Overpayment on Carers Allowance due to income

[xcn76]

I recently started to claim my tax credits as a single person and they raised the issue of my receiving carers allowance and the impact of that on my tax credits. I disagreed so headed to the carers website where I discovered that not only were they right but also that i am not entitled to claim careres allowance as i earn too much money..... and that this has been the case for a long time.

 

When i was made redundant i went to the job agency and as I have a newly disabled child she explained I could claim careres allowance so I did . . . . . . . . without thinking and continued but now am in trouble.

 

I wrote to the agency to say I did not feel I was entitled to the benefit any more but have not heard from them as of yet - this is going to equate to thousands - I am terrified as I will loose my job if I have to be prosecuted or my name appears in the paper,

 

However this money was not mine to claim apparenrtly so I am more than prepared to pay it back . . . . . .

 

does anyone know what I should do now?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi, It sounds to me that you were very

poorly advised on this, by job agency I

presume that you mean Job Center whos

advisors are supposed to know what they

are talking about.

How long is it since you wrote to them???

[xcn76]

Hi it was only 3 weeks ago but I would have thought that they would be jumping on me as surely they will want their money, I have been reading through some threads on here and it looks like I may end up in court, I do feel this is excessive as I am more than prepared to pay it back but it appears that they do not necessarilly take that into account and could prosecute anyway but maybe thats just peoples opinion on here I dont know

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

As you have noticed the error and have

advised the of it they must take this into

consideration also they must take into account

that you were badly advised by the job center.

I would wait and see what they answer to your

quite proper and sensible notification letter.

 

Brig.

[ErikaPNP]

When you originally claimed, you were redundant. Did you claim any other benefit along with Carers Allowance such as income support or jobseekers allowance?

 

Did you receive the annual letters from Carers Allowance, advising you that the amount of your benefit would be increasing in April?

 

When you wrote to them, did you say why you felt you were no longer entitled to the benefit?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I'll leave this thread to you Erika your insight into

the benefits system is far greater than mine.

[unfairadvantage]

you might be prosecuted but it is not definite.you have noti ced the issue and admitted the situation.It is not a deliberate fraud, they have to prove beyong balance of probability that you intedned to committ fraud,The court at worst will give you a suspended senntence with community work -that is rare though.

 

most cases i know of are dealt with by a binding over sentence and out of court ..if you hear further contact a solicitor as you must get representated if it goes to court-i doubt it will as not every overpayment automatically means a prosecution.remember they mainly want their money back!contact dwp arrange a repayment plan that you can afford then await further you have done all you can

[xcn76]

Thank you I have now received a letter asking for my income since worling and also any outgoings but they do not stipulate what thse are !! I also earned different amounts, when I wrote to them I stated it was due to the fact i now work for 4 days rather than 3 thus earning more money, but I now realise that its due to my income. I am wondering whether to write to them again wirth a breakdown of my P60's for each year or if they will automatically have acceess to this? I am so scared of going to court this is affecting my relationship with my kids as am snapping all the time at them and its not their fault.

 

Do you think I should do anything else or just wait for them? I am wondering if to speak to a solicitor but they may charge me and maybe I should wait?

[unfairadvantage]

outgoings inc as far as i am aware childcare costs,union subs,pension conts,disbaled child additional expenses

 

the only issue is that you have not advised of changes to your circumstances leading to overpayment

 

i would do a timeline of what you earned and when and notify in letter that you advised them that you had been overpaid and that you were not aware of earnings limits until too late WHEN YOU ADVISED THEM OF THIS SITUATION.

 

mention that although overpayment occurred it was not deliberately done ,you had not intended to get money you wernt due,and that you will pay back if deemed appropriate at a rate you can afford what you have received in error.

 

check through your records to see if you had contacted them before you started work again just in case you forgot

 

also mention as part of your mitigation that you have a disabled child anyone with any humanity about them would recognise how that circumstance can alone cause for your mind to be elsewhere not focused on minutae of forms and allowances-give some detail of this

 

also remember not every overpayment is prosecuted -depends on circumstances.if you admit overpayment but stiplulate that although you realise now that you had gone overt earnings limit that at the time you genuinely were not aware of this criteria to which you are sorry

 

all of this mitigation is appropriate and will lead at worst from hundreds of cases i know of to at worst caution or bind over or conviction but with commuinty service..normally you would get a fine of approx 150 pounds

 

that is if it is prosecuted which it may well not be

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Out goings all priority commitments

Rent/ mortgage, all utilities gas ,elec,water,

food clothing, court orders.

then clothing travel to work, insurances

child care .

Catalogue debts/tv lic and rental costs if any.

then an amount for emergencies.

[unfairadvantage]

i didnt think that all of these could be taken into account against income for this i thought it was strict allowance of what you earned only with a few things that could be taken off

 

can you confirm that these are allowable as i would be most interested to find out

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

They are legitimate outgoings of a normal household, you

cannot cease to eat, use water, heat your home, clothe

your family etc.

[unfairadvantage]

thank you for your response -so does that mean if you earn over 100 pounds a week ,and so technically cant get ca that that they take off your priority living expenses off of any overpayment to judge if you have been overpaid or do they use it as a barometer as to what you can afford to repay

 

if you could please confirm i would be most grateful

Edited December 30, 2011 by unfairadvantage

[unfairadvantage]

sorry if my last post was not clear

 

what i meant to say was if someone was earning over 100 pounds a week and so were overpaid and teh overpayment for each month was 200 pounds

 

for the purposes of the carers allowance working out if you had ben overpaid would they say ,you have been overpaid 200 pounds per month but you have priority expenses of 700 a month so do they deduct this monthly priority set of payments from the overpayment to work out if you have been overpaid

 

or do they add the overpayment to what you earnt and deduct the priority payments

 

please advise as i am sure this would be very useful to know for all on here