Self employed housing benefit claim messed up leaving me with no money

[Lovemusic33]

I’m self employed, work part time as also a carer to 2 dc with disabilities. Due to having the kids home since Christmas my hours at work reduced to just a few hours a week, I was already receiving a high rate of HB (not moved over to UC yet). I was asked to fill in a self assessment form to cover nov-Feb which I did a few weeks ago. Sent in my invoices, pretty simple, a few hours a week at xx amount per hour. Anyway my benefits have been stopped and they have calculated my weekly income as my monthly income, this also means it’s flashing up that I owe them money so the £13 a week they say I was going to be getting is now been taken back as over payments. Now I have bills turning up for council tax all due to their mistake. I have called them and was told I had to write to them to say I disagree with their decision, I have emailed and heard nothing. In the meantime I’m expected to pay £140 rent a week with a income of £48 pw.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? How did you sort it and how long did it take?

I don't have any experience of this but wondering if your local council has a Discretionary Housing Payment scheme that may agree to pay the difference until it is sorted?

Do you rent through the council or a housing association ? If so then ring them and explain what has happened, as long as you explain things there shouldn't be repercussions. If private rented then it's obviously more tricky and will depend how understanding your landlord is.

@Babyroobs

Do you rent through the council or a housing association ? If so then ring them and explain what has happened, as long as you explain things there shouldn't be repercussions. If private rented then it's obviously more tricky and will depend how understanding your landlord is.

Yes, I do, if I get stuck I can stop the rent going out my bank, i am ahead of my rent (though technically it’s my deposit when I first got the house) so could possibly get away with not paying rent for a month.

HB have contacted me saying that I stated that I was earning that amount. I may have made a mistake somewhere on the form but my invoices clearly show what I have earned as does everything else I told them. They now want me to send my invoices again even though they should already have them.

Are you getting council tax benefit ?

If not then apply for that if your income has decreased

HB will push you to the top of the queue if you have a notice of seeking possession - so if your HA or council office can send you one this will push your case to the topish of the pile - but obviously you need to get it to them

have you applied for Discretionary housing payment? if not then apply today for this as you have to many outgoings and not enough income - although this may take a few weeks to come through it could be worthwhile having in a few weeks time to help out

ring citizen advice for anteing they can help you with

and obviously get your receipts in again

put in writing that your overpayment you want to pay at £3.75 per week as you are in hardship - even though you are disputing it you can still continue to pay (incase you loose) and ask for a reduced amount to be paid - I think £3.75 is the least they will accept

hth

I was getting council tax benefit, my council automatically applies when I clam housing benefit, so they have stopped this too and are saying I owe money. I received my housing benefit payment today.....£2, to cover my months rent. They are taking 48 hours to apply to my emails and keep saying they haven’t received my invoices when I have sent them to them 3 times now, so each time I reply I have to wait another 48 hours for a response. I have now not received the correct payment for 2 months. I am now off work sick (waiting for surgery) so as of this week I’m not earning a thing, possibly for a couple months.

Did you put in for DHP?
Can you contact council tax and set up a payment plan, say your waiting for this to be sorted so want a payment plan in the interim to avoid court summons - which are ££££

Did you try and get an appointment with citizens advice?

Former HB assessor. You won’t get a DHP to cover a shortfall in HB when they think you have enough money to adequately cover your rent. (Most DHP funds are now used up until April, it’s the worst time of year to apply.)

You need to formerly dispute the overpayment and ask for recovery of the overpayment to be put on hold whilst any error is rectified.
Read your reassessment letter, that’ll tell you what income they have used. Check the invoices you sent them. If you find the award letter confusing I’d ring them and ask what income they used and the frequency they’ve used it. I.E did they input your income weekly instead of monthly. Have you made a mistake with invoices? Is your work seasonal?
You then need to ask for a reconsideration, usually this has to be done in writing not via email. (Depends on was the LA).
You may need to say you’ve made an error on your invoices (if this is the case) and you’ll need to submit new ones with an explanation as to why you or the LA got them wrong.
Are you registered self employed with HMRC, have a unique tax reference code and a tax return or is it a new business?
Remember assessors are not accountants, if your just sending invoices they’ll use what’s on them! Did you fill in a self employed proforma detailing expenses etc?
If from X date you have ceased trading due to sickness then you need to tell them that, otherwise no one will be any the wiser. If you claim tax credits then you need to ring them too.

