Do i have grounds to appeal this £5000 overpayment?

chris112

Last summer i moved to a new flat only 1/2 a mile away but as it crossed a 'line' i am now under a different council/borough, despite the same town/city being on the address

so it took me a few weeks to realise so once i did i called this council to apply for my benefits - ESA & HB (PIP not changed), they said i have to apply for Universal credit now, so once i did i saw i only received £1250 p/month compared to the £1800 i was receiving in the previous flat

so i called the council enquiring to which i was told it was still awaiting a decision makers consideration, i have still been paid ESA (including severe disabled component)
i asked if i would lose money now that i had to switch to UC and i was told no
so after regular 'chasing-up' my case i didnt get an update so thought id leave it as my claim date was recorded and i could always backdate

so i recently got a message about my UC saying i have been overpaid £5000 since i applied!
stating it was due to:
Late notification - payment to account
'On [insert date] your circumstances changed and by the time
you had told us your benefit had already been paid '
- i told them my circumstances a few weeks after moving in!

so after speaking to UC they said it was due to me receiving ESA since claiming UC
they also said i should have been receiving a disability premium since receiving UC and that i am due to receive £1000 at some point
So assume i owe £240 p/month from receiving the severe disability element
the UC advisor said i should be receiving £1580 UC p/month

So i was curious whether you feel i have grounds to appeal this £5000 overpayment, based on my situation ^

thank you

poppy12345

The severe disability premium is not paid on UC, i'm afraid. This means that claiming UC has made you worse off. There was an announcement made last year to say that those that transferred to UC and lost out on the SDP will be compensated with extra money at some point in the future but there's no further announcements made on this yet.


The reason why you had to claim UC at that time was because you couldn't claim housing benefit with a different local council.


When you claimed UC online then your ESA should have stopped, if you continued to receive payment from ESA then it will be deducted from your UC payment. This is because you can't receive payment twice.



When you were claiming ESA and transferred across DWP should have honoured your award and placed you into the relevant group for UC. If you were in the Support Group then you should now have been given LCWRA.


This means your payments should be £328 per month LCWRA element +the standard UC depending on your age £251.77 if under 25 or £317.82 if over 25. Then you'll receive the housing element on top of that.


Based on what you say above i'm afraid i don't think you have grounds to appeal the overpayment. Simply because SDP isn't paid on UC and you can't receive the ESA payment and UC at the same time.

Alice_Holt

Plus -
All UC overpayments are recoverable, even if it arose due to official error.

chris112

thank you for your detailed answer, Poppy
had i known i would of been worse off i wouldnt have moved, but we live and learn
- i will enquire with the original council and see if they still use ESA as i could potentially move back

as i dont have £5k lying around, are you aware if i repay the debt in manageable installments whether id be subject to paying an additional APR premium? the letter doesnt say, just that its an option

Newly_retired

Doesn’t every area come under UC now? If so, you won’t be able to go back to eSA if you were to move back

poppy12345

chris112 wrote: »

thank you for your detailed answer, Poppy
had i known i would of been worse off i wouldnt have moved, but we live and learn
- i will enquire with the original council and see if they still use ESA as i could potentially move back

as i dont have £5k lying around, are you aware if i repay the debt in manageable installments whether id be subject to paying an additional APR premium? the letter doesnt say, just that its an option

All areas are now a full UC area. Also because you're now claiming UC you can't ever go back to claiming ESA.


You'll be able to repay the money back through installments but you'll need to contact DWP to arrange this. You won't pay any extra, just what you owe and it will be stopped from your monthly UC payments.

chris112

FYI, i just spoke to UC and they said there was a recent hearing in the last few months which decided those getting SDP on ESA wouldnt have to migrate to UC

But then i read this:

new draft managed migration pilot regulations, due to come into force by July 2019, include provision to award additional payments to people who were previously entitled to a severe disability premium and have claimed universal credit before 16 January 2019; the flat rate 'transitional SDP amount' ranges between £80 and £360 for each assessment period since the move to universal credit, which will be converted into a transitional element after a date determined by the Secretary of State (paragraphs 1 to 6 of the proposed new schedule 2 to the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014).

poppy12345

chris112 wrote: »

FYI, i just spoke to UC and they said there was a recent hearing in the last few months which decided those getting SDP on ESA wouldnt have to migrate to UC

But then i read this:

new draft managed migration pilot regulations, due to come into force by July 2019, include provision to award additional payments to people who were previously entitled to a severe disability premium and have claimed universal credit before 16 January 2019; the flat rate 'transitional SDP amount' ranges between £80 and £360 for each assessment period since the move to universal credit, which will be converted into a transitional element after a date determined by the Secretary of State (paragraphs 1 to 6 of the proposed new schedule 2 to the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014).

FYI, the new legislation that came into affect in January 2019 is for those that are currently claiming the SDP. They aren't for those that moved across to UC because of a change of circumstances in the past.


What you read above about the extra payments for those that moved across and lost the SDP is correct, as i previously mentioned in my other post above. However, this legislation hasn't come into affect yet. When it does then you'll eventually be paid some extra money.


In the meantime you'll need to made arrangements to re-pay the money that's been overpaid to you because you can't appeal that overpayment.