Overpayment of Housing Benefit

jennyflower73

Good afternoon

I hope that you can help.

I have been notified that I have been overpaid Housing Benefit totalling over £6k.  I emailed and requested details and they responded stating the following:  "The large overpayment was created due to undeclared student status, you sent Benefits an email in October and November 2022. Benefits reviewed your claim and updated your student finance income and your self employed income. As Benefits were not aware of these changes, this has caused the overpayment."

I took up a full-time degree in 2020 and have emails showing that I notified them of every stage of the process, even emailing them asking for advice before I decided to commit to the degree.  They were notified of any and all changes (email copies I have) and were sent details of all student income and personal income. 

These suggested overpayments started over three and a half years ago and finish in Oct 2022.

I have sent them an email today, with over twenty pages of email evidence asking for them to reconsider, as all monies were received in good faith knowing that I had provided all information required and been as transparent as possible.  I am a single parent in poor health and this is making me very stressed and anxious.  

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks 

sheramber

FArom the above

You became a student in 2020

Benefits updated your claim due to an email received 2022 giving details of student income and self employed income.

Prsumably that update resulted in the overpayment 

Were you notified in 2022 of the overpayment? 

DE_612183

Does the over-payment cover the period from 2020 ( which month? ) to October 2022.

If that's the case did they explicitly say you were entitled to HB whilst studying for a degree?

Also - were a FT or PT student?

Were you also in receipt of any other benefits during this period?

I would try not to get stressed about this - worst case is that you repay over a long period of time whatever is affordable.

peteuk

Not sure if this coves HB overpayments but DWP/HMRC often have a get out of jail…it goes

“We got it wrong, sorry, but its your responsibility to check the payments and ensure they are correct, if not then you must notify us as soon ad possible…”

8dayweek

Were you receiving any other (means tested) benefits whilst you were a Student like ESA or Income Support?

Do you have a trail of emails etc you sent in 2020, or did you only notify them in 2022 that you’d been a Student & Self-Employed from 2020?