@Suzi888

Former HB assessor. You won’t get a DHP to cover a shortfall in HB when they think you have enough money to adequately cover your rent. (Most DHP funds are now used up until April, it’s the worst time of year to apply.)

You need to formerly dispute the overpayment and ask for recovery of the overpayment to be put on hold whilst any error is rectified.
Read your reassessment letter, that’ll tell you what income they have used. Check the invoices you sent them. If you find the award letter confusing I’d ring them and ask what income they used and the frequency they’ve used it. I.E did they input your income weekly instead of monthly. Have you made a mistake with invoices? Is your work seasonal?
You then need to ask for a reconsideration, usually this has to be done in writing not via email. (Depends on was the LA).
You may need to say you’ve made an error on your invoices (if this is the case) and you’ll need to submit new ones with an explanation as to why you or the LA got them wrong.
Are you registered self employed with HMRC, have a unique tax reference code and a tax return or is it a new business?
Remember assessors are not accountants, if your just sending invoices they’ll use what’s on them! Did you fill in a self employed proforma detailing expenses etc?
If from X date you have ceased trading due to sickness then you need to tell them that, otherwise no one will be any the wiser. If you claim tax credits then you need to ring them too.

Thank you, I have checked everything, the mistake was made on the first form I filled in, for some reason they put down my whole years earnings as 3/4 months earning. I only work for one client so my invoices are very simple, I sent them 3 invoices to cover Dec, Jan and Feb, all clearly state what I had earned in that time (barely anything), other than the one small mistake my monthly earnings were very clear. I have told them about the mistake and they asked to see my invoices again and claimed they had not received them despite me having proof that I have sent them to them, I sent the invoices again and asked for conformation that they have received them (a week ago), since then they have not replied to any of the emails and when I call they say “you have to do it through email” 😡. I am now at risk of having my carers allowance stopped as information will cross over to them to say I have be earning too much according to HB records. This is so stressful. I do have the money to cover my rent but it means using my DD’s DLA money to pay our rent or I have to stop my rent going out.

It’s not a new business, been doing this for 4 years and it’s not the first time they have messed up my payments and not read my invoices. My invoices are simple, doesn’t take an accountant to read 3 invoices.

I have now filled in a new self assessment (self employed) form, basically starting again in hope it gets me somewhere quicker than email contact. Have sent my invoices heat again and told them I am now off sick for a couple months whilst waiting for surgery. It’s really put me off being self employed and I am considering not returning, this is the 3rd time they have stopped my payments due to a mistake on my forms and them not looking at my invoices. It’s just not worth the hassle to work a few hours a week. Life would be easier if I was employed instead of self employed but it’s almost impossible when I’m trying to care for 2 disabled kids and have no child care (who would employ me?).

Why are they reviewing your income now if you’ve been self employed for four years, it should be every April/May once per year only. Not meant to apply it for a past period and create an overpayment either.

I’d ask for a statement of reasons and full explanation as to how your claim was reassessed. Sounds odd! Make sure you write a covering letter when your accounts are reviewed and really spell it out to them how many hours a week you work/ whether it’s seasonal and ask why they are carrying out assessments mid year before you’ve done your accounts.

Im not sure, it says I need to do this again in April so I'm unsure why I have to do it now, they just sent me out a letter but before that they had already reduced my benefits randomly. I had the same issue last year. Hopefully I will hear something on Monday, if not I will try calling them again.

You shouldn’t have to do it now, if you had an accountant they likely wouldn’t do them until April/May. Is it a seasonal business and they know you make more over the winter? That could be why, but with an established business they shouldn’t do it.
Good luck, hope this sorted for you and doesn’t deter you in future.