hi

I have been searching the internet but cant seem to find a definative answer to my question.

I started receiving carers allowance for my disabled daughter a while ago and was already in receipt of full income support.

My question is, when i started receiving carers allwance was it my job to inform the income support people that i was now in receipt of carers allowance or are they automatically informed.

Would this be classed as a change in circumstances?

I think i may have been overpaid but am unsure as theres hardly any information on this on the net.

any advice would be great

thanks

Hi Vicky,

its fifty fifty here... Carers Allowance should have notified I.S that CA had been awarded to you.. Its a bit hard to explain but what normally happens is C.A sends I.S a recovery, its a stencil sent to I.S that tells the section C.A is going into payment in a few weeks, this way you will recevie the correct amount of arrears from C.A and dont incur an overpayment of your I.S. CA should have informed IS but sometimes it doesnt happen..

On the other hand you should have phoned I.S and informed them you had made a claim to carers allowance as it is a change of circumstances

But how long have you been in receipt of CA amd when was it awarded? if you have just received one payment a recovery may have been done.

You need to phone I.S tomorrow and tell them about your new award of CA

You have an overpayment of £24.55 per weeks since been in receipt of CA... If you dont inform the Dept it will be picked up on a match in a few weeks and the over payment will

be larger

Do you receive I.S for your daughter or ctc, you may be entitled to more money for her her if the relevant dept dont know about her DLA.

hi

thanks for that, the reason im asking is that i have been asked to attend a fraud interview under caustion and have been racking my brains trying to think why, all they have said is we have reason to believe that you have failed to notify us of a change in your circumstances. and that its regarding my IS

I then started to take a closer look at my benefits a couple of days ago and although it took me a while i found that i have still been recieveing full IS and full CA and i obviously wasnt aware that there was a discrepancy until now.

I have looked at the CA claim form which states that they will inform the relevant departments so i must have seen that and assumed that i dont need to contact anyone.

I am in receipt of IS and CTC and i did inform the CTC that i was receiving carers allowance on my annual reviews.

i have been receiveing CA for around 19 months so this overpayment will be quite big.

Also i have recently had to re claim for DLA for my child as her award ends in feb so im wondering if this overpayment has come to light because of this and thats why they are calling me in.

Just so worried, other than that it may be because they think my partner lives with me which we can prove he doesn't,his rent agreement, bills etc, he has nothing at my address as he does'nt live there.

This is a genuine oversight but could they still suspect it as fraud?

I want to repay the over amount now as i dont want this building up anymore so i will contact them and tell them

Are you receiving £67.50 I.S, or around £45

around 67

I thought you got more IS if you were carer for a child not less?

Yes C.A is not being taken into account... There has been an underpayment and overpayment but the result is an overpayment of about £24.55 ish per week from the date your C.A was awarded

You could ring the Dept tomorrow and tell them that you are iro of CA

You will just have to be honest and explain that you thought CA had notified I.S, Changes will then put your claim right... I dont know if they can raise the overpayment staight away or untill after you have had your interview.

Its a genuine oversight on your part, when the overpayment is raised then you will get a letter from debt detailing the final amout owed , you can then elect to pay it in full or have so much deducted from your benefit each week

But dont worry about it if you can,

Everybody makes mistakes and it seems like a genuine one, ring tomorrow and explain.

Would this be a reason for them to call me in like this. I just think that it seems a bit drastic considering it's just a benefit mistake?

If they have already worked out the amount of over payment, you can ceretainly pay it back before the IUC, I did.

It's actually really unfortunate because I remember when my sons DLA was stopping, I had aletter from CA saying they knew it would be stopping, so the CA would stop too. So there must be connections with these people, it seems to be pot luck when they do communicate, & yours has taken a while.

But if it is to do with that it just goes to show they do communicate at some point! Why couldn't they before people get in debt!

Would this be a reason for them to call me in like this. I just think that it seems a bit drastic considering it's just a benefit mistake?

It doesn't always mean they have you down as a benefit cheat hun, regardless of that standard invite letter you received puts across. Hundreds get called in for IUC every year round here, I think in 2010 only about 20 out of all those people were actually prosecuted. And 18 found guilty. They certainly will call you in even if there's a chance it's their own fault, I know, they did it with me lol

I dont honestly know...

The amount of the overpayment is about £1800 so they know they have an overpayment.

