Housing benefit closed 15 months ago, local authority demanding payment

calcotti

Taboo - there are lots of reason why companies may not be trading. Obviously it is proper for the local authority to ask about this but there is nothing intrinsically wrong with not trading.

hary_j

fishybusiness wrote: »

So you can knock notional income off the list.



Totally incorrect. However that has come across to you, or been explained to you, directors can and do claim HB.

As I understand it local authorities can access HMRC and request income data within a few days, so it is easy for the LA to access actual income data.

Going back to AoK's post, best thing you can do is write to the LA, start with your circumstances at the beginning of your HB claim, income, income streams, provide evidence including ltd numbers/ accounts of ltd co, and status ie non trading, dormant etc evidence, right up until the claim was stopped.

LA must have basis for their action, even if it is incorrect, not sure but are you able to request access to their data?

You also have a right to complain and request your claim be looked at again, I'm not sure at what point you would do this.

Initially when i did write to them, they demanding a lot of things to which some of them i did not have access to. Therefore i gave them my accountants details. They did not make any contact with them nor did they acknowledge anything i put in the letter, alongside the evidence provided.

The second letter i wrote, was simple straight forward, asking them i have not had my queries answered and you don't seem interested in what i got to say. There was no further letter until a year letter, which started to demand payments back and threats about deducting from my employer.

I will now write a letter of complaint to them, stating why my queries aren't being answered.

hary_j

The LA may have used an Income Floor level to give you an income
If you didn't have any income what was you living off?

Could possibly be a reason. I was living of support from family members, for a very short period of time


Why was you not trading? Did you show them your business plan? did they ask for projected income for 13 weeks?

The nature of my business was to contract for other establishments, i didn't venture any contracts further, current one had come to an end. To be honest as far as i can remember, they didn't ask.

pmlindyloo

To be honest it is impossible to work out why they are refused to pay housing benefit during this time.

We have no access to your paperwork and the dates in question.

It seems that some considerable time has passed since they first told you of the overpayment so I am unsure whether you still have the right to appeal to the housing tribunal. Possibly but I suspect you are going to need some specialist help.

I disagree with the solicitor that you saw who said wait for the court date.

According to this: they do not have to go to court.
Recovery using a Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA)
4.230 The Welfare Reform Act 2012 supported by the Social Security (Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations 2013 introduced Direct Earnings Attachments (DEAs) from April 2013. A DEA allows for recovery of overpaid benefit directly from a debtor!!!8217;s earnings without having to apply via the court system. The Regulations also allow Local Authorities to recover overpayments of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit using a DEA.
Social Security (Overpayments & Recovery Regs. 2013 Part 6
SSAA 71ZD
HB Regs 2006 Para.106A
HB (SPC) Regs Para. 87°

I see that your company is now trading and you are earning a living. I am confused by the time line of all this.

If your CAB is not helpful then you are going to need some kind of benefit specialist. To be honest, I am not sure of the procedure at this stage. Perhaps the best thing to do is a subject access request to the council to find out exactly what paperwork they have. This would also give you the chance to produce any missing paperwork/records for your business during the overpayment period.

The latter is the key. You have either not produced the required paperwork or you have and it has gone missing/not been delivered. From what you have said you moved during this time so letters from them may also have gone astray.

Unless someone else has any ideas about what you need to do now then start with a subject access request.

unforeseen

I think

Initially when i did write to them, they demanding a lot of things to which some of them i did not have access to. Therefore i gave them my accountants details

is part of the problem. They want information that you don't have but your accountant does. They are not going to chase your accountant for it. It's up to you to get the info and forward it on.

In fact I would think it would be a Data Protection breach if your accountant divulged information to a third party without a court order.

pmlindyloo

Your local authority may have a form online that you can use for a subject access request.

If not, then you can use this one as a basis for what to put in your letter:

https://sar.infreemation.co.uk/hackney/form?id=1

pmlindyloo

Also, have a read of this link. Within the link are some other links for representation that may be helpful.

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Working-With-Us/Challenging-Decisions

pmlindyloo

You can also contact this organisation about the attachment of earnings as, having had a read of this, I am not sure that they can use this method of recovery unless you are using PAYE to pay you from your company.

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-collection/attachment-of-earnings.aspx

Afraid_of_Kittens

hary_j wrote: »

Initially when i did write to them, they demanding a lot of things to which some of them i did not have access to. Therefore i gave them my accountants details. They did not make any contact with them nor did they acknowledge anything i put in the letter, alongside the evidence provided.

The second letter i wrote, was simple straight forward, asking them i have not had my queries answered and you don't seem interested in what i got to say. There was no further letter until a year letter, which started to demand payments back and threats about deducting from my employer.

I will now write a letter of complaint to them, stating why my queries aren't being answered.

And there is the answer to all your problems. It is your responsibility to provide the documentary evidence available. It isn't the responsibility of the Housing Benefit Office to chase your accountant for documentary evidence. As you failed to provide what they wanted they just cancelled your entire claim.

Afraid_of_Kittens

hary_j wrote: »

The LA may have used an Income Floor level to give you an income
If you didn't have any income what was you living off?

Could possibly be a reason. I was living of support from family members, for a very short period of time


Why was you not trading? Did you show them your business plan? did they ask for projected income for 13 weeks?

The nature of my business was to contract for other establishments, i didn't venture any contracts further, current one had come to an end. To be honest as far as i can remember, they didn't ask.

So your company never ceased trading you were just between contracts. You were still a Director but with no Directors Remuneration. Did the company have any cash in any bank accounts?