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Overpyament Letter ESA
- wolfchile
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4 years 1 week ago #258482 by wolfchile
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Overpyament Letter ESA was created by wolfchile
I am in receipt of ESA for my partner and I. My partner gets an occupational pension. Every year I get a letter at least a month before the pension increase from the DWP asking what the increase will be. We always fill this in straight away making calls to the pension provider who usually haven't sent the update at this point as too early to ask them what it will be. We always do it straight away as it says if I don't get in back to them within the month they will stop my benefit. The increase is usually a couple of pounds per week. The pension is around £53 per week which is deducted from ESA amount. Today I received a letter saying I am in a minority of people who have been overpaid and I have failed to to inform the DWP of the increase between the 18.4.18 and 24 11 20 and that I owe them £371.76 and if I don't pay it within a month they will deduct it from my benefit. It is incorrect to say I have not informed them as they always write for the Information i always send it straight away for fear of losing my benefit plus if I hadn't complied they would have stopped my benefit. The tone of the letter is accusatory. I phoned and went around in circles for hours before finally speaking to someone who was nasty and said someone form debt recovery would phone me back sometime in three days. It is affecting my mental health as I have autism and hate the phone. I don't feel I owe he money and they haven't given a breakdown of what's owed just amount and date it relates to. The increase is always less than a couple of pounds per month. The maximum £2 per month. The figures don't add up. I tried to ask on the phone for clarification but they couldn't tell me I recently had my MP write to them as I complained about them repeatedly not paying Christmas bonus years upon year. He got nowhere with them either so I wouldn't be able to ask him to help as they ignored him. I am not sure what to do
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- Gary
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4 years 1 week ago #258493 by Gary
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Replied by Gary on topic Overpyament Letter ESA
Hi wolfchile
At times DWP can be a nightmare to deal with, if your MP cannot get anywhere then they can complain to the parliamentary Ombudsman, they also need to copy in Thérèse Coffey Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Gary
At times DWP can be a nightmare to deal with, if your MP cannot get anywhere then they can complain to the parliamentary Ombudsman, they also need to copy in Thérèse Coffey Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Gary
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The following user(s) said Thank You: s.jmoore@blueyonder.co.uk, Stephen
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- denby
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4 years 6 days ago #258529 by denby
Replied by denby on topic Overpyament Letter ESA
Dear wolfchile, may I suggest that you point out to your MP that Autism is a Protected Characteristic in law and you consider that you have not had reasonable adjustments made for you. As you hate the phone [as does my OH with Asperger's] DWP "should" supply full written explanations I feel.
Hope this helps,
Denby
Hope this helps,
Denby
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- freefee
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4 years 6 days ago #258553 by freefee
Replied by freefee on topic Overpyament Letter ESA
hi,
i too receive an occupational work pension since 2014, i seem to remember that the dwp wrote to me the first year to ask about pension rises each year, i remember there was a box or something where i gave the dwp permission to contact my pension provider each year to find out about the increments, the dwp has not written to me about this since, so is it safe to presume this is what they are doing? or should i contact anyone to make sure this is happening?
many thanks
i too receive an occupational work pension since 2014, i seem to remember that the dwp wrote to me the first year to ask about pension rises each year, i remember there was a box or something where i gave the dwp permission to contact my pension provider each year to find out about the increments, the dwp has not written to me about this since, so is it safe to presume this is what they are doing? or should i contact anyone to make sure this is happening?
many thanks
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- LL26
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4 years 5 days ago #258573 by LL26
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Replied by LL26 on topic Overpyament Letter ESA
Hi wolfchile,
Overpayments cases are complicated, so if you can find a local advice centre for further advice.
It is common for DWP to send out accusatory letters in these circumstances, so whilst this is not pleasant it is not unusual.
I'm assuming you are in receipt of means tested ESA. There is a disregard for occupational pensions up to a certain amount with contribution based ESA.
Under the law you havexa duty to inform DWP of information that will affect your benefit. Receipt of a pension will do this, so there is a requirement to notify a change in the amount you receive. If you do not do this then an overpayment is likely.
If you have notified DWP then clearly DWP should not have made an overpayment. This is called official error. However, messages or papers can be lost, and not everything gets done as it should be. Even if you informed DWP late and they overpaid you, then any money paid after DWP had the appropriate knowledge would not be recoverable. This would also apply if DWP got knowledge from another source.
So the first question is whether you did inform DWP. You only have a duty to inform of a change in the pension value. Thus means a change has or is about to happen happened, and you know about it.
If your pension goes up on let's say 1st April each year, whilst you might know the amount is about to change, unless you have been told the amount in advance you won't be able to inform the details of the change until 1st April. Even then there will possibly be a few days grace if you couldn't inform DWP earlier. There is no duty to inform DWP before 1st April in the above example as you can't inform what you don't know!
