Overpayment of Income support

I have had two letters today saying in total i owe over 8,000 pound in income support they say i did not inform them when both my disabled kids moved on to ESA in youth ,this is incorrect i contacted them on each occasion when i started the claim not when the outcome and they got money but the day i filled in the forms with the man on the telephone i put the phone down on the ESA man and immediately contacted the DWP about my income support on the one occasion i was asked why was i ringing as it didnt effect my claim ,i said well im contacting you cause i am supposed to i also rang child benefit to cancel too Now this drops through my letter box and i do not know where to go and what to do ,i and my husband are at out whits end and have no money please can any one help me we are angry that i thought i did all the right things and i have never been in trouble before or this much debt im so upset

Dee wrote:

I have had two letters today saying in total i owe over 8,000 pound in income support they say i did not inform them when both my disabled kids moved on to ESA in youth ,this is incorrect i contacted them on each occasion when i started the claim not when the outcome and they got money but the day i filled in the forms with the man on the telephone i put the phone down on the ESA man and immediately contacted the DWP about my income support on the one occasion i was asked why was i ringing as it didnt effect my claim ,i said well im contacting you cause i am supposed to i also rang child benefit to cancel too Now this drops through my letter box and i do not know where to go and what to do ,i and my husband are at out whits end and have no money please can any one help me we are angry that i thought i did all the right things and i have never been in trouble before or this much debt im so upset

Hi,

Due to the individual and complex nature of means tested benefits, it is not something we can deal with on B&W.

However in your case, it would seem wise to obtain some professional face to face help as a matter of urgency. Either from such as a CAB, Local Law Centre, or the find an adviser service of Community Legal Advice here:

legaladviserfinder.justice.gov.uk/AdviserSearch.do

You can see if you qualify for legal aid from this page:

www.legalservices.gov.uk/public/community_legal_advice.asp

Pete

Dee wrote:

I have had two letters today saying in total i owe over 8,000 pound in income support they say i did not inform them when both my disabled kids moved on to ESA in youth ,this is incorrect i contacted them on each occasion when i started the claim not when the outcome and they got money but the day i filled in the forms with the man on the telephone i put the phone down on the ESA man and immediately contacted the DWP about my income support on the one occasion i was asked why was i ringing as it didnt effect my claim ,i said well im contacting you cause i am supposed to i also rang child benefit to cancel too Now this drops through my letter box and i do not know where to go and what to do ,i and my husband are at out whits end and have no money please can any one help me we are angry that i thought i did all the right things and i have never been in trouble before or this much debt im so upset

Did it not seem strange to you, that your children where now getting ESA but your money had not gone down ? If the time period of over payment is more than a year, they will say you should have spotted it on the up rateing paperwork. One last thing you need to look into, have you had too many premiums on HB or CTB by still getting income support for the children ? you might need to speak to your local council too ? and as said get advice ASAP

I was told on both occasions it did not effect my claim ,i contacted HB and CTB at the time and we have been paying Rent for my Son since he was awarded ESA i have the receipts from that ,we are due to begin Paying rent for my daughter next month when she turns 18 i also contacted Child benefit and those payments were stopped too

Dee wrote:

I have had two letters today saying in total i owe over 8,000 pound in income support they say i did not inform them when both my disabled kids moved on to ESA in youth ,this is incorrect i contacted them on each occasion when i started the claim not when the outcome and they got money but the day i filled in the forms with the man on the telephone i put the phone down on the ESA man and immediately contacted the DWP about my income support on the one occasion i was asked why was i ringing as it didnt effect my claim ,i said well im contacting you cause i am supposed to i also rang child benefit to cancel too Now this drops through my letter box and i do not know where to go and what to do ,i and my husband are at out whits end and have no money please can any one help me we are angry that i thought i did all the right things and i have never been in trouble before or this much debt im so upset

If you telephone a DWP office to report a change of circumstances, it is essential that you make the disclosure in writing as soon as is practicable thereafter to the appropriate office, otherwise the disclosure will be deemed not to have been discharged.

If you did contact the relevant DWP office in writing there is no continuing obligation for further disclosure and any IS payments made beyond this time will be an official error. However, if you failed to disclose the relevant change of circumstances in writing, in all probabilities unless there are any other mitigating circumstances, the alleged overpayment will be recoverable.

Hi Dee

I am so sorry that you are in this situation. I was thinking though, all calls to DWP etc are recorded, i really dont know how long these are kept (maybe CD or Jim may be able to assist). Please get face to face advice asap but recording the calls could be worth looking into. I know its too late now but when i make any call i always ask who i am speaking to and log the time and date. They won't always give you their surname but their 1st name is sufficient.

I really hope you can get this sorted quickly with face to face advice!!

Big hugs
Mm xx