2014 housing benefit overpayment

Bsmelly01

Got a letter from housing benefit saying I was overpaid housing benefit between 2014 and 2015 as I didn't declare I was working for the council. Now the wages for this job went through my bank account and I found a letter from them dated February 2015 asking me for 2 months bank statements. So even if I didn't notify them (I really did) then surely they would have seen the extra income on the bank statements as they normally ask me to explain every single deposit to my account. I split with my husband in September 2014 so I don't have access to any bank statements before this time for the underlying entitlement. They are asking for all income for the whole year writhing 1 month. I can't get access to the bank statements or income for 2014. Any ideas what I can Do?

IAmWales

Why can't you access your old statements, will the bank not give you copies?

Responsibility for updating changes remains with you, not the authority. Do you agree with their calculation?

Alice_Holt

Ask for an extension to the 1 month deadline, and request a Subject Access Request from the HB dept?

For the overpayment not to be recoverable you will need to show:
1) It was official error - i.e you can prove you told them of your change in circumstances but they failed to act on that info, and
2) you could not have been reasonably expected to notice that there was an error.

The Shelter website will give you more info on this.

poppy12345

Bsmelly01 wrote: »

Got a letter from housing benefit saying I was overpaid housing benefit between 2014 and 2015 as I didn't declare I was working for the council. Now the wages for this job went through my bank account and I found a letter from them dated February 2015 asking me for 2 months bank statements. So even if I didn't notify them (I really did) then surely they would have seen the extra income on the bank statements as they normally ask me to explain every single deposit to my account. I split with my husband in September 2014 so I don't have access to any bank statements before this time for the underlying entitlement. They are asking for all income for the whole year writhing 1 month. I can't get access to the bank statements or income for 2014. Any ideas what I can Do?

You say you told them? Did you not even notice your payments hadn't changed? If you were still getting the same amount as before you were working then surely you noticed.

Bsmelly01

I was on a zero hour contract in my other job so my payments changed monthly which is why I wouldn't have noticed. I cant access bank statements as they are my ex husbands bank statements as everything was in his name prior to the split and for 3 months after the split and we no longer speak. They are asking for the whole household income and i cant provide his bank statements for this reason. I know i handed in my wage slips as i handed in my bank statements too and if i didnt they would have stopped the benefit. We also moved into homeless housing in the january 2015 and i informed them of this too. I keep them upto date with everything and have never had an overpayment because i do tell them everything. Im just wondering why its going back so long. If i cant provide the details im going to have to swallow it and pay the overpayment even though i know this isnt my fault ��

IAmWales

You say in your OP that the payments went through "my bank account"?

You can submit a subject access request to see what information they have on file. Any statements you submitted will be there.

It is up to you to provide evidence of your finances at the time. Failure to do so could lead in an even bigger overpayment as they may look at a wider period.

Bsmelly01

But what if I did and they just didn't process both Jobs? I know they had agency covering at the time as there was errors with my address when I moved to homeless house and my friend had all her information scanned onto someone else's file and it was blamed on agency staff (She just reminded me of this) how can I prove it? If I did hand it in and they didn't scan it or it went missing how can I prove it? They will say it was me not providing it. I know for sure I handed everything in. I still Do, I go in every month with wage slips and every 3 months with bank statements.