Work Programme and Illness

[jadeybags]

Have you tried out the benefits calculator on Turn2us?

[antone]

I find it very misleading and the DWP should be sued for misrepresentation, it clearly says on the www.gov.uk website:-

 

3. Eligibility

To get Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) you must:

 

be 18 or over but below State Pension age - there are some exceptions if you’re 16 or 17

not be in full-time education

be in England, Scotland or Wales

be able and available for work

be actively seeking work

work on average less than 16 hours a week

go to a JSA interview

Also, to get income-based JSA you (and your partner if you have one):

 

must usually work less than 24 hours a week (on average)

must have £16,000 or less in savings

 

So where does it say i am not eligible for Income Based JSA if my partner works 23 hours per week and earns £11,500 a year?

 

You are eligible, but your partner's income is taken into account less a £10 disregard per week. If her income is greater than your JSA(IB) amount as a couple (plus £10) then your entitlement is nilled.

 

I'd imagine that if her hours have reduced, her Housing Benefit could well increase to compensate.

[antone]

Also I did 4 months temp work from November 2012 to February 2013 so why didn't they switch me to contributions based JSA? As surely I'm entitled to that for a few months?

 

No. To be eligible for JSA© you need to meet contribution conditions - 4 months work would not, in itself, be enough.

[Alfie29]

I know how ur feeling mate. By best mate is going through the SAME thing! He has no job like me and wanted to move in with his gf BUT she works over 20 hours aweek and gets over 17,000 a year and they say Liam CAN move in with her but will have to lose his JSA!!!! F$%king joke if u ask me!

 

THEY WANT U TO SUFFER... SIMPLE

[thecookiemonster]

This is a bit long winded but I have to give all of the facts so here goes.

 

My partner moved into a private rented flat in June 2013, she was working 30 hours per week and living alone so she put in a claim for Housing Benefit/Council Tax.

 

On 11th July 2013 she received a letter informing her that she had been awarded £46.86 a week in Housing Benefit and was told to pay £71.70 a month in Council Tax as a single claimant between 25 and pension age.

 

Ok, so she then she received a letter on 24th September 2013 stating that there was a change in the Housing Benefit for some reason and it states that the reason for calculation is a Change Of Liability whatever that means? and that her Housing Benefit went down from £46.86 to £32.88 per week from 24th September 2013, she still doesn't know what this means or why it happened.

 

Can someone clarify what the Change Of Liability is? because that sounds like another **** up.

 

But now for the big part, I moved in with her on 28th September 2013 and I was receiving Jobseekers Allowance, I informed the DWP that I had moved in with my partner, also in September my partners hours had gone down from 30 hours per week to 23 hours per week, anyway the DWP stopped my Jobseekers Allowance because my partner works 23 hours per week and earns around £11k per year.

 

We informed the council that I had moved in with her and today we have been informed the following:-

 

Apparently there were overpayments made by the Council but how? they state:-

 

From 8th July 2013 to 1st September 2013 the Old Entitlement was £46.86 but the New Entitlement is £28.11 so a weekly difference of £18.75 leaving an overpayment of £150.00

 

And also, from 2nd September 2013 to 29th September 2013 the Old Entitlement was £46.86 and the New Entitlement is £10.54 per week leaving a weekly difference of £36.32 per week meaning a supposed overpayment of £145.28.

 

Where have they got these figures from? As I said she moved into this property in June and was awarded £46.86 per week based on her income and working 30 hours per week up until September so where have these Old and New Entitlements come from and why is there an overpayment?

 

But also now they have also informed us that despite the fact we live together and I filled out a Nil Income form they have sent two letters dated 31st October one states we will receive £40.34 per week Housing Benefit with a deduction of £13.30 for a supposed overpayment and then another one dated 31st October 2013 stating we will receive £28.11 in Housing Benefit with a reduction of £13.30 per week for the overpayment?

 

Also because we are a couple the Council tax has risen from £71.70 up to £112.55 a month yet they haven't awarded us any Council Tax Benefit either? We are majorly confused.

 

Nothing makes sense, I can happily scan and attach all the letters if it helps you to work this out but why is our Housing Benefit so low yet I have Nil Income and my partner works 23 hours per week? it's no more than when she was working 30 hours per week and living on her own yet she has to support me as well now.

