Housing benefit overpayment???

[Severanze]

Hi,

On the 25th of January i called my letting agency to report a faulty shower and was informed that my housing benefit payments had been reduced by £80 a month since October. I contacted the council office that deals with the claim and they told me it was because of an overpayment in housing benefit paid from April 2012 to September 2012 which they were claiming back. The council adviser i spoke to claimed it was because i was getting £71 contributory ESA, £28.15 work related component and £8.90 transitional addition during this time.

Now here is where it gets confusing because from January 5th 2012 i had been appealing an Atos decision and was therefore only receiving the £71 basic rate of Esa. I won my appeal on July 2012 but i continued to receive the basic rate of esa until September 2012 when i finally had my payments restored and my money backdated.

I've spoken to the council on three separate occasions regarding this matter and been told three different reasons. The latest reason given is that since the DWP backdated my money then they could backdate the overpayment.

By far the worst part is that the council never informed me that they were going to reduce my housing benefit which has resulted in a large amount of rent arrears and the letting agency telling me that the landlord is considering serving me notice to quit.

 

Any advice you guys can offer would be appreciated and if you need any more info, just ask.

[estellyn]

Unless the rules have been changed, backdated payments don't count as income. Appeal the overpayment decision (it will have to be a late appeal), and hopefully the appeals officer has more sense.

[Severanze]

Thanks for your reply estellyn.

 

I was puzzled about backdated payments being take into consideration with regards to housing benefit as i had never heard of this being done before, i will look further into what you said about backdated payments.

I fully intend to appeal the decision but i fear the damage has already been done since this council did this exact same thing to me last year, and it took five months and the help of Christina (cannot thank her enough) at citizens advice to sort through this councils lies and incompetence.

At this point i think the landlord has finally had enough because the last debacle started in January 2012 and wasn't resolved until June 2012 but then they started this nonsense in October 2012. It's almost beginning to feel like harassment of some kind.

[jadeybags]

I can't offer any advice but you have my sympathy. They are supposed to inform you if they suspend benefit, or if they are deducting benefit, but they don't always do it. I didn't know my benefit had been suspended until I had a letter from my housing association saying I was weeks in arrears! I had to ring the council & then was told not to worry, they had made a mistake & it would be sorted. Which it was in the end, but I think they are officially supposed to let you know!

[id6052]

for hb/ctb, arrears of most dwp benefits are treated as income for the period they relate to

(dla and tax credits have different rules)

 

how much is the overpayment? is ESA your only income?

[Severanze]

I have been told the overpayment amounts to around £218 but i cannot confirm this as they keep finding excuses not to supply me with details of the overpayment in writing.

Yes, ESA is my only income

[id6052]

the first thing to do is request a full written explanation of the overpayment, including the revised calculation

 

at the same time, submit an appeal disputing the calculation and recoverability of the overpayment

 

(the overpayment amount does sound about right for the period you have described)