Housing benefit error, 2nd child not on claim

DigForVictory

I know Tax Credits can share some information with Child Benefits, but precious little & by no means both ways.

So, list everyone who needs to know & send recorded letters out?
Not cheap, but worth it to get all clear & an absolute start from here on.

pitkin2020

nannytone wrote: »

'they' should have flagged it up.
'their system should be checking'
wheres your responsibility?
you had 1 award letter to check but didnt bother.
yet you expect the council, that deals with tens of thousands of claims to be double checking YOUR circumstances, because they 'may have changed'.
if you had checked your award all of this would have been avoided.
stop blaming everyone and his dog and start holding up your end of the bargain!

Full of assumptions there aren't you. Im not blaming anyone what I am saying is they complain about people not notifying them and how everything is automated yet they dont have procedures in place to check on an AUTOMATED system.

As I have already said, the claim has been checked everytime but when you use children in the plural as in ELDEST how the hell would i know they meant a single child. Having already been down there several times with printouts from entitled to and asking them why the figures are different even their benefit officers hadn't picked up on.

Podge52 wrote: »

Had you informed hb when your partner started work there would have been no overpayment plus they would have sent you a new award letter.

I'm not having a go here but I find it strange that you would inform them about a change in circs that doesn't affect your claim but not inform them about one that does.

Another assumption, they were informed prior to her actually starting work and the claim was readjusted. As she doesn't work a set number of hours per week its rota'd. When we updated the working tax credit 3 months ago as her hours were going to significatly change we called HB at the time to see what was required and I told them we have informed working tax of a change, to which I was told they will contact me shortly once they have received the information from working tax. that shows on their system and they have admitted that information was given out incorrectly and they have given lenience on that and admitted i was informed incorrectly.

Thats my whole point we would not have not informed them of the 2nd child as at the time we thought we were going to get the 3 bedroom entitlement and i remember going down shortly after a new award had been received and finding out as to why we weren't entitled to it. Which they duly explained.

DigForVictory wrote: »

I know Tax Credits can share some information with Child Benefits, but precious little & by no means both ways.

So, list everyone who needs to know & send recorded letters out?
Not cheap, but worth it to get all clear & an absolute start from here on.

Yeah a bit of ignorance on my part as I believed they all shared information but i am now aware thats not the case at all. We have phoned all departments yesterday and they are all correct as they were meant to be.

Podge52

If as you say they sent a new award letter after you had informed them of your second child then I would do as pmlindyloo suggests.

You may not have that letter still but your council will.

bloolagoon

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Thats my point though, we weren't working so surely it should flag up on their system that something has been changed. If so why haven't they been notified of a change and is it something they need to check on. Or is it a case of they just continue to pay and will claw it back some time in the future.

As its a mostly automated system there has to be checks in place surely.

As I have said I know they were notified but i did think the claim was correct as they used the terminology eldest child which implies more than one. I also know shortly after notifying them i went down to find out why our HB hadn't increased with a 2nd child and they had explained about the LHA room rate, and how we weren't entitled to 3 bed entitlement with 2 boys.

It is funny how they will go back pretty far and readjust nearly 8 months of HB based on information from wages slips yet information which changes the amount entitled to which isn't in their favour is only taken from (today) when i take the information in.

I can understand your frustration all you can do is point out that you did inform them, you informed of tax credits increase and explain the use of the word eldest. In my opinion they should offset but this will be down to how well you present your case and ultimately their decision.

Ps - you wouldn't have got the 3 bed even if you had a girl and boy as children under 12 years share a room no matter what sex they are.

pitkin2020

bloolagoon wrote: »

I can understand your frustration all you can do is point out that you did inform them, you informed of tax credits increase and explain the use of the word eldest. In my opinion they should offset but this will be down to how well you present your case and ultimately their decision.

Ps - you wouldn't have got the 3 bed even if you had a girl and boy as children under 12 years share a room no matter what sex they are.

Yeah ive been down to put the case forward so am awaiting a reply on that.

Yeah I understand the LHA now lol at the time though i wasn't clued up on it but like I said it was explained to me when i went down. Even though they checked the claim at the time there was no indication only 1 child was on the claim. I discussed the terminology with the adviser today and even he said its worded very badly and using "eldest" does imply more than one. It would simply be resolved by naming everyone the claim. Child benefit use both names so there is no argument.

Loulouxo14

Pitkin2020 - how strange that I came across this thread, the same has happened to me! I contacted the benefits office on Monday as they had asked for supporting information (my other half recently changed jobs) and when I was on the phone I was chatting to a lovely lady who stopped me in my tracks when I said 'children' - she asks 'children? I only have 1 on your claim' I swore by the fact I had taken in my youngests birth certificate last year - she checked the system and she confirmed she had a log to say I did although it hadn't been processed - their mistake, I'm now being paid back, been underpaid for a year, I'm hoping there is a little extra for christmas once rent has been paid. Might be worth getting them to have a look back, you might not have the paperwork, (who has the space?!) but they should have a log or receipt on their system showing you provided the information.

emsywoo123

bloolagoon wrote: »

Ps - you wouldn't have got the 3 bed even if you had a girl and boy as children under 12 years share a room no matter what sex they are.

12? I thought it was 10?