 

I don't see how my partner is supposed to pay for the rent, council tax, food, gas, water, electric etc plus £130 a month in Travel Expenses as she works in a different town plus support me and everything else?

 

Hope someone can help.

 

Thank you.

Edited November 5, 2013 by thecookiemonster

[thecookiemonster]

Anyone?

[up2meears]

Hi the cookie,

 

Has your partner been to the council to ask them to explain? Most councils have customer service points (CSP) where she can go and speak to someone face to face and ask them to check the entitlement.

 

What sort of property are you in? Council, private, Housing association?

How old is your partner, because this will make a difference also.

How many bedrooms do you have?

Are you on Income Based (IB) JSA or cont? as again this has an impact on how they work out the entitlement

 

If you can answer these questions, I may be able to work out what's going on.

 

Up2

[thecookiemonster]

Hi,

 

Thanks for you're reply, my partner does have an appointment for Friday to see them but we want to get some info so we are prepared for it.

 

We are in private accommodation, my partner is 37 and we live in a 1 bed property.

 

Also i'm not on JSA now as they took it off me when I moved in with my partner because she works 23 hours a week so I have no income and as above I filled out a Nil Income form at the council just after moving in with my partner and after informing them of the change in circumstances.

[up2meears]

Sorry, just re-read and noticed you stopped claiming JSA

[Nystagmite]

The council tax has gone up because before you moved in, she would have received a 25% single person discount. (this has nothing to do with income)

[up2meears]

Okay, thanks

 

What amounts does the decision notice (DN) list?

 

i.e

Applicable amounts, income, capital etc. Is her income right? Is she in receipt of any benefits?

 

Without seeing her records and the DN it is hard to work out whats happened, but I'll try

 

Up2

[thecookiemonster]

Thanks for you're reply.

 

Their decision awards on the 31st October are stated above but they don't make sense and they have overpayment amounts on them too, there should not be any overpayments because she has only done 1 change of circumstances which was at the end of September informing them that I had moved in and regarding her hours dropping to 23 per week.

 

Her income is correct as she was asked to provide wage slips for September and October showing her hours had gone down to 23 per week and that the amount earned per month was a lot less, also she isn't in receipt of any benefits and has no capital.

 

We informed the council on my Nil Income form that she has to pay for food, clothes and other things for me as I have no income now and it asked about Travel Expenses which we said she pays around £130 per month as she works 40 miles away from where we live.

 

Where these supposed overpayments have come from is anyone's guess, doesn't make sense and neither do the amounts awarded.

[thecookiemonster]

Work this out this was dated 31st October 2013.

 

The weekly benefit award is £28.11

Less Overpayment Recovery £13.30

Net Benefit Payable £14.81

Weekly Gross Rent/Council Tax is £115.38

Benefit starts on 08 July 2013 (this is confusing)

benefit ends on 01 September 2013 (this is confusing too)

 

The first payment will be on £246.79

This will be paid on 11th November 2013.

[thecookiemonster]

They state an overpayment of Housing Benefit of £295.28 as of 30th October 2013 but where has this come from? She has only been in the property since June 2013 and all accurate information has been provided and they made an award back in July then obviously we have changed circumstances at the end of September 2013, I can't work it out, never seen a mess like it, so confusing.

[up2meears]

Okay, let me try and break this down:

 

Firstly the £246.79 will be backdated benefit (if they have suspended it) having a quick look, seems like it was suspended around the end of August.

 

Benefit starts on the 8th July - when did she make the claim? HB usually starts the Monday following the claim. i.e claim made Mon 4th Nov will be paid from Mon 11th.

 

Benefit ended 01 Sep - not sure where they got this date from if there were no change of circs til the end of Sep

 

There shouldn't have been a change in her benefit if you are on a nil income, if anything it should have increased due to her hours/income falling.

As Nystagmite says, with the council tax she would have lost her 25% discount but should still be entitled to CTR if in receipt of HB. Also with CT, if they amend the bill they will divide the payments between the months left out of the 10. They wont space it out unfortunately so this could look to be alot more than it would have been at the beginning of the CT year.

 

I can't work out where the overpayment has come from without seeing everything, but my advice would be to appeal and at least ask for a lower repayment amount due to outgoings. When you go to see them on Friday, they should be able to see exactly why this has occured and advise you on what to do next.

