Repayment of benefit overpayment

Hello Mods,

just wondered if anybody could tell me where I can find details about the capital you can havebefore they increase the amount of your repayment. My situation is that despite writing and phoning the benefits agency to let them know I was going to receive an occupational pension, that information was not applied to my details and several years later I received a demand for the overpayment. i appealed but they said they had no record of a letter or phone call from that far back. A repayment was agreed to be taken from my ESA. They recently sent me a financial review form which I completed and returned. I was left with £34.00 a week and said i could pay another £20.00 besides what I was paying. I have capital of less thn £5000 which I have saved ver some considerable time to do essential repairs to the roof of my home and kitchen (you can see the outside through my kitchen Walls and the windows are falling out as the Wall has moved) I phoned and asked why the contribution had doubled and was told it was because I had savings of more than £500. I explained that this was for essential repairs, but was told by and extremely rude woman that I cant help you thats the rules. I can't appeal this decision, so they have taken the £14.00 a week that I would have had to add to the savings which will cost £7,000 and are not at all bothered by the fact I will not be able to get the problems with my home sorted. I have looked online but cannot find where it is detailed that you can only have £500.00 savings in this situation before they start increasing the repayment rate. Many thanks for your help

Izzy1010 wrote: Hello Mods,

just wondered if anybody could tell me where I can find details about the capital you can havebefore they increase the amount of your repayment. My situation is that despite writing and phoning the benefits agency to let them know I was going to receive an occupational pension, that information was not applied to my details and several years later I received a demand for the overpayment. i appealed but they said they had no record of a letter or phone call from that far back. A repayment was agreed to be taken from my ESA. They recently sent me a financial review form which I completed and returned. I was left with £34.00 a week and said i could pay another £20.00 besides what I was paying. I have capital of less thn £5000 which I have saved ver some considerable time to do essential repairs to the roof of my home and kitchen (you can see the outside through my kitchen Walls and the windows are falling out as the Wall has moved) I phoned and asked why the contribution had doubled and was told it was because I had savings of more than £500. I explained that this was for essential repairs, but was told by and extremely rude woman that I cant help you thats the rules. I can't appeal this decision, so they have taken the £14.00 a week that I would have had to add to the savings which will cost £7,000 and are not at all bothered by the fact I will not be able to get the problems with my home sorted. I have looked online but cannot find where it is detailed that you can only have £500.00 savings in this situation before they start increasing the repayment rate. Many thanks for your help

Hi I1010,

I am no expert on the recovery of "overpayment" but from reading this extract :

"If you are receiving benefits, any overpayment will usually be recovered by a direct deduction from these. Overpayments can be recovered from most benefits you may be getting.

There is a maximum rate of deduction from:

Income Support.

Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance.

Pension Credit.

For 2012/13, this is £10.65 a week, or £14.40 where the overpayment was due to fraud or you have agreed to a benefit penalty. See Fraud investigations: benefits and tax credits

There is no maximum rate of recovery from other benefits, but you can always try to negotiate a lower rate if the amount the Department of Work and Pensions ask for is too high."

Under the FAQ :

"How is an overpayment recovered ?," on the turn2us Website.

There are only maximum limits to the amount recoverable from your benefits if you are in receipt of :

Income Support.

Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance.

Pension Credit.

Therefore, it would seem that if you are in receipt of Contribution Based (CB) ESA and not Income Related (IR) ESA, there is no maximum limit to the weekly amount that the DWP can recover from your ESA.

I cannot comment regarding the "£500" quoted.

You could try contacting an agency such as The National Debtline. who may be able to offer professional advice.

For other potential sources of advice, see :

Where to get advice

See also : www.google.co.uk/search?q=Repayment+of+D...Benefit+overpayments

Sorry I could not be of more assistance, but recovery of overpayments is not really within the remit of the forum.

bro58

Thank you for your response Bro58 and for the links. I will look to se if there is any point in trying to get thm to reduce it back down. Kind Regards

Izzy1010 wrote: Thank you for your response Bro58 and for the links. I will look to se if there is any point in trying to get thm to reduce it back down. Kind Regards

Best of luck I1010 !!

bro58