Benefits overpayment?

A question about : Benefits overpayment?

I was having a bit of problem understanding my benefits entitlement so i asked a friend to help go through all my benafits with me. She found that we are pretty sure they have been overpaying me by about Ј50 a week for about 5 months now. My question is, do I have to tell them and do i have to pay this back?

Nothing in my circumstances has changed, it is just the DSS have paid in 2 lots of benefit every fortnight but i didn't know. I have not failed to tell them any change in circumstances and it appears that the fault is like an administrative mistake. My friend said she thought that if it is the DSS that make the mistake, and the claimant is totally blameless (i.e. they have not forgotten to tell fo a change of circumstances) then the claimant doesn;t have to pay the money back. Can anyone advise me please?

Best answers:

• You must tell them. If you're lucky, they might let you keep the excess payments to date, but don't bet on it!
  Phone and tell them you think there is an error. Ask them to review the claim and tell you the results IN WRITING. If you write to them, use recorded delivery. Basically, make sure you get written proof that you tried to fix the mistake. It's a smallish amount over a short period, and if you speak up ASAP you shouldn't get into trouble.
  My understanding is that if you knowingly accept an overpayment and keep quiet, it counts as fraud.
• Also go to Citizens Advice or other Welfare Benefits adviser and get your benefits checked so you know what you should be receiving. You should definitely inform them straight away though as filigree says.
• I agree that you should inform them now, but if the error is due to officer error,and you informed them then you should be alright.
  Does your local council run a Benefits Advice Service as they will act on your behalf and are specialists otherwise contact the CAB.
• Something similiar happened to me recently. A person came out to check that we were getting what we were owed and nothing more/nothing less but they failed to discover that we were being overpaid. Then we got a review about 6 months later and they discovered they had overpaid us. Now they take an agreed amount out of our benefit every fortnight. Their mistake but we still have to repay it! :-/
• lisyloo You are very quick to give your opinion!!! I was not aware that I had been overpaid obviously and I do not steal. > [glow=red,2,300] I AM NOT A THIEF![/glow] >
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• Here are the details of the act.
  None of this is my opinion it is FACT and the LAW.
  If you don't like it then I'm sorry but please don't accuse me of calling you a thief as I haven't (you must have mis-read the words).
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  Section 24A of the Theft Act 1968 was inserted by section 2 of the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996 which became effective from 18 December 1996. It creates an entirely new offence of dishonestly retaining wrongful credits to accounts. It states:
  24A(1) A person is guilty of an offence if-
  (a) a wrongful credit has been made to an account kept by him or in respect of which he has any right or interest;
  (b) he knows or believes that the credit is wrongful;
  and
  (c) he dishonestly fails to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to secure that credit is cancelled.
• I'm pleased that any misunderstanding on either side has now been cleared up.
• Thanks for your kind words fran.
  But I never had any misunderstanding.
  I quite clearly stated that
  Quote:
• lisyloo !I never said that you said I was a thief, I was giving a FACT! !I do read any words very carefully.
  You clearly stated
  Quote:
• I said
  Quote:
• Can I just add my two penneth?
  I would argue any payments up until you knew were official error because you didn't materially contribute to the error.
  The problem would be that when/if the DWP realise the error they would have to demonstrate you knew were being overpaid.
  The longer the situation goes on the harder (in my opinion) it would be to argue that you didn't.
  The caselaw revolves around the basis of information given to you. i.e. the decison notice on your entitlement.
  Hence if you were expecting Ј25 per week and you actually got Ј75 then a tribunal would have to be convinced on the balance of probabilities that you either never checked your balance or your monthly statements.
  If you make the first contact that sways things (on the balance of probabilities) in your favour.
  If, however, the DWP discover the error and thencontact you then, perhaps, it would be more reasonable to think that you knew and kept quiet about it.
  If you know you are being overpaid and tell the DWP you knew then you will have to pay it back.
  It is important to realise that there are two sets of law involved here.
  1) Social Security Law (Balance of probabilities.)
