Income Support help

[Zara33]

Okay so I need a little help hopefully I set this out correct so others understand! Things are messed up due to a muppet absent parent choosing not to pay child support.

 

How much the law says you need to live on

Income Support: £64.30 = for me

: £29.50 = caring for someone

Total: £93.80

 

Income you told us about: £53.10 = Carers allowance

 

The weekly amount you will receive:

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £53.10

total amount of Income Support = £40.70 per week

 

Confusing bit commences fortnightly payments, and child support. From the 8th of July 09 payments to be reduced to £10.09 per week becasue of child support. From 5th august 09 you will get £7.00 per week because of child support changes. From 2nd September 09 you will get £24.22 per week because of child support changes.

 

What I have received from Income Support.

7th July 09 = £81.40

21st July 09 = £20.18

04th August 09 = £28.10

18th August 09 = £36.02

1st September 09 = £36.02

15th September 09 = £48.44

29th September 09 = £48.44

 

Now my Income Support was reduced as I was due child support starting July! no child support July, a payment of child support 7th August 2009 = £226.17 (calendar monthly), no child support September Something else to think about the first £20 of child support is not calculated in your Income Support.

 

Income Support send a giro payment today for £49.44 and letter saying from 9th September 09 due £40.70 per week.

 

Can someone please double check this and see if you can work out what I am entitled to please and I can check it from what I work it out to be.

 

Million thanks

Edited March 21, 2010 by Zara33

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Hi Zara

before you started receiving your CSA payments your claim was correct

As you stated things started to be a bit confusing when you started to receive CSA

 

Did you send the CSA notification in to IS

 

What they should be taken into account is the regular monthly payment that CSA told you that you would be getting.

They should not take into account any extra that you may receive from CSA for arrears.

Say they said your assesment was £200 and because the NRP, none resident parent owed you arrears, and csa paid you £250 each month untill those arrears cleared, then only £200

should be taken into account against your IS

 

What was the figure given to you that you receive each month ?

 

Have you told them that you have had no payment in September?

If you have then that is why you have had a new letter of entitlement showing you back up to £40.70 because they know it has ceased and reverted back to your old rate of benefit

 

And you are correct you get £20 disregard each week

 

To work out what should be taken into account each week Get your monthly figure, times it by !2 and divide by 52

that will give you weekly figure, then take off £20 and that should be weekly figure they should be taking from your benefit

 

Has he stopped paying altogether or is it just a blip

If he has then ring IS if you havent already and they should remove it from your claim, you will need to send bank statements to confirm this is the case or confirmation from CSA, Then tell IS when it starts up again

Edited October 2, 2009 by MIKEY DABODEE

[Zara33]

Hi Zara

before you started receiving your CSA payments your claim was correct

As you stated things started to be a bit confusing when you started to receive CSA

 

Did you send the CSA notification in to IS Yes they have had three different payment schedules because the NRP is a muppet and continues to try and delay things!

 

What they should be taken into account is the regular monthly payment that CSA told you that you would be getting.

They should not take into account any extra that you may receive from CSA for arrears.

Say they said your assesment was £200 and because the NRP, none resident parent owed you arrears, and csa paid you £250 each month untill those arrears cleared, then only £200

should be taken into account against your IS

 

What was the figure given to you that you receive each month ?

July I can't honestly remember!

August was £226.17 which included arrears

September was meant to be £199.25 again arrears included.

Csa payments were due 4th of the month and I have been led a merry dance, finally got someone to listen to me at Csa they got in contact with NRP he said he would make a card payment 29th September, tada he didn't phone. So the Csa got back in contact with him again he refuses to make a payment. DEO has been issued but because he is in the armed forces it can take a further 10 weeks for this to be set up.

