Housing Benefits overpayments and DRO orders

LeoJohnson

Hi,
I just read few post from Mark regarding Housing Benefits overpayments and DRO orders.
I have similar problem and I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me.
I had DRO order approved in 2013. I had various debts including Housing Benefit overpayment with Administrative Penalty. My DRO has came to en end in September 2013. The letter approving the application states clearly, that the Housing Benefit OP is "not excluded" (meaning has been covered by DRO) and further that "all debts listed as included, will be written off" after the 12 months.
The 12 months has passed in September last year (2013) and I haven't heard nothing from no one since.
However, I have found on various websites, that Benefits with Administrative Penalty cannot be written off and that DWP will be recovering it.(Although there is a lot of confusion whether Administrative Penalty by default means that the overpayment has been accrued fraudulently(?) )
My question is, is it Local Authority (the Council) who will recover the overpayment or DWP? And when are they likely to contact me about it? (as I said it has been nearly a year since Ive been discharged) or should I contact them? Who should I contact- DWP or The council? Or should I just accept what the letter says and take it all listed debts have been written off?
To be honest, I read quite a few threads regarding this matter on other forums and no one is clear whether the Administrative Penalty makes the overpayment a fraud... If the letter states debt is included and no one contacted me after DRO ended, how would I know if Im still required to repay it? Would the DWP let me know that they started any court proceedings in order to recover the OP? Would they have to get the court order first? Would the court have to determine whether the overpayment has been accrued fraudulently?
Guys, pretty please, if anyone knows about those things , could you help? Im just worried sick that one day I will find some terrifying notification in my letter box!

LeoJohnson

Mark, maybe you can advise? What did you do in the end? I hope all went through and you happy debt free lad now?


leo

fatbelly

Fraud – this is an overpayment that has occurred after 31 March 1993, when the claimant has, in respect of the overpayment

 been found guilty of an offence
 admitted an offence in an interview under caution, or
 agreed to pay an administrative penalty.

Fraudulent debts are not discharged by a DRO and can be recovered. It doesn't necessarily mean they will be. I would just leave it alone .

You are under no obligation to do anything in regards to this debt

LeoJohnson

Fatbelly,


Thank you so much for reply. You just made my day :beer:or maybe even a year! However, naturally Im very afraid to just leave it without any confirmation. (That's how I got the admin penalty in first place. I declared I started work to Job Centre and got a letter stating "your benefit has been stopped". I left Housing Benefit alone thinking that DWP and Local Council would communicate with each other. They didn't...:mad: I was still receiving Housing Benefit not knowing, as it was paid into my massively overdrawn bank account which I stopped using...Still I got fined...
Im terrified that some day this will come back to me and God knows what the consequences may be:eek:
Do you know, where would I be able to check if DWP has taken any action to recover? (without stirring up unnecessary problems )?
Thank you !
L

longtermplanner

It would be the local council that needs to take action to recover the debt, not the DWP.

There really can't be any adverse consequences if you leave this be. Either you owe the money or you don't. If they do later come after you, well that is all that would happen if you make enquiries about it now.

As per fatbelly's quote, technically you probably should, however you have a piece of paper for your DRO that says the debt was not excluded, so you have a very good reason to ignore the possibility that the debt still exists.

LeoJohnson

Thank you Longtermplanner; Sounds like good news again :j


Exactly, Im holding on to what the letter states. There is no separate notification that I should repay the HB. In fact letter states "listed debts will be written off". I only got print of email that my case worker received from CAB regarding this (she enquired as she wasn't sure about it herself..) This email states fraudulent debt will need to be paid back. (It must be put somewhere in my file that I have been advised this). On the other hand I haven't received any official letter stating this.
I would most obviously prefer to leave it, but still worried that if the onus is on me to arrange repayments, I may get in trouble if I fail to do so....:(
Has anyone been in this situation or dealt with case like this and would be able to assure me? I would be very grateful.
Leo

LeoJohnson

Hi Guys,


Here is what I found today:
"(...) After a year the creditors have to write off the debts.
The exception to this is Housing Benefit fraud cases. If DRO is received in these cases then we ( exchequer services) need to contact the Insolvency Service representatives dealing with the DRO, explaining the nature of the debt and what sanction was applied (i.e. prosecution, caution or Administrative Penalty). A decision will then be made as to whether we can continue recovering the debt"


So! As Fatbelly said, it can but doesn't have to be recovered! I assume if the decision was made to recover it, someone would let me know about it... Am I right? Or is the onus on me to contact the Council? (Im just trying to make sure that I wont be fined again for not contacting the Council regarding the overpayment :cool:
If they want me to repay it now ,Im back to the situation from before DRO. And if they fine me on top- I off to mental institution like there is no tomorrow :mad: )
Please advise!
Thank you

longtermplanner

The onus is not on you to contact the council.

LeoJohnson

You are under no obligation to do anything in regards to this debt[/QUOTE]


Fatbelly , I don't know how Ive missed this line before! Are you sure?! :T


O! and Longtermplanner says the onus is not on me!


Guys, you have just made my evening! :beer:
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to respond to my ,slightly too extensive, posts You are very helpful. Many thanks! :j