DWP & Council overpayments

Colin5753

Need to start again sorry

tomtontom

Colin I was suggesting you post a statement of your financial affairs on this board. Complete this and people can help you make savings.

National_Debtline

Hi Colin


If you are able to post a copy of the budget you sent to the council - or a version of it using a tool like http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php - then forum users can offer some input on how you might be able to make it more balanced and presentable. It may be a question of how you have presented it, as much as anything.



EDIT - cross-posted with Colin's reply.

Dennis
@natdebtline

National_Debtline

Hi Colin


Unless there is a problem at my end, there's nothing showing apart from the text in your last post? It might be easier if you could list your income and outgoings as text - if you put them in at the link I posted above it should be straightforward to paste the results into this thread. I may not be able to reply until tomorrow but hopefully others will be able to offer feedback in the meantime.


Dennis
@natdebtline

tomtontom

Do you not receive DLA? Is that accounted for elsewhere?

Is your car essential, can this not be paid for via DLA?

Your mobile phone is very expensive, as is your food plus toiletries etc. Is that food just for one?

What is the dentist cost for? You should be in receipt of free healthcare.

It would be far simpler if you could input your figures into the link above.

dancingfairy

How much are you debts? I dont know whether you'd be eligible for a dro? Have you looked into this?

fatbelly

dancingfairy wrote: »

How much are you debts? I dont know whether you'd be eligible for a dro? Have you looked into this?

DF - this is a fraudulent overpayment. A DRO wouldn't clear it. But, like you, I'd like to know how much these overpayments are.

A DRO may come into the picture later

The £29.60 deduction is a fairly new invention and the DWP are leaning on a 'ministerial statement' that they should not reduce it unless the wellbeing of children is affected.

tomtontom

We're trying to help you cut down your outgoings, and that will mean you being open to changes.

Have a look on the Old Style board at ways to cut down on your food bill. Diabetes will add some costs, but not the amount you are spending. The same with toiletries and cleaning.

Have you looked at a cheaper phone tariff? Most can spend as little as £10 a month, or less!

Why do you pay for dentistry? If you have no savings then you should be covered as you're in receipt of means tested ESA.

What does your DLA go towards?

National_Debtline

Colin5753 wrote: »

Do you not receive DLA? Is that accounted for elsewhere?

Yes I do but this is not counted as income as far as they are concerned.

Hi Colin,


Your DLA is for your health needs, so if your food shopping is higher because of your health then part of you DLA should be used for this. You shouldn't simply disregard it as an income because this can create a problem with 'double accounting'. This means that you allow for your high food shopping, for example, from your ESA but really it comes out of your DLA.


Overall you SOA seems goods, but perhaps you could look for a cheaper mobile phone (when the contract permits) and also check you are receiving the correct amount of housing benefit because you seem to have to pay a lot there. Hopefully this will help make the payments a bit more manageable if you can't convince the DWP to reduce the deductions.


You could always write back to them again, with a revised SOA and perhaps suggested an offer in the middle. For instance, if they used to take £6.60 but now want £29.60 then perhaps a suggestion of £10 - £15 may be more appropriate? You can ask who you could escalate the matter to for reconsideration - normally it would be the Local Government Ombudsman or the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

fatbelly

fatbelly wrote: »

The £29.60 deduction is a fairly new invention and the DWP are leaning on a 'ministerial statement' that they should not reduce it unless the wellbeing of children is affected.

There are some potential other grounds for a reduction (RNF = Repayment Negotiation Framework):

There may be other scenarios where, due to the exceptional circumstances of the debtor, the RNF process might be applied to debtors with an outstanding Fraud/Potential Prosecution overpayment. The links below give further detail of some scenarios where this may apply, together with what evidence would be required:
 Debtor is suicidal or intends self harm
 Debtor is terminally ill or has serious health issues which create extra expense
 Debtor has caring responsibilities which create extra expense
 Debtor’s home/property is at risk if the repayment rate is not amended
 Debtor’s employment is at risk if the repayment rate is not amended

Before you deleted your posts, I think you had posted a balanced budget but without showing your DLA. In your case, as long as the DLA roughly balances the 2 x 29.60 deductions you should be OK, as long as you stick to the budget.

For others of course, this would leave a £60 black hole and things would have to go unpaid, effectively moving the benefit debt to water, council tax, electricity and gas, maybe also doorstep lenders, payday loans and sub-prime credit cards. That's the sort of mix I see in a DRO (which DF alluded to earlier).

It's clearly not a sensible policy to have such severe deductions from a basic means-tested benefit, and then be inflexible in the repayment rate, when this just leads to debt elsewhere which is written off with a DRO. The standard deduction from benefit for other debts is still £3.70 per week, which is more easily absorbed.