Four and a half years later....

it's getting confusing, so I'll simplify the question: I received £ xxxxx for what I presume is official error (the DWP hasn't explained everything yet).

I am receiving income based ESA and housing benefit, do I have to notify the LA? thanks

I would have no problem at all doing that, the problem is that writing about any changes to the agency in question has the effect of awakening a rabid dog. The last time I did so I was getting evicted for completely bogus reasons, as I was able to prove in the end. But I lost sleep for 3 months. So it's not a simple matter of notifying the agency, but if it's really worth for me to do so.

I give up, and won't ask the question again. It's obvious to me that no one really has an exact answer, which is what I hoped to find. Thank you for your past replies.

ps. to be more accurate the LA in question has been deemed the worst one in London for upheld complaints about maladministration by the Ombudsman. This is not some badmouthing, a simple search in Google will show several credible newspaper articles related to my claims.

So this is why I am extremely reluctant to communicate to this LA anything at all; when I did so and have been as transparent as possible, I was being mercilessly chewed on and spat back. Of course, this is no one's concern here, I am just clarifying why I was seeking a more precise answer. This is not a criticism about you either, I am just stating the facts as they appear to me.

Lastly, whilst I do understand why the sum I have indicated has been crossed out, I think it is important to let the facts be known as they are. By obscuring details, nothing can be really learned. But it's your forum and of course you are the ones who decide how to run it. I am just expressing my views.

Thank you for reading.

just asked a lawyer through a website that provides these answers for a small fee (I am probably not allowed to write it here so I won't). I'll report the answer I was given here, it might be helpful to others, although of course one is free to take anything I write, with a pinch of salt (since we are on the internet and since there's no undeniable proof that I am not insane, hallucinating, deceitful, etc.... I am certainly not, but the point is, I can't undisputably prove that here, so one will have to make of it what he or she wills).

Basically: it is a legal requirement to report any changes of circumstances to the LA in regard to means tested benefits, even though in my case, ESA arrears (I have of course disclosed the amount to the lawyer), it should not affect housing benefit. The lawyer himself stated that this is quite bizarre, but that is how it works.

So I'll now report my arrears and that will be the end of that. Or not, but I guess I'll have to deal with it as a separate issue, etc.

Thank you for your patience.