 

Up2

[thecookiemonster]

Thank you again for that, from what I know and have seen the only suspension was from 3rd October 2013 whilst they were looking into the change of circumstances made on 28th September 2013 so not sure what has happened, it's not clear at all and they need to explain what is going on with it all, the overpayments baffle me and there seems to be no explanation for this.

 

No payments have been made since September due to the circumstances change, the first payment is due on 11th November 2013 and then every 2 weeks.

[thecookiemonster]

Oh forgot to mention a payment of £160 appeared in my partners bank account today and it says it's from the council but there is nothing about this on any of the paperwork, also on the award details it doesn't say anything about backdated money.

[up2meears]

I have been trying to send you a PM but I don't think they are getting through, can you PM your local council (as I work for a CSP for my local council) and if by a very long shot you live in my area, I can look into it for you (I know it's a massive long shot, but you never know )

[up2meears]

 

The first payment will be on £246.79

This will be paid on 11th November 2013.

 

This usually indicates a payment due - once benefit has been assessed/re-assessed. They only pay up to date not in advance so an amount like that from what you say the entitlement is indicates a backdate

Edited November 5, 2013 by up2meears
additional info

[estellyn]

If you don't know how the overpayment has been worked out, then you need to challenge the decisions. You need to ask for separate review of all of the different decisions that have been received since September including the overpayments, and within that ask for a full explanation of the decisions.

 

What sometimes happens is that either the person who processed the first decision made a mistake, and someone has gone back in to correct it and made a mess of it, or someone has gone into the claim for some admin reason and an error has occurred somewhere.

 

What is often more telling, is there should be details on the award letters of the income details provided, and applicable amounts - is there any change in these in the different decision letters, including the July decision?

[thecookiemonster]

I will scan and attach files either tonight or tomorrow, especially the ones received today as there is something like 4 different award decisions and you might be able to make more sense of it than me.

 

I'd really like to know what the change of liability in September means though? as my partner was still living alone then although that was on 24th September that the letter was dated but obviously as I moved in with her on the 28th September it didn't come into affect but I will attach that as well and the original July decision award.

 

But thank you for you're reply.

[thecookiemonster]

Just looking at these decision letters again and in July even though my partner worked 30 hours per week and provided all wageslips on the financial details it says my partner was only earning £199.23 per week when it would have been more.

 

Also, as she has been working 23 hours per week since September she is earning less, yet on the October letter with the decision it says she is earning £238.00 per week, her monthly income is £900 per month.

[jadeybags]

They have done this to me before. Not in the south east are you? I have a feeling my council have messed mine up again lately, they have been chopping & changing due to my teenagers leaving school this year & going to college. Due to tax credits. I gave them my award letter from tax credits months ago, yet even though I haven't received anything else from tax credits about any change, apparently payments went down in september as standard til it's auto adjusted after that. But it's nothing I would be told about & just meant I had less payment for a week or 2. I don't think the council have adjusted it again though!

You need to really know how they work it all out to keep on top of it apparently, which is where I fall down because I don't know how they work it out!

Is your partner on working tax credits?

[thecookiemonster]

Thanks for you're message, no my partner is not on working tax credits as she is not entitled after speaking to HMRC.

[estellyn]

Just looking at these decision letters again and in July even though my partner worked 30 hours per week and provided all wageslips on the financial details it says my partner was only earning £199.23 per week when it would have been more.

 

Also, as she has been working 23 hours per week since September she is earning less, yet on the October letter with the decision it says she is earning £238.00 per week, her monthly income is £900 per month.

 

Sounds like there has been some mistakes inputting the income details on the claim, which has caused the problems. Your partner needs to request a review of all of the decisions, provide copies of all wage slips to ensure the claim is decided accurately. When requesting the review, be sure to point out all of the errors in the income details on all of the decision letters.

 

In future, be sure to ALWAYS check the income details recorded on award letters. If you don't check them and are overpaid, then it means you are still liable for the overpayment. And if underpaid, you will be missing out on vital income.

 

It can be very difficult to be continually checking the award letters - my own award was calculated incorrectly multiple times, every single time there was a change on the claim, and I had to go back to them time and time again to get the award corrected.