I wouldnt worry to much, some do gooder could have notified them about your partner but you know everything is fine there...

Do you claim housing benefit could be an overpayment there

god yes I do, didn't think of that. my week is going fro

Bad to worse, and knowing my luck the iuc will prob be about somthing else, just so annoyed that this overpayment wasn't flagged up too me

two phone calls tomorrow then H.B and I.S.

just be honest, genuine mistake iro of C.A. am sure there is nothing else you would know if there was

Not sure whether to call them before or after the interview?

i don't want them to think I knew all along and I'm only calling cos I think I've been caught. it is a genuine mistake but I don't how they'll see it

just found this on HB

If you get or have an underlying entitlement to Carer's Allowance, you may be able to get extra help from Housing Benefit as the carer premium will be added when your benefit is calculated

so maybe no overpayment.

dont know what to advise, but as you have now checked your paperwork now, spotted the error genuinely and are now making the phone call to report the change.

at the interview you can state you honestly reported the change when you realised that CA had not notified I.S.

At least if you make the phone call sooner then later the overpayment is not going to get bigger before the interview

but you will have to do what you think best.

you cant look guilty because you are not

thanks so much for all your help mikey, your a star x

If you haven't declared DLA to housing benefit you'll have been under paid that. You get a family premium for that apparently. CA is taken into account with housing benefit, but the carer premium side of your claim should have outweighed it, so don't go worrying about that one too much at the mo x

Have you input everything you get to the turn2us site to get a rough idea of what you should be getting?

https://www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/entitlementcalculator.aspx

I just entered my details into the calculator and the amount of HB im entitled to was less when i put in that i get CA, really confused now.

I then read that i may get a HB premium for CA but cant see how much.

I own my flat and they pay towards my mortgage but i have to top it up every month.

Thanks so much for your replies, you've all been really helpful

I think im just going to have to call them and see what they say.

Just hoping that this iuc is regarding this as i know its something that can be sorted easily and that i didnt know until now anyway.

15 pounds rings a bell, but it's been some time since it applied to me..

Premiums for disabilities

These premiums are included in your applicable amount for people in your family with disabilities. There are three premiums in this group:

disabled child premium (for each disabled child in your household)

and disability premium (if you or your partner gets one of the benefits listed below or you have been off sick for more than 52 weeks)

and severe disability premium (if you are disabled and live in special circumstances).

Disabled child premium

You must have a dependent child or qualifying young person under age 20 who is getting disability living allowance or who is registered blind. The premium is paid for each child who qualifies.

you can't get hb for a mortgage.

housing benefit must work out the same as I.S then. C.A is treated as an Income like it it for I.S purposes

you know I said you had an underpayment and o.p sounds confusing but I will break it down for you

I.S for you £67.50

CP £31.00

ent £98.50

so as a carer on I.S iro of CA you are ent to £98.50

so you have been underpaid on paper

but as you know C.A is in payment to you at £55.55. I.S is means tested so its taken off your entitlement, so once you declare it you will recieve £98.50 - £55.55 = £42.95 per week

you have been getting £67.50 that makes you as being overpaid by £24.55 per week

I.S

it must be the same for housing benefit so there looks like maybe an op there, but you will not know to you ring up

h.b would pay your council tax

very sad as its a genuine mistake and hope things go ok for you

dont know if you have an overpayment of MIRO as well help with your mortgage, when is your interview ??

thinking about it I dont think you have, as on paper your entitlement has gone up being a carer

when of course the change is applied to your claim..

sorry I'm a bit confused now. What's miro? Are you saying that you think i have been overpaid hb? my interview is on Thursday.

Thanks x

sorry I'm a bit confused now. What's miro? Are you saying that you think i have been overpaid hb? my interview is on Thursday.

Thanks x

MI is mortgage interest - the DWP can (in some cases) make interest payments towards your mortgage. On editing: MIRO is "Mortgage Interest Run-On." In some cases, you could be entitled to extra payments for (I think) 4 weeks after you stop claiming a qualifying benefit.

Housing Benefit/Local Housing Allowance is paid by your local council if you rent your home. Mortgage interest is paid by the DWP if you own your home and claim certain DWP benefits. Income Support is one benefit that may entitle you to MI. Since you've said you own your flat, we're a bit puzzled as to how you could be receiving HB as it's only available to those who rent - it seems more likely it would be MI.