Anyone been through a Carers' Allowance Overpayment tribunal??

Guy500

Hi - has anyone been through a Carers' Allowance Overpayment appeal tribunal and would be willing to have a short chat with me to help me understand what happens? Ours has just been scheduled and we have no idea whatsoever (apart from the short paragraph of standard info, which doesn't tell us much) how it works, what happens on the day, how to prepare, etc.  I feel it would be really helpful to speak to someone who's been through it already.

HillStreetBlues

Not had a tribunal for CA but the remit is the same, they are there to apply the law. You prepare by  making sure you know the Regs and rules that backs up your view that there is no overpayment. It has to be a legal argument.
If you share with the forum on why you feel the overpayment is incorrect you might get more tailored advice.

NedS

I agree, the tribunal's purpose is to consider the law as it applies to your case.

When requesting the tribunal hearing, you should have presented your legal case for why you feel the overpayment is incorrect (perhaps DWP have overstated your weekly earnings or failed to take into consideration allowable deductions from your earnings?). If you are legally right and DWP are wrong, DWP will normally lapse the case in your favour before it gets to a tribunal hearing as their legal team will see there has been a mistake when looking at your submission and preparing their own case. At tribunal you will be given an opportunity to present the facts of your case. You should focus on your weekly earnings, and why you feel you were entitled to receive CA in any given week (I'm assuming the overpayment has arisen due to you earning over the cut off threshold?)

If it's a case that the overpayment is correct, however unfair you feel that may be, you have no legal case and the tribunal should find in DWP's favour. What you can do is consider how repaying the debt may affect you and negotiate an appropriate repayment plan with DWP debt management.

DWP do have discretionary powers to write off the debt in exceptional circumstances if you are able to argue that repaying the debt would cause severe hardship, but that is a discretionary process with DWP, and not something (i.e, a legal ruling) for a tribunal to consider. You should probably seek professional advice if you feel this route is appropriate for you.