JSA deductions for prior overpayment of IS?

[fran1phil]

Hi - I am after a bit of advice for my son, who up until about 4 months ago - had been on Income Support. He was moved to JSA; as no longer met relevant criteria for IS.

 

However, he received a letter about a month ago, from DWP, They claimed that my son had been overpaid by £8000.00; for which they would be deducting £25.00 a fortnight from ?date, out of his JSA.

 

1. No details about overpayment, as to who, how, when???

2. The amount specified, to be taken from his JSA - will leave him in extreme hardship

 

I told him to write to the DWP; straight away - querying this - asking for more information and a breadown of how this overpayment arose? He did so (sent recorded delivery), approx. 4 days before date specified for first instalment.

 

This was about 3-4 weeks ago now and they seem to have totally disregarded his letter, neither acknowledged or responded to? Furthermore, they have gone ahead with the deductions from his Job Seekers Allowance, which is making it extremely hard for him to survive (difficult enough on full amount!).

 

Currently he is having to stay at my house 3 days /nights a week; as he cannot afford gas/elec/food for 7 days in his own home. I am having a difficult time currently, out of work etc - so is putting a great strain on myself and my younger son also.

 

I have told him he needs to telephone them, which he intends to do first thing tomorrow morning - just wondered if anybody can shed some light on him having any 'rights' or legislation he may be able to speak of when he calls them; with a view to having his payments reinstated and them providing sufficient proof and evidence of this so-called 'overpayment' being legitimate and show how this occurred. (why not picked up before reaching such a huge amount of money?) It seems totally ludicrous to me, if this is the case at all. He wasn't getting that much, so would have been over many years - I suspect??

 

ANY CURRENT LEGISLATION / GUIDANCE - GREATLY APPRECIATED AND MOST WELCOMED !!!!!

 

MANY THANKS

NADIA

 

[estellyn]

Hi, why was he on income support, and has he received any overpayment decision about from the notice of these deductions?

[fran1phil]

Yes, he was on Income Support. Entitlement had been owing to disability element (was in receipt of DLA - mrc & Lrc) and studying relevant education (college). [under pre 2010 rules].

 

He transferred to JSA; approx. Oct/Nov 2012. Then out of the blue, a few weeks ago - a letter arrived from the DWP. It just stated that there had been an overpayment, made to him; of £8000+

This would be recovered @ £23+ per fortnight (I believe?) from his JSA payments, with a commencement date of - 3 weeks ago. (two payments already deducted from his JSA)

He wrote to them straight away, querying the matter, asking;

(1) why not given any further details or information relating to this alleged 'overpayment?'

(2)given no opportunity of challenging this decision (appeal)?

(3)requesting them to lift 'recovery from his JSA payment' until the above satisfied/agreed etc?

 

It would appear, they have chosen to totally disregard his letter, as have not even had the courtesy of acknowledging it or responding to his request for info.

 

He plans to telephone them in the morning to ask why no response etc (letter sent Recorded Delivery).

I was just hoping to give him a few pointers, in terms of - asking the right questions and if he has any rights at all in this matter/?? They seem to have just taken the matter into their own hands, with no consultation / liaison with my son at all, deducting payments as they see fit!!!

 

Is it not some sort of violation of a person's rights; to be consulted, treated fairly and with respect; with the opportunity of disputing the matter - before they just take money from the little he receives anyway??

 

Also, would it not contravene certain 'Social Security Statutory Instruments/Legislation; in him not receiving an amount of money in line with what the law says he needs to live on??

 

I would be so very grateful for any light you may be able to shed, on this matter.

 

Thanks in advance.

Nadia

 

[flumps1976]

As far as I am aware deductions can be made as long as a claimant is left with at least 10p per week.

look at paragraph 33318 of this guide, I'm not a processor so don't get to keep up with processing changes anymore but can't recall hearing anything to say that this has changed.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch33.pdf

[estellyn]

He needs to challenge the overpayment decision by making an appeal. Whether or not this appeal is accepted will depend on the decision date of the overpayment. He can also write requesting that repayments are stopped pending the outcome of the appeal.

 

Has he been given any idea why he has the overpayment? Or is this just out of the blue?

[fran1phil]

If that is the case ,that a person in receipt of welfare benefits - can lawfully be left with 10p; following deductions from any benefit in payment - what is the point of having so many 'Statutory Instruments, Legislative rules & regulations' and 'specific amounts/thresholds ?

To: flumps 1976:- thanks for your comments:

 

Any other organization, eg: banks, loan sharks/companies; energy providers etc would be slated for acting in the same way and expected by law, to accept minimum payments/instalments to recover the debt from you?

This seems very much, 'one rule for one etc' scenario - which has to have' human rights/ discriminatory violations' ramifications?? Do you not agree?

 

Thanks

Nadia

[fran1phil]

To : Estellyn

Thanks for your post; basically, he has done just tha' t. He wrote to them immediately, asking for more details about the 'alleged' overpayment - as their letter very vague?

However, they have still proceeded with recovering the monies from his JSA payments, despite him asking them to suspend this, until further enquiries made etc.

