Overpayment of Housing Benefits £14k

lovinituk

starbright789 wrote: »

Hi lovininuk, I really wish this was not true and I am a troll , but no, it's all very real and a shock too

Sorry if it sounds harsh but perhaps try and get your story straight and all the facts out in the open right from the beginning. At the moment it just sounds like a story you're making up as you go along and depending on the answers you are getting.

GwylimT

If you just stopped your JSA claim then no, you didn't stop your housing benefit, it is your responsibility to inform all changes including a change of address and a change in income.

You need to be completely honest, you have already admitted you didn't inform of changes wher HB is concerned, I would have to be earning a hell of a lot of money not to notice an extra £300 a month, how can you have so little disposable income when you were able to live on JSA and HB only a few years ago?

starbright789

Ok, so does anyone know what the best course of action would be to fix the situation then?

GirlFromMars_2

If the OP applied for JSA and HB at the same time, is it possible the application for HB didn't state that they were on IR-JSA and the HB entitlement was worked out entirely separately from the JSA entitlement?

So although JSA stopped, it would never have been the reason HB was granted in the first place, and wouldn't affect the HB claim.

Incidentally was the OP on IR-JSA or Conts-JSA?

Although I find it unlikely that the OP failed to notice HB payments for 4 years, I can see how this is done, especially if they only checked their balance online, instead of looking at the actual statements. Most of my bank statements remain unopened in their envelopes for years until I need them for some reason or another. I guess I should be more diligent about checking, but growing up in the cash point generation it was always easiest to check my balance at the cash point instead of relying on statements that were out of date. Nowadays I use the app, but still only really check the balance unless I'm expecting a problem.

starbright789

I did inform them that I would no longer be needing any benefits. I applied for both JSA and HOusing benefit at the same council job centre so I informed just the one council I would not be needing it anymore. I don't get what else I should have done

dippy3103

starbright789 wrote: »

Ok, so does anyone know what the best course of action would be to fix the situation then?

Take legal advice.

What exactly did they say when they first rang? It's not how they do things

starbright789

They called and asked if this person is working here and enquired about the salary, I didn't give out the information as I was a bit surprised. I told him to drop me and email which he did then i called him back. He said he had my payslip in front of him ( I am not sure how true this is as I thought this is personal , he said he obtained everything through HMRC? ) and that they had sent out various letters to my old address , I told him I no longer live there and to send me the invoice via email , which he did,

starbright789

Is there a company where I can start to look for legal advice from?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

This post is a wind up isn't it - 4 years any never queried the 'mystery money' being paid into your account every month.

lovinituk

starbright789 wrote: »

I told him to drop me and email which he did then i called him back.

So they phoned the employer to ask about you and by coincidence you answered the phone? You declined to answer and said send an email instead - and he didn't question the fact that the email address you gave him was the same name as the person he was asking about?!

Can you see why it all seems a bit odd to those of us reading this?!