do you think this HB overpayment is recoverable?

[kayleigh89]

I received an overpayment letter in november 2016 saying hmrc confirmed my income had increased between dec 15 to oct 16.

 

it was originally over £1000 but they had my earnings wrong and i had an underpayment and my overpayment was reduced to £212.

 

how long did it take for you to receive your IUC letter after your overpayment one?

 

i just want this over and done with and i can't afford a solicitor.

[kayleigh89]

I received an overpayment letter in november 2016 saying hmrc confirmed my income had increased between dec 15 to oct 16.

 

it was originally over £1000 but they had my earnings wrong and i had an underpayment and my overpayment was reduced to £212.

 

how long did it take for you to recieve your IUC letter after your overpayment one?

 

i know i'm being investigated because it mentions repayment will be accepted without prejudice to any further action dwp may take in your case

[tomtom256]

You won't get an IUC from DWP for that amount of OP for tax credits.

 

Without prejudice is a standard ending on these types of letters incase they want to investigate or issue a civil penalty.

[kayleigh89]

Its housing benefit. They received rti info from hmrc. its dwp overpayment not hmrc

[Shoelover]

Can only echo what Tom has said. You won't be iuc' d. Worst case scenario is a £50 civil penalty for that amount.

[kayleigh89]

I read online that they decide on the civil penalty same time as the overpayment. i really need to stop googling.

[Shoelover]

They do.. some councils apply them. Others don't.

 

Chalk it down to experience,

make sure you report all changes in future and forget it.

 

Honestly, they just don't have the resources to iuc on overpayments that small.

 

Worry not & step away from Google!! X

[kayleigh89]

I do and i still keep getting overpaid.

 

last month i was overpaid £93 which was sent in a "without prejudice" letter as i did overtime and handed in my wageslip so i don't understand why they overpaid me.

 

my over payment is £172

 

which means that i must have had another underpayment and reduced it to £79 as i should still have £100 left to pay from original overpayment of £212.

Its all complicated.

 

they never send me letters of underpayments, just overpayments,typical lol.

[Shoelover]

Ask for a statement of reasons if you told them promptly

[kayleigh89]

I have emailed them but they never respond,

 

but i did ask at the contact centre and said it was because i worked overtime,

 

but didn't explain why they overpaid me knowing they had my wageslip.

 

it is defo official error i have the receipt to prove i handed it in and they confirmed they have my wageslip on the system

 

the thing i'm more concerned about was why they sent it "without prejudice" and threatening they may take further action knowing full well this new £93 overpayment was not my fault at all.

[tomtom256]

A lot of the letters are just standard and computer generated so have generic wording on.

[kayleigh89]

Hi,

even though my overpayment isn't as high as yours, £212 to be exact,

 

how long did it take from them to contact you after you received your overpayment letter?

[Jellyfish321]

Around 4 months

[kayleigh89]

What was your dates of your overpayment mine was dec 2015 to october 16.

but i received the letter beggining of november.

 

hmrc told them my income had increased was yours the same?.

 

at first my overpayment was £1459

 

but i gave them all my wageslips for the date and turns out i was underpaid,

 

did you try to see if it could be reduced?

 

everyday i dread opening the post incase it's an interview.

[tomtom256]

If it's only £212 you will not be interviewed as it is not cost effective to investigate. It would cost far more in costs than they would ever get back.

 

For a case to be even considered to be criminal it has to potentially be over £2,000 or false from the outset or other serious factors.

[kayleigh89]

back in 09 my best friend was caught working in a temp job for 2 weeks whilst claiming jsa and resulted in a small overpayment and she was interviewed under caution and was given a caution for it. was she only interviewed under caution because she was still claiming therefore they had to treat it as criminal?

[Shoelover]

Things have changed since then. The formal caution is no longer an option.

[kayleigh89]

i meant even though her overpayment was very small was she iuc because she didn't sign off for those 2 weeks so it would have been treated criminally. You said it's not cost effective to investigate my £212 overpayment but hers was really small too and she was iuc.

[Shoelover]

Yes but the criteria to iuc has changed since then x

[kayleigh89]

i received another underpayment and now it's been offsetted against overpayment and now it's outstanding £26, such a pain all of this.

[Shoelover]

The rate they are going they will owe you soon x

[kayleigh89]

They didn't even reassess my claim when i gave them my february wage slip 4 weeks ago. It's only because i handed in my wage slip today and said i've not heard anything about the decision for this months rent that she reassessed my claim infront of me. Is this normal or is my LA pee takers?

[kayleigh89]

Received another overpayment letter yesterday dated 10th march with an apology and signed by the woman who made the error for £30.40. It says that even though its LA error it's recoverable because they reasonably expected me to know i was being overpaid due to the statements they sent me with calculations.

 

It's between feb and 26th march. However the benefit decision with calculations letter they had sent me was dated thursday 23rd march and i didn't recieve them until monday 27th March . If the overpayment was between feb and 26th march, could i argue that i wasn't expected to know as i would have already been overpaid by the time i recieved the calculations?

 

I admit i didn't thoroughly check it as it came in a large envelope and the 1st decision notice had the correct earnings so i assumed it was the same with all of them and on 7th April i recieved new calculations for benefit starting 3rd April which had my earnings wrong so i looked at the rest and went into the centre and told them 2 decision notices had my earnings wrong.

 

I saw the same woman at the front desk who made the error but she failed to tell me to my face that she accidently calculated my earnings wrong and that it would have caused an overpayment and it would be recoverable and that has annoyed me the most.

Edited April 14, 2017 by honeybee13
Paras.

[honeybee13]

Hi kayleigh.

 

Is this connected with your previous thread please? It's best to keep the information together to help the advisers.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?474665-Advice-needed-HB-over-payment&p=5010597#post5010597

 

HB

[kayleigh89]

no it's not as that overpayment was my fault