Have you told them that you have had no payment in September? Yes and no payment in July

If you have then that is why you have had a new letter of entitlement showing you back up to £40.70 because they know it has ceased anback to your old rate of benefitd you have gone

 

And you are correct you get £20 disregard each month

 

To work out what should be taken into account each week Get your monthly figure times it by !2 and divide by 52

that will give you weekly figure, then take off £20 and that should be weekly figure they should be taking from your benefit

 

Has he stopped paying altogether or is it just a blip He's refusing!

If he has then ring IS if you havent already and they should remove it from your claim, you will need to send bank statements to confirm this is the case, Then tell them when it starts again

 

Income support removed it when i spoke to them yesterday but what about all the short payments from 21st July?? they haven't paid for these as they were taking child support into consideration at this time.

Bloddy confusing I know! why did they just not leave things as they were before.

Thanks for your help x

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Have you still got the CSA assessments

It should show two figures on the assessments for each month

the first will be the one that should be paid to you if you are receiving arrears and the second is your correct entitlement with out the arrears

IS should not have taken any arrears into account.

And looking by your figures they may well have

 

They started taking it into account benefit week commencing 8th July as they thought you were getting it

Just ring them and query why they took arrears into account when they shouldnt have and tell them you received nothing in July. You should have bank statements to prove this. They will ask you to put it into writing, do this and remember you can fax everyhting to them from yor JobCente

 

Hopefully they them will reassess you claim and pay arrears due.

 

I.S didnt know he would stop paying and unfortunately it is classed as an Income.

Edited October 2, 2009 by MIKEY DABODEE

[Zara33]

Have you still got the CSA assessments

It should show to figures on the assessments for each month

the first will be the one that should be paid to you if you are receiving arrears and the second is your correct entitlemet with out the arrears

IS should not have taken any arrears into account.

And looking by your figures they may well have.

You need to phone them and tell them this, also you didnt receive any in July and they still took it out of your money

Hopefully your bank statement will shows this.

Ring them, they will probably say put it in writing, you could have the letter and bank statements faxed from your local Jobcentre to them.

 

Hopefully they will reassess you claim and pay arrears due.

 

IS didnt know he would stop paying and unfortunately it is classed as an Income.

Hope you get it sorted,

Looking for all the paperwork now thanks for your help

[MIKEY DABODEE]

the amounts of CSA they have taken into account for each week in the periods below are

from 8th July to 21st July £50.61

22nd July to 4Aug £46.65

5Aug to 1st Sept £44.69

2nd to 29th September £36.48

 

then giving you a disregard of £20 per week

 

hope this helps

Edited October 2, 2009 by MIKEY DABODEE

[Zara33]

Mikey your star thanks!

[Zara33]

I swear if I don't laugh I'm going to crack up!

 

Another letter form Income support this morning bear in mind I got one yesterday both dated 29th september.

 

How you Income Support was worked out

 

1. How much the law says you need to live on

for you £64.30

because you are caring for someone £29.50

total = £93.80

 

2 Income you told us about

Carers allowance £53.10

Child Maintenance £36.48 Note: £20.00 is not counted

Total amount £69.53

 

3 the weekly amount you will receive

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £69.58

total amount of Income support = £24.22

 

We will pay you £24.22 a week from 9th September 2009

 

Eh hello i told you I don't get maintenance any longer so no idea where the £36.48 comes from! Why oh why is this so hard to understand, how many times have I got to phone the BDC before someone understand what I am saying.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

hi

Ignore it I would say

 

It just took a day longer to reach you

 

The first letter is the correct decision, and this has superseeded the decision shown in the second

letter that arrived today

In other words the correct entitlement after your change of circumstances is shown in the letter that

arrived yesterday.

 

Even though some BDCs will not take a change like this over the phone and would ask for proof, eg bank statements. You have said that they took it over the phone so they should have actioned the change for you

 

But when you ring up to check on your arrears for July just confirm this.

Edited October 3, 2009 by MIKEY DABODEE

[Zara33]

Hey Mikey,

 

thanks once again for all your help it's kept me sane lol. What I think I will do it jot all this down and send bank statements/csa schedules etc to the BDC might be easier to understand when they see it on paper rather than any misunderstandings via the telephone.

