Challenging the benefits office

[IdaInFife]

Hi folks,

I am challenging my local benefits office.

Story:

My husband was hospitalised in Feb 2006 and basically told keep working at you current job and he wouldn't see 40

He has always been a labourer and bascially there is somethiong wrong with his intestine ( something like having a stomach ulcer but in intentine) and was told heavy lifting and bending has caused this.

My husband was self employed and had been for many years. I always filled in his self return on time and paid his stamp when the invoice was sent.

I work 20 hrs a week but get a very good pay and bebifts from employer and we have a wee one so my works suits me.

In feb he went to the job centre and basically because he didn't pay voluntry contributions to his NI he doesn't get anything from them, never advised any different , just paid the quartley statuory invoices.

Tax credits advised at time.

Claimed for HB and CT benefits and was granted an award,

All good we think.

Have a random visit in Nov 2006 and got letter saying were we enitittled to nothing and left with nearly a £2000 overypayment. Called them up and they basically said "tough, we did not enter in your tax credits award , you are due us this money and we have taken it back".

So we have struggled since then until Nov 2007 when whilst discussing a housing application the Housing Officer,said that I should apply for HB and CT benefit and she thought we should be entitled to some form of rebate although aware of the previous application. We reapplied and were granted a partial rebate!

Had a another radom visit from the benefits office two weeks ago and everything is fine except when get the letter and we have a futher discount than what we have had

So from 2006:

Tax credits are the same
Rent and Ct has increased
My wages have increased

Does not make sense.

I have sent a letter to the benefits office today basically asking for a review of benefits from 2006.

I can only try

Any hints tips and critisisms welcome and will keep posting

Idax

[Invasive_Frost]

Subject Access Request the council, it may not be of use now but it almost certainly will be if you have to take them to court or to a tribunal, when I had problems with a housing benefit overpayment the case came down to a hand written note on the front of a document the council was relying on, if I had not SARd them I wouldn't have had that vital piece of info that won me the tribunal.

[IdaInFife]

Hi Thanks,

I thought I would try the softly softly approach first.

I have a Subject Access Request ready to be pronted off if needed


I am just awaiting their reply,

Idax

[Invasive_Frost]

When you say you sent a letter to the "benefits office" do you mean local council or DWP / Jobcentre? I ask only because you said that you paid your husbands conts when he was self employed and voluntary contributions should not have mattered (volutary contributions are only counted towards retirement pension as far as i know). So unless you know that there was a time in the three or four years preceeding you husbands illness when he was not working enough to pay conts or missed a quaterly payment it may be worth also writing to HMSO to check that conts were properly posted on their computer system and also the DWP to ensure that their decision to disallow Incapacity Benefit was correct.

[IdaInFife]

Thanks Frost,

He was self employed from 1999 but wasn't advised to still 'sign on' for his 'stamps' due to his earnings.

In 2002 started working as a sub contractor and paid the quartley invoices from then until he stopped working in 2006.

He is going back to the job centre this week to start a new claim.

And I wrote aleeter to the hb office, got an envelope today with all the paysips etc from 2006 but no letter or response from them.


Idax

[Invasive_Frost]

I just re-read you first post on this thread and I had mis-read it, i thought you'd said that he'd claimed Incapacity Benefit when he was first told not to work, but I realize now that you meant for Jobseekers and this February, so sorry for asking about the conts issue. (Unless you did mean feb 06 or he did try to claim back then in which case go back to them and HMSO and get it sorted). I am afraid to say that he is unlikely to get anything now either from JSA or IB because there wont have been any conts in the last tax year (in a claim now i believe that they will be looking at the three years up to April 2007) and because of your earnings it's unlikely that he'll get anything now.
Let me know what the council eventually comes back with, it might be worth writing to them again now, just to make sure that the payslips etc are not all that they are intending to send.
All the best.
Frost

[IdaInFife]

UPDATE:

Received a letter on friday 25th saying the will review it from 2006

i need to send them more paysipls for certain months. I have all but one .

They are sending me a form for my employer to fill for that month.

Will send them off and see what happens


Idax

[redsonja]

The only extra thing I will add here is the following:

Did you notify the HB office of your Tax credit entitlement?

If you did and it was THEIR error that they did not input the TAx Credits on to your claim then that is down to Local Authority error and you have good grounds to appeal against the overpayment!.

[IdaInFife]

Hi Red,

Yes they had all the info as the local office photocopied all the relevant doc including the tax awards letter.


Will be posting off the last part of evidence they need next week


fingers crossed

Idax

[redsonja]

In that case Ida....you should appeal against the overpayment. You need to be quick about it though as you only have a certain time limit to appeal.

You did everything you should have done and the Overpayment is done to their error of not inputting it. YOu have good grounds for an appeal on this. If they refuse the appeal then you appeal to a tribunal and I bet it wont get that far and then they write the debt off.

[IdaInFife]

Just to update:

Everything they have requested was sent off yesterday.

tick, tock.


Idax

[IdaInFife]

Received letter today from council tax benefits. We were due some benefit and it has reduced the overpayment by £500.

So i rang up and asked if the housing benefit had been reviewed and it has and thats been reduced by £700 .

So being left to pay a nearly £2000 overpayment now down to £700 but already paid some of it off.

This was from feb 2006 and all been adjusted just by asking them to review it!!!!

What a weight of my mind and soooooooooo happy


Idax