To be thoroughly fed up with Housing benefit overpaying me and now wanting me to pay back £1200...

[Limara]

Background....
Basically, My wages fluctuate and so I kept in contact with Housing Support and submitted wage slips voluntarily in order to avoid any discrepancies. My hrs worked at that time June 08, were between 10-15 hrs a week.

In January this year, my contracted hrs(hours I could work up to) increased to 25 hrs per week so I brought a wage slip in to Housing Benefit. They asked me if I actually worked 25hrs a week but again I stressed it fluctuated ie some weeks working between 10-25 hrs. They asked what I worked on average and I said 20hrs.

Because I was considering moving into a bigger house based on the fact I was earning more or had the potential to earn more, in March, I voluntarily submitted a wage slip to Housing Benefit based on my higher earnings roughly around 25hrs a week. I wanted them to calculate the new Housing Benefit correctly taking into consideration this particular wage slip and the one submitted in January. Basically to highlight the difference in earnings each month.

They said they couldn't give me an exact figure but it would be a little less than I was getting due to the fact I was earning more and the extra difference between the houses.

I received a bill this morning from Housing Support demanding £1200 for overpayment from June last year I pointed out that I had stayed in contact with them and submitted wage slips and bank statements from last June onwards but they turned round and said I should has submitted them monthly If they'd have asked me to do this, I would have done so.

What shall I do?

i guess tell them they can have it back £10 a week, or whatever you can afford. It's rubbish, we are in a similar situation with tax credits descpite me phoning them and telling them time and time again that they were overpaying us.

when did you submit the wage slips from June? Your best bet is to send in all your wage info from June 08 onwards with a letter of appeal - they have to take into account exactly what you've earned over the period.

I've posted for a friend, it was easier rather than 'she said' etc etc..

Her point is that she stayed in contact with them and submitted details voluntarily in order to avoid this sort of thing. They want £100 back per month

shineoncrazydiamond- I don't know what her average monthly income and hours worked are but Housing Benefit were aware that it did fluctuate/vary each month.

Oh this is one very good reason why a lot of people decide it isn't worth taking a low paid or part time or variable time job...having to provide all the paperwork (I used to have to take mine in every WEEK, in person) so they can decide to the last penny how much to give you towards your rent.

It's so complicated you barely stand a chance of noticing any errors they make, and the hassle just isn't worth the slight boost in self esteem from working.

The system is very difficult, yanbu...but best to sit down and work out exactly what you have got in terms of evidence, maybe CAB could help you?

there isn't really anything "voluntary" about this I'm afraid - if your earnings change you have to report it, and they have to take it into account. There's no discretion either side.

If she did keep in touch and submit her details every so often they will have recalculated her claim every time and sent her out a notification of the change.

Katerina75 - re declaring earnings, good point.

Asking for £100 per month sounds pretty high - she can definitely negotiate that to lower payments

This has annoyed me, she did notify them of the changes in her earnings and they did not send her any notification of changes. They just weren't doing their job properly. My friend has no gripe paying the money back.

She now has to pay MORE than half the rent on the new house as she is supposidly working 25hrs a week and this has had a knock-on effect with higher council tax charges.

ok, if they had the wage slips and didn't do anything with them then yes that is deeply annoying. Unfortunately they will say that she should have known that her hb payments would change if she was earning more.

Appeal, get local councillor involved to get it looked at sooner, renegotiate payments.

Notifications were sent/ re-calculated June 08 and Jan 09 and she paid a little bit more each time £30-£40 per month. At no point did they demand £1200 !

It sounds like up until Jan 09 they will have calculated hb on her June 08 earnings.

If they then got the idea that the Jan and March 09 payslips were indicative of earnings back to June 08, then that's why the recalculated the claim back to June 08, causing the overpayment.

So this falls on whether the earnings between June 08 and Jan 09 were in fact broadly around the 10 -15 hours a week amount, or around 20 - 25 hours a week.

Regardless, if she now submits ALL her earnings since June 08 they have to recalculate the whole lot and it could well reduce the overall amount of the overpayment.

Who's your friend's MP? Agree that would be a good place to start...

Keep every scrap of paper, notes of when phone calls are made, names of person spoken to etc.
Realistically she is just going to have to pay it back as she can afford it but I would appeal and make sure they have the correct amount in the first place.

Please write to MP. The amount of problems mine has sorted out for me.. they are there to represent us against the authorities where half of them couldn't run a bath.