  2) Criminal Law (beyond reasonable doubt.)
  In overpayments you may not be prosecuted under the theft act but still will have an appealable decision that the money is recoverable from you or not.
  Therefore in the eyes of the law (and me) you may not be a thief but would have to pay the money back.
  Dependent on circumstances the DWP can go up to 20 years back.
  Hope this helps and let no one judge you (except those that parliament says can.)
• Going back to the original post...... this is the info i was given today:
  "As with 'ordinary payments' the legislation states that the decision to award you benefit must be changed before the DSS can recover the overpayment. However, it is not normally possible for the DSS to change the decision because the decision is correct - these overpayments result not from an incorrect decision but from an administrative error. You should therefore argue that because the legislation cannot be complied with, the overpayments cannot be recovered."
  Taken from Welfare benefits handbook by child action poverty group 2001/2002.
  I would be grateful for anyones views on this. I know this is taken from 2001/2002 so i wonder if the law has changed?
  I need to sort this out. I feel terribly guilty now i know i am being overpaid but i'm also really cross with the DSS because i am not particually good at budgeting so i get my benefit in cash every 2 weeks from the post office and use cash for everything. Now they have over paid me 50 quid a week i am worried if they ask me to pay it back because i wont be able to manage if they take alot off me each week. Anyone know how much they are able to take off me each week?
  If i tell the DSS that i think i am being overpaid then i don;t want them to think i have known all this time. I had genuinely no idea until we went through all the paperwork last week with a friend. I just assumed that DSS was paying me the right amount. Isn't that an assumption most people make?
  In light of this info i was given today, does this mean i should refuse to pay the money back?
  Anyone more informed than me, please give your input.
• If you look at this Ombudsman decision
  C777/03
  Disability and Carers Service: attempted recovery of overpaid attendance allowance even though DWP were aware that the complainant was in residential care
  In November 2001 the Disability and Carers Service informed Mrs C and Mrs D that their late mother had been overpaid Ј7,300 in attendance allowance from 13 January 1997 to 4 February 2001, as the Service had only been told on 14 February 2001 that Mrs C's and Mrs D's mother had been in residential care since 9 December 1996, and funded by a local authority. Repayment was therefore necessary. Mrs C and Mrs D complained that the Service had known in January 1997 that their mother was in residential care.
  Following the Ombudsman's intervention, the Disability and Carers Service investigated and identified the root cause of the dispute as an input error on their computer. They accepted that the overpayment was an official error and did not pursue it. They apologised to Mrs C and Mrs D for the inconvenience caused
  You will see that if you stick to you point that you have not willfully mislead or withheld information, then the DWP must write overpayments off as "Official Error" which remains non-recoverable where it is unreasonable for you to be expected to be aware that the error has occured.
• whatever the case is or isnt the fact is you have been overpaid and you will have to pay it back .. i was claiming benefits when i first moved to a new town and i was working part time .. they overpaid me some benefit and still paid my housing benefit this all resulted in one big confusion but still i had to pay it back ... paid back what i though i owed only to be contacted 13 yrs yes i said 13 yrs later to be told i still owed nearly Ј800 of housing benefit.. i wasnt hiding so they had plenty of time to ask for the money but apparantly if its over Ј500 they have up to 15 yrs to get the money back.. i had a solicitor and my local mp involved but in the end i owed it so i had to pay up....
• Tran,
  The opinion of everyone who has replied to your question is that you should inform the DWP straight away.
  Don't rely on information that has been "given to you" from a book 2001-2, this will now be out of date.
  Legislation changes on a daily basis and you need to have correct up-to-date information.
  You can get this at your Citizens Advice Bureau and they will also be able to help you negotiate suitable repayments if necessary. I advise going to your CAB to arrive 20 minutes before they open on the next available day.
  In your original post, you said a friend went through your benefit entitlement with you, so she is not necessarily right about an overpayment. If it is because of something you failed to inform them of then you will have to pay it back. If you leave it, you may end up being investigated for fraud (which is a criminal offence).