I’m hoping somebody can help me as I’m in real worry. My mum is 62 and is currently receiving disability living allowance, and recently started getting pension credit, and also receives housing and council tax benefits. I moved in with her in 2007 having finished my degree and ever since I’ve been living at home with her and that’s been my main residence where all my bills, bank statements, etc. arrive. In 2007 my mum was needed to provide proof of what I was doing and how many hours I was working and we sent this information off to either the DWP or local authority, but not sure for definite which one as it was such a long time ago. From then my mum started to pay council tax – before then she was exempt from council tax due to her low income.

In 2007 I started on 16k as my base salary, and then jumped to 18k in 2008 and 20k in 2009. In 2010 I moved jobs and was earning £30k and am still on that salary at the moment. None of these changes in my salary were reported as my mother was unaware that she had too. In November 2010, my brother moved home too having finished his studies and started work in November 2010 on 17.5k. My mum wasn’t aware that she had to notify the local authority that he moved back home and we’ve just realised this now – after 18 months!

My brother recently saw a letter outlining my mums benefits and entitlement and we’ve become increasingly worried. My mum is required to pay council tax for an amount of £25-£30 a month, but we’re not sure if this is for herself or the first son that moved back home. It doesn’t seem right.

We’ve got a horrible feeling that my mum has been receiving the incorrect entitlement for housing and council tax benefit from when I moved back in 2007 – which doesn’t reflect mine or my brother’s income.

She doesn’t understand English very well and she doesn’t really understand what’s what and what she needs to do. On top of this, she is in so much debt with credit cards and defaulted against a loan which has been charged against the house. On top of this her health isn’t very well as she suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and gout. This has been a complete oversight on our behalf and we’ve only come to realise this.

We recently sent a letter to the local authority saying the younger brother has moved back home. They’ve now asked for 2 months pay slips and the date he moved back along with his previous address.

We need to send a response back and don’t know what to do. I’m really worried that my mum has seriously messed up and got us all in big trouble. Is there any experienced welfare advisor that can help or suggest what we should do? I don’t know if I should write back and state the facts and say there’s been an oversight and my mother wasn’t aware of what she information she had to provide. My mother has no recollection of exactly what they have asked for and what we have sent back other than the information we provided back in 2007.

I’m not sleeping at night and can’t eat and feel sick all the time. I rather approach the council and declare the facts and make arrangement towards repaying what we owe which could potentially be thousands. Both brothers will help my mum to find the funding to pay this off but I’m increasingly worried about the effect this will have on her health even though she hasn’t done anything intentionally. Can anybody please advise?

Go on here first, inut your mums figures and she what housing benefit should be entitled to

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

then this way you will have some idea if there is a discrepancy

Its always best to be honest and upfront if she has been overpaid.

Please stop worrying, if there is an overpayment then both yourself and your brother can help her maybe.