Maybe you kept a copy of the reply form, or details of a phone call? If not maybe check phone records to confirm the date of a call or anything else you can recall about how you informed DWP is important.
Like with all other benefits, you will need to make a Mandatory reconsideration. (MR)
Normally you have 1 month from the decision to do this. Writd to DWP send explain you dispute the overpayment- explain how you informed DWP of the pension change using as much detail as possible.
You can then explain that you do not understand the calculation and ask for a full breakdown of the calculation.
You should also state that since you are disputing this overpayment any steps to recover the overpayment should be postponed until MR and any appeal tribunal hearing.
I do strongly advise that you seek specialist help here, as I have only dipped into a very complicated area, but it will hopefully be enough to give a start as ho how to deal with this.
Good luck!
LL26
Overpayments cases are complicated, so if you can find a local advice centre for further advice.
It is common for DWP to send out accusatory letters in these circumstances, so whilst this is not pleasant it is not unusual.
I'm assuming you are in receipt of means tested ESA. There is a disregard for occupational pensions up to a certain amount with contribution based ESA.
Under the law you havexa duty to inform DWP of information that will affect your benefit. Receipt of a pension will do this, so there is a requirement to notify a change in the amount you receive. If you do not do this then an overpayment is likely.
If you have notified DWP then clearly DWP should not have made an overpayment. This is called official error. However, messages or papers can be lost, and not everything gets done as it should be. Even if you informed DWP late and they overpaid you, then any money paid after DWP had the appropriate knowledge would not be recoverable. This would also apply if DWP got knowledge from another source.
So the first question is whether you did inform DWP. You only have a duty to inform of a change in the pension value. Thus means a change has or is about to happen happened, and you know about it.
If your pension goes up on let's say 1st April each year, whilst you might know the amount is about to change, unless you have been told the amount in advance you won't be able to inform the details of the change until 1st April. Even then there will possibly be a few days grace if you couldn't inform DWP earlier. There is no duty to inform DWP before 1st April in the above example as you can't inform what you don't know!
Maybe you kept a copy of the reply form, or details of a phone call? If not maybe check phone records to confirm the date of a call or anything else you can recall about how you informed DWP is important.
Like with all other benefits, you will need to make a Mandatory reconsideration. (MR)
Normally you have 1 month from the decision to do this. Writd to DWP send explain you dispute the overpayment- explain how you informed DWP of the pension change using as much detail as possible.
You can then explain that you do not understand the calculation and ask for a full breakdown of the calculation.
You should also state that since you are disputing this overpayment any steps to recover the overpayment should be postponed until MR and any appeal tribunal hearing.
I do strongly advise that you seek specialist help here, as I have only dipped into a very complicated area, but it will hopefully be enough to give a start as ho how to deal with this.
Good luck!
LL26
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- wolfchile
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4 years 2 days ago #258710 by wolfchile
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Replied by wolfchile on topic Overpyament Letter ESA
Thats a tricky one. I too had a letter asking me to provide details of annual pension rises. I too gave them permission to contact pension provider and sent details of the pension rise. However they have wrote to me every year since and asked for information. I have always provided it as they state if I don't give them details within a month of the date of the letter they will stop my ESA.
This letter accuses me of having claimed benefit I am not entitled to and gives a figure of ¦early £400 overpayment. I have asked them to explain the figure as it doesn't match up to the period of nearly two years they claim was overpaid. This would equate to less than £2 per month which is al" the pension increase is. Usually around £1 per month. So at best would be around £48. They couldn't give me a breakdown and told me to contact debt management who say they don't give breakdowns or explanations.
If you have given them permission to contact pension provider and they haven't written to you then you have done what you can. Do you have any copies of this? You could also do a subject access request of your records.
You could ring also and write to them if you worried but you probably wouldn't get much information by phone as they seem to have no information and also it takes hours to get through. Maybe ask for breakdown of your benefit to see what they take of for the occupational pension.
This letter accuses me of having claimed benefit I am not entitled to and gives a figure of ¦early £400 overpayment. I have asked them to explain the figure as it doesn't match up to the period of nearly two years they claim was overpaid. This would equate to less than £2 per month which is al" the pension increase is. Usually around £1 per month. So at best would be around £48. They couldn't give me a breakdown and told me to contact debt management who say they don't give breakdowns or explanations.
If you have given them permission to contact pension provider and they haven't written to you then you have done what you can. Do you have any copies of this? You could also do a subject access request of your records.
You could ring also and write to them if you worried but you probably wouldn't get much information by phone as they seem to have no information and also it takes hours to get through. Maybe ask for breakdown of your benefit to see what they take of for the occupational pension.
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