DWP decided they've overpaid incapacity benefit for 12 years & want it back !!

A question about : DWP decided they've overpaid incapacity benefit for 12 years & want it back !!

My partner has been off work with ill health for approx 12 years and has been in receipt of Incapacity Benefit for the majority of those years ...it was recently changed to ESA ...he has also been receiving a Personal Health Insurance payment via his ex employer for the whole time, which was declared to the DWP right from the start ...they've now said they're not sure he should ever have had any money from them & want it back if thats the case ...it runs into many, many thousands which we can ill afford ...we're trying not to panic while they investigate it ...but where do we stand if they decide he shouldn't have had it but it was their mistake ??

Best answers:

• Do you have proof that they knew, and took it into account? Find all the old benefit letters you can - it should detail the Personal Health Insurance payments in the calculation on them as it was declared to them.
  If you can prove they knew, and it was their mistake, I believe that the policy is to not chase repayments unless it was reasonable that you knew you were being overpaid. Which I suppose would come down to the figures.
  If you can't prove they knew, and they deny knowing, it should be possible to set up repayments. So whatever happens, you won't be looking at paying back a huge lump sum.
• Maybe something changed but when did Incapacity Benefit becomes mean tested?
  12 years ago I was assessing PHI claims for a major reinsurance company and I can tell you it wasn't then. Quite rightly you would have had it deducted as part of the PHI calculation so that you only received X% of your pre-disability earnings.
  IF for some randomly strange reason that I cannot see the ESA are right (I very much doubt they are) then you should approach the insurance company and advise that your benefits were incorrectly calculated, you were not eligible for this benefit and therefore you require them to go back and recalculate benefits to you for the last 12 years.
  They won't be happy but they cannot refuse to do so unless the policy states Incapacity Benefit will be deducted irrespective of its receipt and even then I would have a good fight with them over it.
  Obviously you don't need this worry as at the time it was about Ј3600 pa which x 12 years = a chunk of money that I am guessing most people just wouldn't have lying around.
  First things first tell ESA that ICB is not a means tested benefit and that PHI is not a pension (it might be they are just stupid and think it is, but a pension is granted for life and cannot be taken away unlike PHI which is reviewable).
• The insurance is paid via an ex employer and we do get a small amount of HB ...it's not a lot as I work ...It was the HB people who stirred things up ...despite making a statement for them emphasising that the payment is a PHI not a pension or a wage, someone there took it upon themselves to ring the DWP & say that my partner was now working 18hrs a week !!! That stopped his ESA payments with immediate effect which they didn't inform us of, we found out after ringing HB about something else ...Then DWP decided to investigate things & insisted we give more details of his pension payments ...despite repeating ourselves over & over that it is NOT a pension they are treating it as such, they say the same rules apply ...if they are right then the figure they have hinted at would be over Ј50,000 ...I'm currently off work ill anyway after a fall down the stairs & while I'm not working I'm not getting paid so income is going downhill rapidly ...sooooo stressed at the mo
  Oh & you're right longtimelurkersam it was only a percentage that he received
• I have come across plenty of Government departments that think a regular PHI payment is a pension and in fact also plenty of claimant's who think once it is awarded it is awarded for life. Remind them that it is reviewable, that your other half goes through regular medical reviews etc. Having said that I am assuming that they are still paying you PHI every month and have not commuted it with a lump sum?
  IF they do insist etc then as I said go back to the insurer and demand they recalculate accordingly.
• It is a monthly sum he receives ...& thankfully he still has copies of every form he's filled in since he started claiming, we just have to dig them out & plough through them ...I'm pretty sure his first claim was in 2000, something else we will have to check
  I really appreciate everyones help & advice ...has given me some hope that this mess can be sorted out
• Incapacity paid before April 2001 is not effected by pensions after 2001 the first Ј85 weekly is ignored.
  I may be wrong but I suspect he has had Income Support which means any income from pensions would count in full?
• No he's never had Income Support ...I work so obviously we don't qualify
• Thanks to everyone for advice ...situation so far is that DWP have hinted that it might be written off as a technical error on their part as they had all the information in the first place ...though they haven't made it official yet ...fingers crossed
• Would they be able to claim back the full 12 years as you can normally only claim up to a maximum of 6 years.
  Also, if they do try and claim money back can you not try and claim estoppel?