Act, they are legally obliged to provide you with all documentation and transcripts upon demand.

At least then, you will be able to see what they are 'seeing' and take it from there.

Lorna_Bear

Hi,

I found a direct line number for a chap in the carers allowance unit , whom I spoke to about this in June 2005 when I received the letter about the decision change.I called this just after I read your first reply and although my young man has of course since moved on I spoke to another who advised me to start an appeal with a form GL24 .Meanwhile she was going to put in a request for all the archive paper work on my case. I am going to call her back now and see if she can help me with those phone calls.

I have also telephoned the debt collection people who sent me the nasty bill in question and requested the form GL24 with which I can start this appeal.They also advised me that I have to lodge this within one calendar month.This will in effect put a hold on any furthur demands for money until case is resolved.

Thank you so much for all your help so far in this. I will keep you posted. Although given the track record of this so far it may take another two years to resolve.

Cheers

Lorna

Morglin

If you gave them ALL and ANY information that could have affected your claim, then it is an "official overpayment" and you should not have to repay any overpayment that has occurred.

You really need specialist help with this, and this firm are good:

http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/index.jsp

or, the CAB:

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm

Lin

Lorna_Bear

Hi Lin,

Thank you for those websites.I will have a look see if they can help me.Meanwhile I have asked for all transcripts of phone calls which no doubt will take some time.I have also asked for all the paperwork on my case.Apparently they are in archive storage because my case has gone on so long. The lady I spoke to this morning was surprised that it took two years for the debt collection agency to ask for the money.Fingers crossed that I can get hold of all the info I need.

For future reference if anyone else is dealing with carers allowance or similar over the phone , make a note of who you are speaking to and all the details of the call and get them to confirm in writing.And keep every scrap of paper they send you.I unfortunately did not .Possibly a lesson learned the hard way.

Thanks again for all your help , will keep you posted.

Cheers
Lorna

Lorna_Bear

I have just noticed that on the official overpayment letter they have stated that this overpayment is because of your ( or a family members ) earnings.

I have never come across this before in anything to do with Carers allowance. I thought that carers allowance was based on the individuals earnings and not their partners ? Have I got this all horribly wrong. Please advise.