HELP Need some Benefits & Housing Advice

Jessicalou

Can anyone help me? I am in receipt of housing benefit. They rang me back in july 2018 and asked why one week i had earned significantly less than my usual wage. I advised them i had been on with my son being poorly. The lady said well because i earned less that week my housing benefit award would be upped for that one week i said yeah thats fine. She then proceeded to ask me if i was going back to my normal 16 hours as of the week after and i said i was and she went well what i will do is also change the benefit award so it goes back to your normal amount so you dont get any overpayment etc. Anyways I received a letter few weeks back stating i had been overpaid £548 between july to october 2018 i have rang and queryed it they told me it was because i was down as earning less than what i had been and i should of contact them and told them i was back on my normal wage after the award was upped due to my sickness. In other words the lady i spoke to back in july didnt go back in to my account and change my benefit award back after she upped it the weel before. Surely im not accountable to pay this overpayment as its a fault made by them but they are stating i have to pay this i am hoping to appeal has anyone hd this problem

poppy12345

Jessicalou wrote: »

Can anyone help me? I am in receipt of housing benefit. They rang me back in july 2018 and asked why one week i had earned significantly less than my usual wage. I advised them i had been on with my son being poorly. The lady said well because i earned less that week my housing benefit award would be upped for that one week i said yeah thats fine. She then proceeded to ask me if i was going back to my normal 16 hours as of the week after and i said i was and she went well what i will do is also change the benefit award so it goes back to your normal amount so you dont get any overpayment etc. Anyways I received a letter few weeks back stating i had been overpaid £548 between july to october 2018 i have rang and queryed it they told me it was because i was down as earning less than what i had been and i should of contact them and told them i was back on my normal wage after the award was upped due to my sickness. In other words the lady i spoke to back in july didnt go back in to my account and change my benefit award back after she upped it the weel before. Surely im not accountable to pay this overpayment as its a fault made by them but they are stating i have to pay this i am hoping to appeal has anyone hd this problem

Surely you knew exactly what housing benefit you were receiving? If the money you were receiving didn't go back down to your usual amount you would have noticed? Didn't you wonder why you continued to receive more than usual?

Alice_Holt

Jessicalou wrote: »

Can anyone help me? I am in receipt of housing benefit. They rang me back in july 2018 and asked why one week i had earned significantly less than my usual wage. I advised them i had been on with my son being poorly. The lady said well because i earned less that week my housing benefit award would be upped for that one week i said yeah thats fine. She then proceeded to ask me if i was going back to my normal 16 hours as of the week after and i said i was and she went well what i will do is also change the benefit award so it goes back to your normal amount so you dont get any overpayment etc. Anyways I received a letter few weeks back stating i had been overpaid £548 between july to october 2018 i have rang and queryed it they told me it was because i was down as earning less than what i had been and i should of contact them and told them i was back on my normal wage after the award was upped due to my sickness. In other words the lady i spoke to back in july didnt go back in to my account and change my benefit award back after she upped it the weel before. Surely im not accountable to pay this overpayment as its a fault made by them but they are stating i have to pay this i am hoping to appeal has anyone hd this problem

Best to start your own thread.

To successfully appeal a housing benefit overpayment:
a) it has to be an official error: and
b) you could not have reasonably realised an error had been made.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/housing_benefit/housing_benefit_overpayments
If you want to contest the decision you will find a template in the link above.