 

To date, they have not responded. That's why he must phone them now, to find out whats happening. But was hoping to be a bit specific and use his rights (if any apply?) during that call to them.

 

Many thanks

Nadia

[Guest]

He can also request the payments (if the amount is proven to be owed) to be lowered...citing hardship as the reason........whether the dwp have to lower them or not, they do have the choice to, and its always worth an ask. If need be then citizens advice...welfare rights office may be able to help with appeal......altho our estellyn gives very good advice every time. It depends how much he can do of it himself. Phone calls to the dwp can be a nightmare....getting passed to and fro, and call backs not always reliable...but don't give in...keep on and get the info needed.

 

I did have a previous budget loan repayment lowered due to a change in benefits and the hardship caused......just my thoughts to try and help.

[estellyn]

To : Estellyn

Thanks for your post; basically, he has done just tha' t. He wrote to them immediately, asking for more details about the 'alleged' overpayment - as their letter very vague?

However, they have still proceeded with recovering the monies from his JSA payments, despite him asking them to suspend this, until further enquiries made etc.

 

To date, they have not responded. That's why he must phone them now, to find out whats happening. But was hoping to be a bit specific and use his rights (if any apply?) during that call to them.

 

Many thanks

Nadia

 

He actually needs to be very specific in his letter - he needs to say 'I am writing to appeal x decision' and also 'Please hold overpayment recovery pending the outcome of the appeal'. If all he has said in his letter is that he doesn't agree with the overpayment and needs more info, then it goes to a decision maker to look at. Writing the word 'appeal' means it is looked at by the appeals section, and also means he can ask for the recovery to be put on hold - they won't consider this until he has appealled.

 

In the meantime he might be better off phoning and asking for a callback from a decision maker, who can then explain the reason for the overpayment on the phone, which would at least give him an idea of what was going on.

[fran1phil]

Thanks for the info. He will be calling them this morning and will do as you suggest; ie: ask for a DM to call him back asap.

His initial letter merely, requested information about the recovery of £8000; for which they offer no explanation. He mentioned, this violated any rights he may have in challenging or appealing the matter.

Anyway, will post outcome after he speaks to them.

 

Thanks again

Nadia:???:

[fran1phil]

Hi All,

I have more news about the overpayment situation my son is facing.

Apparantly it is an overpayment of Income Support from 05/09/2011 - 23/11/2012

Total amount overpaid: £8997.49

 

Reason:

The overpayment occurred because on 05/09/2011 your circumstances changed and the office that paid your benefit was not told at the correct time that you no longer meet the conditions of entitlement as you were no longer in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.

The overpayment must be repaid under Social Security Law. They decided not to apply a Civil Penalty for the overpayment, but must be repaid.

(I took notes of the call and what was being said!)

 

My son felt they had been aware of his being turned down for DLA -claiming again and that he was appealing the matter.

His appeal against DLA decision had not been finalized until December 2012. (reduced rate only).

So whilst he did not formally write to IS Dept to specifically notify them of this matter - they were aware of it; as had been referred to many times during telephone calls to them with various queries and requests for info.

My son would have had no idea of the various 'components' applied to his payments (eg: premiums added); he would just assume Income Support as one payment, furthermore - don't the Disability Division within the DWP have a responsibility to disclose such matters to their colleagues in the Income Support Dept; given that such payments are made based on criteria known to these two departments? ie: should they not be penalized, for failing to communicate with one another? (or failure to disclose information to external departments, within the same establishment?).

The 'disclosure' rules seem very one- sided, ie: customer expected to notify every tom dick and harry of any changes to their circumstances, yet depts. working under same umbrella, different offices - keep quiet about their individual practices???

they are to put this in writing to my son - but in the meantime; anyone who may be able to make sense of this disaster, would appreciate your 'disclosing' this information with me ! - lol

many thanks

Nadia

[fran1phil]

Thanks to all who gave me advice and suggestions. The DWP continued taking instalments from my son's JSA despite my querying it and asking them not to until resolved.

 

Having written a few times asking for breakdown of overpayment etc nothing forthcoming, I wrote again on his behalf just saying I wanted to appeal the matter.

 

A few weeks later he received a reply, stating they had revised their decision and would not be pursuing him for the overpayment. Hooray!!

 

However, he has not had the monies returned that they had taken from his benefits. They claim it takes about six weeks to sort out . They soon took the money quickly enough!!!

 

But thanks again for all who offered some advice.

 

Nadia

[45002]

For reference

 

Please read OP previous posts !

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?403214-Esa-appeal-to-tribunal-failed

 

Thanks to all who gave me advice and suggestions. The DWP continued taking instalments from my son's JSA despite my querying it and asking them not to until resolved.

 

Having written a few times asking for breakdown of overpayment etc nothing forthcoming, I wrote again on his behalf just saying I wanted to appeal the matter.

 

A few weeks later he received a reply, stating they had revised their decision and would not be pursuing him for the overpayment. Hooray!!

 

However, he has not had the monies returned that they had taken from his benefits. They claim it takes about six weeks to sort out . They soon took the money quickly enough!!!

 

But thanks again for all who offered some advice.

 

Nadia

.... Edited November 16, 2013 by 45002