Income Support Mistake Special Payments Claim - Should I seek legal advice?

sallyinlancs

I had to stop working because I became disabled. I applied for IS Nov 2006 after having been on SSP for 6 months (couldn't claim IB as I hadn't made enough NI contributions) and also asked if I could apply for help with my mortgage payments but I was told I would have to wait for 39 weeks as it was a 'new' mortgage.

I went to welfare rights and housing advice who told me there was nothing I could do. I went back to the jobcentre in tears, twice, but didn't get anywhere. As my arrears increased I sought advice from homeless charities and legal services to no avail. I went to the CAB who told me all they could do was to try to put off the hearing until the 39 weeks was up and hope for the best.

By this time I had accrued costs from the mortgage company of well over £750 as well as my growing arrears. I contacted my MP and she found out that the jobcentre had been wrong all along!!! They should have counted the 39 weeks from the time I was on SSP and so I should have received payments from the date I applied for Income Support. This means I should never have gone into arrears at all!!!

The jobcentre agreed their mistake (the day before I was in court for repossession - July 2007) and agreed to backdate payments and also consider an ex gratia payment in view of the difficulties I have suffered.

I have found out that the ex gratia payment (being dealt with by the IS special payments dept) will take until AT LEAST July 2008 to sort out, and that they are only considering the amount of costs accrued directly by my mortgage company (around £750 - the mortgage company reduced the total to this amount). However, whilst in arrears I tried everything to keep up mortgage payments myself and got behind with other bills because of this. I had previously owed nothing to anyone.

I do not know the true cost of this benefits mistake, but I know it is hundreds of pounds more than the mortgage company's costs of £750. The toll taken on my health has been catastrophic as my medical condition has been much worsened by the stress caused by the threat of repossession. Not to mention the fact that my (previously OK) credit rating is now terrible!

Is it worth seeking legal advice about getting real compensation from IS? Or is the possible ex-gratia payment of around £750 (max) the best I can hope for?

Voyager2002

Ex-gratia means that they are paying it on a good-will basis, and it is not something to which you are entitled. So legal assistance would not help to increase the amount of such a payment. All that a lawyer could do would be to help you calculate the true figure for your losses resulting from this mistake, and help with the wording of a letter asking for the full amount.

Since your MP has already proved helpful and effective, why not go back to her and see if she can explain that the ex gratia payment needs to be higher than the amount they are planning to give you?

suelees1

I'd definitely agree with voyager2002 about your MP being a help with this. Payments are made because of different elements of the maladministration (a long word for what basically means a big boo boo!).

Here's a link which might be useful.

www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2003/frm/08_exgsp.asp

Look at the links down the left side of the web page. There are payments for consolatory loss as well as financial loss.

They do take a while to sort out but this has now been going on for a long time and for such a further delay until June 2008 seems quite unreasonable. Your MP's involvement in this will help push it as long as you keep on to her as well.

As you're in receipt of IS you can seek help from a solicitor and there should be no charge to you. If you want to go down this route I'd suggest you instruct one who specialises in welfare law.

I can't understand how 'welfare rights' got it so wrong as they should be experts. This is professional negligence. I hope you've at least written to the manager there so the wrong info won't be given to someone else. You should really be seeking compensation from them. They will be insured for this type of error which causes financial loss.

glossgal

I think negligence claim may be over egging the pud a little, as far as I know there is a 39 week waiting period for under 60's housing costs? (assuming the mortgage was there before the disability?) Glad OP got something sorted but not sure I understand what went on TBH

sallyinlancs

Yes I had the mortgage before I developed disabilities. I had stopped working and went on Statutory Sick Pay for the maximum period I was entitled to it (roughly six months). I then went on Income Support. The 39 week waiting period should have been counted from the time I went on to SSP, not from the time I started receiving IS.

In retrospect, I should have claimed IS three months earlier but at the time I had some savings which I used to live on as I didn't realise you could claim IS and have some savings.

I am bitterly disappointed in Welfare Rights, I must admit, and have lost faith in them altogether. I also had some problems with the 'help' they gave me filling in the form for my DLA application. My condition and disabilities are extremely variable and there are times when I'm really quite mobile and others when I'm bedridden. While filling in the form with a Welfare Rights worker I was quite well (certainly well enough to get to the Welfare Rights office). The worker kept asking me to fill the form in according to how I had been that particular week and the answers did not give a true representation of how I am on average. I have heard from others that the forms should be filled in taking into account both worst and best days and not necessarily how you have been in the week before applying.

I AM a little afraid of 'over egging the pud a little'. Being out of work and on benefits is both frustrating and humiliating. Although I will not be able to return to the work I was doing before, I am sure I can find a job that I CAN do, given the right support, but I can honestly say that the stress caused by this mistake has resulted in SEVERE setbacks to my health. If this were any matter other than benefits, I would probably be right on the case looking for compensation for negligence. As it is, being on benefits per se is uncomfortable and I don't want to turn into a 'benefits scrounger'.

glossgal

Well, Im sure nobody would see you as a scrounger at all. Im all for being compensated for mistakes if they have caused distress or financial loss, I just don't think there is any point in pursuing welfare rights for this is the DWP have rectified it from their end. You should certainly raise the issue with the office concerned though, if only to stop it happening to anyone else.

Im still a little confused by how the mistake happened though! your 39 week wait for mortgage costs can only start from the time when you claimed Income Support. If you didn't physically claim until after SSP finished then I don't see how the costs can be backdated earlier as the ownus is on you to claim. If the welfare office told you to wait 39 weeks before claimng then this is obviously wrong. Is this what happend? anyway Im glad you have been given some redress by DWP even if there will be a wait.

If your DLA was turned down do you have access to another office or advice agency that could help you more? Its important to get a good rapour with someone in this position and if you feel you're getting a shoddy service I would say 'sorry Ive changed my mind' and leave. Not easy to do but recovering from a badly filled in form can be a long hard process.

sallyinlancs

I applied for IS Nov 2006. Up until this date I had been making my own mortgage payments from the SSP and savings I had. At the same time as claiming IS, I asked if I could apply for help with my mortgage costs and the DWP said 'No - you have to wait for 39 weeks,' and I was refused even an application form for this as 'It's not worth it because you're not entitled.' I went back to the DWP several times and was told the same again. I then went to Welfare Rights, CAB, Housing Advice etc. and was given the same advice; 'You're not entitled so no point even applying.' Housing advice even told me to apply for a council house straight away so that I'd be further up the list when I (inevitably) became evicted!

It was not until Jul 2007 that the DWP agreed that I should have been entitled to help with mortgage payments from the time I claimed IS. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't have to wait 39 weeks (my mental state at the time was very poor). Perhaps it was because I had to give up my job because of disability?