 

I will also highlight the no payments via the Csa, trust me when i have phoned the BDC some staff wanted letters/bank statements and others said no it's fine we can confirm this with the Csa. so everything will get posted asap.

 

It's rather frustrating when you are unable to just walk into the JCP offices and speak to someone and say look this is this and that is that lol.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

I would send everything in to the BDC in writing and enclose statements etc

 

Good luck

 

I.S can now not get any information now from CSA in respect of any claim

CSA will just will not give it to them

Edited October 4, 2009 by MIKEY DABODEE

[Zara33]

Quick update! Got a giro cheque for the money they had taken due to arrears mind it did take a while for this to happen, got there in the end

 

Income support still in payment as the NRP is still refucing to pay CSA he's plum the arrears are still mounting up!

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Glad you got it for Christmas, dont worry about the NRP the arrears are his problem they will hopefully catch up with him soon

[Zara33]

I'm back!

 

Quick question if I may. So I got a child support payment on the 30th December 2009. Regular amount of child maintenance = £148.05 + arrears = £160.50 total due to me = £308.55.

 

I phoned the Income support dept on 5th January 2010 as this was the first time they opened after the Xmas break told them the above information, I also sent a letter stating the same as above with the payment schedule from the child support agency on the 5th January 2010.

 

On the 9th January I noticed on the Royal Mail website that due to the weather conditions some mail from my postcode area was taking longer than normal to get through, so I sent an email via the jobcentre plus contact page on the 9th January stating change in circumstances re child support. I also believe that between then and now I have telephoned Income support again moreso about CWP's but I also asked if they had received my letter about change in circumstances, was told they have a nothing on the system as of yet but it does take a while to get there.

 

Anyhow the point of this post today my Income support is due and they haven't applied the change in circumstances! I phone Income support again today to be told there is nothing on their system and when exactly did I send the letter, told the operator when letter was sent and that I had also phoned. The operator took details down again said someone would phone, I have also re sent the letter (today) that I sent on the 5th January. I am expecting an overpayment letter from Income support in the next few days, but suely I did everything I could by informing Income supoport of the changes in circumstances. Thoughts please.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Your Income Support should not be effected they dont usually take arrears into account should be just your regular maintenance.

Has that stayed the same ?

[Zara33]

Your Income Support should not be effected they dont usually take arrears into account should be just your regular maintenance.

Has that stayed the same ?

They should take the £148.05 regular maintenance into account though and they haven't.

£148.05 x 12 divide by 52 = £34.16 less £20 disregard =£14.16 per week they should be deducting from my IS right?

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Oh !! should have read the whole thread

read it wrong, thought that they were already taking the £148.05

yes you are right, and your calculation.

 

You have done all you can to notify, hopefully they should do the change soon,

If they do it soon the overpayment will be under £65 thats called a SMOP and is written off anyway, so dont worry there.

Did you send the second letter recordered, the only other thing do if you have access to a fax, is fax the info direct you can get the number from the contact centre.

Edited January 23, 2010 by MIKEY DABODEE

[Zara33]

OMG!! will this saga never bleedin end (I'm stressed)!

Just had JCP on the phone they are still trying to sort this out, how hard can it be?! Basically what the advisor is now saying is that all child support arrears are to be taken into account and because of this I will no longer be entitled to IS.

I explained that I have already had this discussion with a supervisor in previous months and that the arrears were disregarded in August and September 2009 so why are they now saying that they are not disregared. She also went on to say that this was a mistake and I will have to pay this all back

What a palava for £37 quid a week! because the NRP was a smart *rse and refused to pay when they were due I'm now up the creek without a paddle.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

OMG!! will this saga never bleedin end (I'm stressed)!

Just had JCP on the phone they are still trying to sort this out, how hard can it be?! Basically what the advisor is now saying is that all child support arrears are to be taken into account and because of this I will no longer be entitled to IS.

