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I claimed Income Support in November 2006, when I became ill and didn't qualify for Incapacity benefit.
I was awarded Income Support from 27 November 06, however £76.58 a week was disregarded because I received this already in Working Tax Credit. I didn't contact the tax credit people as I assumed that it would be done automatically by being awarded Income Support, I now know different.
Anyway this continued until I completed a tax credit renewal in June 2007. (It amounts to 29 weeks and 6 days that my Income Support was reduced.)
I have now only just realised that in June 2007, the tax credit people decided that the working tax credits I received amounted to an overpayment. They have recovered an amount of this each month since and will continue to do so until it is repaid, it amounts to over £2200.
I can accept that it was an overpayment of tax credit as obviously I was not working due to being sick but that overpayment of tax credit resulted in an underpayment of Income Support, so at the end of the day I got the right amount of money over the 2 government departments but now I am expected to repay it.
The tax credit people say it is an Income Support problem, they say they can only go by the information given to them by tax credits and it is their problem.
If anyone reading this has any dealings in anything like this then I would appreciate any advice on how best to deal with it. I have left it with Income Support, who are ringing me on Monday, although as I said, the initial response was it was a tax credit problem.
Things are difficult and tight enough on basic benefit income with out being asked to pay back what you shouldn't have to and having your child tax credit reduced every month!
I would say you should deal with Income Support if they underpaid you. If you disputed the Over Payment with tax credits i doubt they would remit it. You are correctly being told there is an OP because technically you never informed them that you had stopped working, there-by no longer being entitled to WTC. However if you never received the correct amount from IS they should amend that for you.
You can dispute the OP with tax credits, which would at least suspend any recovery while they investigate it for you, you should call them if you wish to do this and they will send out a TC846 and COP26.
I may be wrong, but I honestly didn't think you could claim backdated IS as it is essentially a 'survival' income and if you've survived without out, regardless of why, then they may claim you don't need it...
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Thanks for the info guys. Welshman, you can claim backdated Income Support. If you were entitled to it then they have to pay you it but there is a limit on how far back you can claim.
I agree that it is an overpayment but from what the IS call centre said I can't see them accepting it is an underpayment of IS. There position is if the Inland Revenue say WTC was being paid, which it was then at that time the reduction in the IS was correct.
I get the impression that both departments understand the problem but don't know how to rectify it. I think it should just be a case of moving figures on paper, so I don't have to repay the WTC but that will be far to simple for them. I can see this rumbling on for ages but I don't believe I can be the only person in the country this has happened to, so there should be a solution surely?
I will dispute it if the IS people don't come up with an answer on Monday but I know that won't succeed as it is an overpayment, I can see it ending up with my MP in the long term.
As I said earlier Simon, I can't honestly be 100% sure and, for your sake, I hope I'm wrong, but the only backdating I know about extends to several months and not years.
Nonetheless, I would also be disputing as it's grossly unfair.
Have you written to the Job Centre about your IS yet to get a response from them??
Good luck!!
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No I haven't written to them yet. They rang me today as promised, just after I had to go out!! They are going to phone me again, so if I haven't heard by end of tomorrow I will be on to them again.
This isn't an issue of backdating, as a claim was in force. The problem is that there is case law to suggest that overpaid tax credits count as income even if later claimed back. Very unfair, but it might be what we're stuck with.
Okay, I rang Income Support again today, as no call was received. I got a call back and spoke to someone who said, I need to write in with the details and provide proof that the amount of WTC is now being treated as an overpayment. She said it would be passed to a specialist decision maker and would be sorted out and any underpayment of IS paid.
I rang HMRC straight away who are sending me copies of the overpayment notices to send them, so fingers crossed it looks as though it might get sorted out for me.
I am still a bit unsure that it can be as simple as that and that it will be backdated. I have had an underpayment backdated before, so I know it can be done. When I was awarded DLA last June, it was as a result of a tribunal and was backdated to May 2007. This in turn prompted an underpayment of Income Support premium, so I rang them and was told to write in, they paid me as it was money I was entitled to, so I hope this will be the same.
If it isn't I will go to my MP, as I don't know what else I could do.
I will keep this thread updated, so people know the outcome.
I have now sent a letter to the DWP about this. I received my CTC award notice today for this year and they are still taking money off me every month for overpayment, so I think I will dispute the overpayment if the DWP don't pay up as well as going to my MP!
I rang the tax credit helpline 2 weeks ago as I had not received a reply. I explained the whole situation to the person and they said, "I can have a look and give you the information over the phone." Which in effect meant they hadn't listened to me, or they would have realised I needed it in writing!
After again explaining I needed it in writing, I was advised that they had until the middle of July to respond to my request as their timeframe for a reply was 3 months................Yes 3 months to reply to a letter!!!!
I pointed out that I actually found that completely unacceptable, they can give me what I want over the phone in 2 minutes but have 3 months to reply to a request for the same information in writing. I asked for the address to send a complaint to and low and behold it was the same address.
I sent in a complaint about the time it was taking and that I feel 3 months is unacceptable for a modern government funded department to deal with a request for information.
I also wrote at the same time to the DWP asking them to obtain the information directly from HMRC as if the information can be given over the phone, I fail to see why they should not be able to obtain it with my authority.
I haven't heard from either department, not even an acknowledgement that my complaint has been received and is being looked into.
I will wait for a further 7 days and then forward copies of everything to my MP I think, not that I expect that to have miraculous results either.
Kalujo123 - If I were you I would write as I have to both departments and push for a resolution, it can't do any harm and can only benefit you financially.
I finally received a letter from tax credits yesterday!
It confirms the overpayment amounting to over £2180.00.
I have written again to Income Support explaining that as this is declared an overpayment conversely it should not be taken into account as income and therefore results in an underpayment of Income Support.
I don't expect it to be plain sailing and I can't see them rolling over and coughing up over £2k as easy as that but I will keep going on this. I will update as soon as I hear anything.
This is brilliant, although slightly differing cicumstances it proves the point. I will wait and see what Income Support say but if they turn me down then I am sure I can use this later on in the proceedings.
Income Support/Working Tax Credit Problem
. They have recovered an amount of this each month since and will continue to do so until it is repaid, it amounts to over £2200.
!
IF YOU ARE BORED WITH LITTLE TO DO
WON / 19 November 2007
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