Housing benefit /child care costs

[hzlwlkr]

Hi everyone, I have just had a nose at all the posts on here and wondered if u could help me to,

I am a single parent with one beautiful daughter who is now 8, I work 30 hours a week and claim the benefits that help us live as ordinary as us all. However, my local council have now recalculated and claim I now owe over £10k for over payment of housing and council tax benefits. They claim this is because I didn't inform them that my daughter started school and therefore do not pay for full time private nursery costs anymore? Has anyone else experienced this, I now face having to move and feel like a fraud! I notified tax credits with all changes, so sad, trying to do the right thing

X

Don't panic firstly, you need to speak to them and get them to reasses to check its correct.

If you were paying full time nursery fees and getting housing benefit top up-it will make sense if later you are keeping this income and don't need top up housing. However it's more likely you were getting help with child care fees too? In which case you would have topped it up and therefore have less "extra" income than they think.

Tax credits and housing benefit are unrelated. You say you informed tax credits, but did you inform your local council at the same time? If not, that will be why you've been overpaid.

Do you mean tax credits? So have they still been paying childcare as before she started school do you mean for the last 3/4 years?

Generally, if you can arrange a repayment , you may not have to move. Trying to be optimistic ( but not giving false hope) the amount / speed of repayment can be negotiated so its realistic for you. Good luck.