I explained that I have already had this discussion with a supervisor in previous months and that the arrears were disregarded in August and September 2009 so why are they now saying that they are not disregared. She also went on to say that this was a mistake and I will have to pay this all back

What a palava for £37 quid a week! because the NRP was a smart *rse and refused to pay when they were due I'm now up the creek without a paddle.

 

did you speak to a supervisor, if not you need to ring again and ask for the call to be esculated, you want to speak to a team leader.

we havent been notified of any changes, arrears of csa are not taken into account.

ask for the guidance to when this rule changed I would be interested to know myself

[Zara33]

did you speak to a supervisor, if not you need to ring again and ask for the call to be esculated, you want to speak to a team leader.

we havent been notified of any changes, arrears of csa are not taken into account.

ask for the guidance to when this rule changed I would be interested to know myself

They phoned me and I explained about the previous csa arrears and how it wasn't calculated before, and that a supervisor had sorted this out for me. The lady who called today said the supervisor was wrong to do this, but she would talk to her supervisor about the arrears, and get back in contact with myself. IIRC she did mention any arrears accumlated after October 2008 had to be taken into account told her well the first set of csa payments that had arrears was from July 2009, so something is wrong there for a start.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Sounds wrong for sure

we are still not taking arrears into account now or from the switchover in 2008, hope you sort it

[Zara33]

It's long and I apologize!

 

So umm yeah I'm kinda giving up with this caper still waiting for a supervisor to call back! Can't get an appointment with the CAB either as they never answer the phone.

 

Got a new csa payment schedule in the post yesterday phoned IS again to inform them of the changes and to tell them that I would send a copy of it in the post to them only to be told from the advisor that my IS claim has been closed! Got letter from IS just now infoming me of this. Basically from 30th December 2009 I am no longer entitled to IS, which is fine I guess :-| except the advisor said there is an overpayment and I will have to pay this back along with the cold weather payments that were paid out. Surely as I did everything within my power to notify IS about the changes in circumstances I shouldn't have to pay back the over payments?

 

So after trawling through all paperwork this is how things stand at the minute please also notice what happned on 2nd October and 24th November hence why I thought they had paid back the CSA arrears from July and August:

 

 

Income Support and CSA Payments

 

8th July 2009 – 2nd February 2010

 

 

 

 

How you Income Support was worked out:8th July – 21st July 2009

 

1. How much the law says you need to live on

for you £64.30

because you are caring for someone £29.50

total = £93.80

 

2. Income you told us about

Carers allowance £53.10

Child Maintenance £45.30 Note: £20.00 is not counted

Total amount £78.40

 

3. The weekly amount you will receive

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £78.40

total amount of Income support = £15.40

Actual amount of IS paid £20.18 short £10.62

9th July 2009 CSA payment = Regular maintenance £158.84 plus arrears £41.16 = £200.00

How you Income Support was worked out:22nd July – 4th August 2009

 

1. How much the law says you need to live on

for you £64.30

because you are caring for someone £29.50

total = £93.80

 

2. Income you told us about

Carers allowance £53.10

Child Maintenance £46.65 Note: £20.00 is not counted

Total amount £79.75

 

3.The weekly amount you will receive

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £79.75

total amount of Income support = £14.05

Actual amount of IS paid £28.10

7th August 2009 CSA payment = Regular maintenance £185.01 plus arrears £41.16 = £226.17

 

How you Income Support was worked out:5th August – 18th August 2009

 

1. How much the law says you need to live on

for you £64.30

because you are caring for someone £29.50

total = £93.80

 

2. Income you told us about

Carers allowance £53.10

Child Maintenance £42.69 Note: £20.00 is not counted

Total amount £75.79

 

3.The weekly amount you will receive

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £75.79

total amount of Income support = £18.01

Actual amount of IS paid £36.02

How you Income Support was worked out: 19th August – 1st September 2009

 

1. How much the law says you need to live on

for you £64.30

because you are caring for someone £29.50

total = £93.80

 

