Will I get in trouble with housing benefit for this?

[Lindor2828]

I'm so worried.

On Friday I recieved a letter from the council to say they are reviewing my claim, as it's been two years since they recieved any information from me. (They haven't requested any and in my eyes there had been no changes, I'm a student and my finacial situation remains the same through my bursary and student loan) the letter also said that my DC will have started school now (September) and was I still paying childcare costs and if so can I send proof.

I stupidly never for a second thought that I should inform them when my dd started school. I was receiving a large amount per month in child care allowance in my bursary that almost covered my childcare and I assume housing benefit took my childcare costs into consideration when calculating my entitlement.

However from September I havent recieved childcare allowance in my bursary so technically my annual income has reduced by over 6k this year (full time nursary fees) So it's not like I've been pocketing the money or anything, I'm no better or worse off that I was last year.

Am I going to be in trouble for not telling them my DC was at school? Even though my income has sort of reduced? Or when I provide all my financial details will everything remain the same? Will my payments decrease or will I have been overpayed because they thought I was still paying £700 a month in childcare fees? Or do they just omit the childcare allowance when calculating the entitlement?

Anyone who has any knowledge of this please help!

It's common for them to do reviews, I had one asking to bring in x y z. No change of circumstance guess they like to keep things updated.
Since you haven't been keeping child care cost can't see what difference it would make. Unless you were playing a top up to chil are which you are now keeping?

No only the one DC so I haven't been recieving the money at all, which they will see when I send the relevant stuff in. Perhaps they're just making sure I'm not still recieving and pocketing the money I would have been paying for childcare!

Go to the welfare rights officer at your uni.

It's not that you should have told them your dc started school but that you should have told them your income changed.

You haven't tried to defraud them so don't worry about that but you may have received an overpayment you will have to pay back.

You definitely need a qualified person to support you and advocate for you through this. Please don't try to do it alone.

I really hope I haven't been overpayed, I don't understand how if I have? On my award notice where it adds up all income it says childcare costs: £0, so it doesn't look like they've even taken any notice of it anyway?

I suppose I'll soon find out, I'm poor enough as it is though without owing them money!

Sorry, it says childcare disregard: £0, which I assume means they didnt disregarded my childcare allowance anyway.

If 100% of your childcare costs were covered by loan then you have nothing to worry about. It's not like you are better off. They probable have high proportion of students who go onto getting jobs etc so like to keep things updated.

Housing benefit is paid by local authorities so I think they differ depending on the council , but I know our council definitely disregard any benefits which are specifically for childcare .

It's been a while since I worked in housing benefits but this is how claims were calculated when I worked there and I shouldn't imagine much has changed.

Any changes that mean a reduction in your benefit (like not paying childcare or an increase in your loan/bursary) are calculated from the Monday after they happen regardless of how long ago that was,so they'll go all the way back to September to create an overpayment for that.

A change that increases your entitlement (like the amount of childcare bursary you receive decreasing) is actioned from the Monday after you notify the council, not from when it happens.

But, the council is obliged to reduce your overpayment by using what's known as underlying entitlement to reduce the amount you owe. That is, they treat you as though you told them that your circumstances had changed as soon as it occurred.

As I said,they're obliged to do this, so check your letter to make sure it's been done.

However, if you're actually entitled to more benefit since September than you've actually received you won't get that paid unless you put in a claim for backdating and you'll have to outline what circumstances have prevented you from notifying the office since September. Underlying entitlement can only ever be used to reduce/clear an overpayment, not pay backdated HB.

I hope that's clear, if it's not just ask me and I can talk some more about. It has been a few years since I worked there, so it may be different now but I shouldn't imagine too much. I know nothing about Universal Credit though

Thanks Bippity, thats really helpful. Not full understanding the underlying entitlement though? Does that mean if i've incurred an overpayment i wont actually be required to pay it all back?

I'm really hoping that I haven't been overpayed, like i said, i'm not paying over 6k in childcare fees now, but my bursary has reduced by 6k from when dd started school.

i took all my paperwork in today so hopefully it wont be long until i find out.