Overpayment of Income Support (£9k)

iwillbedebtfree_2 · 19 May 2012 at 10:46AM

Hi all, I really hope someone can help as this is all a bit beyond me!

In brief, when I was 15years old I was what's called 'legally estranged from my parents' as neither one was capable of looking after me. This resulted in me moving out and claiming housing benefit & income support. This was explained that I was able to claim IS as long as I was in full time education or working less than 16 hours per week.

During this time, I flittered between work & education and had no real guidance so was admittedly a bit lost! I was also a bit stupid.

Then in 2006 I recieved a letter from DWP saying that they had overplayed me my IS and had to pay back over £11k.:eek:

I wrote back and explained that I was either in education or working less than 16 hours so I didn't feel I broke the terms so I didn't feel I should pay it back.

Today, I have just recieved a letter saying "Further to the appeal against a decision about an overpayment that was notified on 28/04/2006, we have looked again at the facts and as a result have changed our decision". They then go on to say the income support paid in error is now £8918.

They said that as I have already appealed, they will not look at it again.
My question to you all is, as this was such a long time ago, am I still legally entitled to pay?
Also, I am on maternity leave at the moment with the intention of returning to work part time from September. I will then be down to a low income & will already struggle as it is without adding another debt to the mix!

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

midnight_express · 19 May 2012 at 11:16AM

You owe this money, it will never be written off. If you start claiming benefits they will start to recover the overpayment from your benefit.

Dunroamin · 19 May 2012 at 11:22AM

Why didn't you repay this debt when you received a large inheritance last year?

HappyMJ · 19 May 2012 at 11:26AM

Dunroamin wrote: »

Why didn't you repay this debt when you received a large inheritance last year?

I would say it is because the OP disagrees with the claim for overpayment as can be shown by the appeal knocking many thousands of the alleged debt.

OP you don't have to pay it straight away you can continue to appeal the decisions and when you next claim a DWP benefit they will deduct any previous overpayment from any future benefit.

iwillbedebtfree_2 · 19 May 2012 at 11:26AM

Dunroamin wrote: »

Why didn't you repay this debt when you received a large inheritance last year?

This was because the money wasn't given to me, it was given to my husband.

I will of course pay it back but after 6 years of not hearing anything from them, I just wanted to know where I stood & thought somebody on here might know.

Thank you for the replies.

iwillbedebtfree_2 · 19 May 2012 at 11:30AM

Thank you HappyMJ you are right.

I will contact them again as this figure still seems a bit random to me. I

I will of course pay back anything I rightly owe, I would just prefer if they could prove I owe this. It was a very difficult time in my life and I was very young and misguided.
I will contact them first thing Monday.

Thanks again for all constructive replies.

Ellejmorgan · 19 May 2012 at 11:39AM

Are you saying that you were claiming IS at 15 ???

Dunroamin · 19 May 2012 at 11:40AM

iwillbedebtfree wrote: »

This was because the money wasn't given to me, it was given to my husband.

I will of course pay it back but after 6 years of not hearing anything from them, I just wanted to know where I stood & thought somebody on here might know.

Thank you for the replies.

OK.

So what have they given for thinking that this money was overpaid? What period was it for and what were your circumstances at the time?

iwillbedebtfree_2 · 19 May 2012 at 11:41AM

Ellejmorgan wrote: »

Are you saying that you were claiming IS at 15 ???

No, I was explaining what got me into the situation of having to claim which started when I was 15.

rogerblack · 19 May 2012 at 11:49AM

iwillbedebtfree wrote: »

Then in 2006 I received a letter from DWP saying that they had overplayed me my IS and had to pay back over £11k.:eek:

I wrote back and explained that I was either in education or working less than 16 hours so I didn't feel I broke the terms so I didn't feel I should pay it back.

Today, I have just recieved a letter saying "Further to the appeal against a decision about an overpayment that was notified on 28/04/2006, we have looked again at the facts and as a result have changed our decision". They then go on to say the income support paid in error is now £8918.

They said that as I have already appealed, they will not look at it again.

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Several issues.
First is what happened back in 2006.
If you wrote to appeal - certain things have to happen.
What was their decision back then?
That it wasn't repayable, or that you were due to repay?
Do you have this letter?

If it was found that you needed to repay - but you haven't yet - then you still owe the money.

You're also out of time to appeal the original decision - that you owed 11K - but only if they followed procedure correctly.

iwillbedebtfree_2 · 19 May 2012 at 11:53AM

Dunroamin wrote: »

OK.

So what have they given for thinking that this money was overpaid? What period was it for and what were your circumstances at the time?

Well that's exactly my point, they haven't given me anything to show overpayments. The letter this morning states it was from 2001-2005. During this time (really testing the old memory here, I attended 2 different colleges & worked weekends when possible but not exceeding their 16 hour rule).

Overpayment of Income Support (£9k)

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