2. Income you told us about

Carers allowance £53.10

Child Maintenance £42.69 Note: £20.00 is not counted

Total amount £75.79

 

3.The weekly amount you will receive

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £75.79

total amount of Income support = £18.01

Actual amount of IS paid £36.02

How you Income Support was worked out:2nd September – 15th September 2009

 

1. How much the law says you need to live on

for you £64.30

because you are caring for someone £29.50

total = £93.80

 

2. Income you told us about

Carers allowance £53.10

Child Maintenance £36.48 Note: £20.00 is not counted

Total amount £69.58

 

3.The weekly amount you will receive

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £69.58

total amount of Income support = £24.22

Actual amount of IS paid £48.44

 

How you Income Support was worked out:16th September – 29th September 2009

 

1. How much the law says you need to live on

for you £64.30

because you are caring for someone £29.50

total = £93.80

 

2. Income you told us about

Carers allowance £53.10

Child Maintenance £0.00

Total amount £53.10

 

3.The weekly amount you will receive

The amount the law says you need to live on £93.80

Less the income you told us about £53.10

total amount of Income support = £40.70

Actual amount of IS paid £0.00 short £81.40

2nd October 2009 payment of £48.44 IS paid into bank account

Also got a giro cheque for £49.44

30th September – 13th October2009 = £81.40 IS Paid

14th October – 27th October 2009 = £81.40 IS Paid

28th October – 10th November 2009 = £81.40 IS Paid

11th November – 24th November 2009 = £81.40 IS Paid

24th November 2009 payment into bank = £73.44 LIS

25th November – 8th December 2009 = £81.40 IS Paid

9th December – 22nd December 2009 = £81.40 IS Paid

23rd December – 5th January 2010 = £81.40 IS Paid

30th December 2009 CSA payment = Regular maintenance =£148.05 plus arrears £160.50= £308.55 I informed IS about this on the 5th January aswell as sending a payment schedule from the CSA about future payments

6th January – 19th January 2010 = £81.40 IS Paid

20th January – 2nd February 2010 = £81.40 IS Paid

3rd February 2010 CSA payment = Regular maintenance = £161.45 plus arrears £160.50 = £321.95

New payment schedule from CSA arrived 9th February 2010-02-10

Regular maintenance = £111.01 plus arrears £153.25 = £264.26 payable on 26/02/10

Regular maintenance = £158.09 plus arrears £153.25 = £311.34 payable on 26/03/10 and 26/04/10

Now IIRC child support will be totally disregarded when working out IS from 12th April 2010.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Income Support does not take arrears of maintenance into account and your claim should not have closed. You need to ask for a reconsideration or appeal against this decision to close your claim.

 

Try to see your local welfare rights if you can get to CAB, but I would ring again and dont get off the line till you speak to that supervisor, its called an esculated call

[Zara33]

Income Support does not take arrears of maintenance into account and your claim should not have closed. You need to ask for a reconsideration or appeal against this decision to close your claim.

 

Try to see your local welfare rights if you can get to CAB, but I would ring again and dont get off the line till you speak to that supervisor, its called an esculated call

I have put in an appeal however I'm not very hopeful after speaking to the CAB yesterday.

 

CAB states: If the claimant receives a lump sum of maintenance instead of periodic payments, the lump sum is counted in full as income. This may mean that the claimant is disqualified from Income support or Income based JSA for the number of weeks covered by the lump sum. The number of weks is worked out according to a formula which involves the amount of benefit the claimant would otherwise receive, and also depends on whether the maintenance is paid in respect of the claimant and her/his children or the children alone.

From CPAG Welfare benefits and tax credits handbook.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Well I think your appeal will go well and you will win

 

Arrears of CSA maintenance should not be taken into account against your Income Support, I have checked this with a DM at our office.

 

But after April I think its the 12th anyway this will make no difference as all maintenance is to be disregarded so you can make a rapaid reclaim to Income Support.

Good luck