£500 cap and overpayment

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AG47
AG47 Posts: 1,618 Forumite
in Benefits & tax credits
Apparently I have been overpaid tax credits and have to pay back out of my new award. I hear this is extremely common now,


If I was unemployed and affected by the cap, meaning that with my housing benefits and CTC was over £500wk, could I not use the amount over £500 to slowly pay back the overpayments?

It’s crazy if my benefits are capped to £500 and then take off even more to pay bck the overpayments
Nothing has been fixed since 2008, it was just pushed into the future
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  • poppy12345
    poppy12345 Posts: 17,949 Forumite
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    AG47 wrote: »
    Apparently I have been overpaid tax credits and have to pay back out of my new award. I hear this is extremely common now,


    If I was unemployed and affected by the cap, meaning that with my housing benefits and CTC was over £500wk, could I not use the amount over £500 to slowly pay back the overpayments?

    It’s crazy if my benefits are capped to £500 and then take off even more to pay bck the overpayments
    You're not unemployed though. All overpayments have to be repaid, which ever way they are paid.
  • tomtom256
    tomtom256 Posts: 2,217 Forumite
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    No as you are not entitled to anything over the cap, overwise there wouldn't need to be a cap and they would just give you a blank cheque.
  • AG47
    AG47 Posts: 1,618 Forumite
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    After the repayment of the over payment come out of my £500 I can only just pay my rent, and nothing left
    Nothing has been fixed since 2008, it was just pushed into the future
  • Kentish_Dave
    Kentish_Dave Posts: 842 Forumite
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    AG47 wrote: »
    After the repayment of the over payment come out of my £500 I can only just pay my rent, and nothing left
    Then you’re probably going to have to work more hours to make up the difference.

    As I said elsewhere previously, if you need to rely on the state for your income then you have to be very aware of the amounts which you should get, and the rules, as well as remembering that they can change.

    You should have been saving while you were being overpaid in case of something like this happening, but if you have no savings then you’ll need to earn the extra that you need yourself.
  • AG47
    AG47 Posts: 1,618 Forumite
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    Kentish_Dave wrote: »
    Then you’re probably going to have to work more hours to make up the difference.

    As I said elsewhere previously, if you need to rely on the state for your income then you have to be very aware of the amounts which you should get, and the rules, as well as remembering that they can change.

    You should have been saving while you were being overpaid in case of something like this happening, but if you have no savings then you’ll need to earn the extra that you need yourself.

    I’m out of work at the moment, and going to rely on food banks until the overpayments are paid back
    Nothing has been fixed since 2008, it was just pushed into the future
  • Kentish_Dave
    Kentish_Dave Posts: 842 Forumite
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    AG47 wrote: »
    I’m out of work at the moment, and going to rely on food banks until the overpayments are paid back
    You can probably only get a few days worth of food from a food bank. If it were me I’d set my alarm properly early tomorrow, get up and spend the day job hunting. You can always get a minimum wage job in a few hours if you have the right attitude and out the hours in.

    What sort of savings do you have generally to tide you over?
  • poppy12345
    poppy12345 Posts: 17,949 Forumite
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    Kentish_Dave wrote: »
    What sort of savings do you have generally to tide you over?
    Savings? a lot of people live hand to mouth when claiming benefits. Not everyone is able to "go out to look for work"
  • AG47
    AG47 Posts: 1,618 Forumite
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    poppy12345 wrote: »
    Savings? a lot of people live hand to mouth when claiming benefits. Not everyone is able to "go out to look for work"

    We have disabled kids but turned down child DLA.

    Just because we were turned down dla doesn’t mean our kids don’t need full time care.

    We don’t have any savings, and it’s looking like this is the last month we can pay our full rent, I will just pay whatever is left from now on and see how long it takes for us to get evicted :(
    Nothing has been fixed since 2008, it was just pushed into the future
  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696 Forumite
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    edited 19 May 2019 at 7:36PM
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    I assume you meant to say that your children were turned down for DLA rather than that you turned it down.

    You could apply to your local authority for a Discretionary Housing Payment https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/discretionary-housing-payment.
    You may be turned down but there is nothing lost by asking.
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 19,109 Forumite
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    Why do you say at 3.50pm
    If I was unemployed and affected by the cap, meaning that with my housing benefits and CTC was over £500wk, could I not use the amount over £500 to slowly pay back the overpayments?

    Then at 6.11pm
    I’m out of work at the moment,

    Did you become unemployed during that time?
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