Overpayment of ESA

[Maggie]

Re: Overpayment of ESA

When and if overpayments contact you and you get a letter stating the overpayment amount, we do not want to make the horse bolt before it has jumped

Soon as and if you get that letter get straight back on here because due to time limits time is of the essence with the DWP.

No! We don't want to make the horse bolt before it has jumped

Thank you so much for your help, you have no idea, or perhaps you have, of the stress, confusion, panic that has been in our lives since this first letter regarding a visit from the compliance officers.
we really had no idea about the occupational pension being relevant. Even CAB who we contacted said we had it wrong and that CB ESA support group was non means tested as did Turn To Us another welfare rights charity and Fightback. Trying to get help and advice has been a nightmare, we really felt on our own with this.
You know there is no logic behind the whole scenario. We were told by the DWP that 1. He could win £1000000 on the lottery or be left a large inheritance and this would not affect his right to payment, but because he has paid into an occupational pension then he is not entitled to the money. How bloody stupid is that?

I will wait for the dreaded brown envelope and contact you again then.

Many Thanks

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Overpayment of ESA

When and if overpayments contact you and you get a letter stating the overpayment amount, we do not want to make the horse bolt before it has jumped

Soon as and if you get that letter get straight back on here because due to time limits time is of the essence with the DWP.

[Maggie]

Re: Overpayment of ESA

Was all of the ESA payments made to your husband contribution ESA? From 29 April 2013, overpayments of UC, contribution-based JSA and contributory ESA will always be recoverable – ie, even where not caused by failure to disclose or misrepresentation. (At time of writing, this would appear also to apply to overpayments of income-based JSA and income-related ESA, although it was understood it was not the official intention to apply this rule to them.)


Now you have two options open to you and one follows the other so first you need to make you case out on paper as to why you do not believe it is owed this is called a reconsideration. If that does not go your way you can request an appeal details of how to do this will be explained in there reconsideration letter.

I must stress that appeals are getting harder to get as the welfare reform act 2013 has changed legislation considerably and thus shortly an appeal will only be granted to the second tier tribunal on a point of law added to this is of course the cut to legal aid on benefit appeals.

So really you need to make the reconsideration work for you, so do not rush the letter take you time and get the facts correct and remember there is a time limit in which to get your reconsideration in which is 30 days from the date of the overpayment letter.

Given the amount they say you owe and the seriousness of this I think you need the help of someone with legal training and know just the person so give me a shout if you get stuck

Thanks for your reply

i need to clarify a couple of things.

1. He has so far only received a letter from DWP advising him that he is not entitled to any payments of ESA because of his occupational pension.

2. As yet has had no contact from the overpayment dept. so doesn't know the exact amount of the overpayment or whether they are going to recover it in part or in full.

3. When you suggest making a case on paper, at what point do I ask them to reconsider or appeal the decision, now or when the overpayment dept. contact me?

You mention in your post that you may know someone who could help who has legal training, is it possible you could give me this info? You can pm me if you would rather.
Thanks again for your advice/support it helps to know you're not on your own.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Overpayment of ESA

Was all of the ESA payments made to your husband contribution ESA? From 29 April 2013, overpayments of UC, contribution-based JSA and contributory ESA will always be recoverable – ie, even where not caused by failure to disclose or misrepresentation. (At time of writing, this would appear also to apply to overpayments of income-based JSA and income-related ESA, although it was understood it was not the official intention to apply this rule to them.)

Now you have two options open to you and one follows the other so first you need to make you case out on paper as to why you do not believe it is owed this is called a reconsideration. If that does not go your way you can request an appeal details of how to do this will be explained in there reconsideration letter.

I must stress that appeals are getting harder to get as the welfare reform act 2013 has changed legislation considerably and thus shortly an appeal will only be granted to the second tier tribunal on a point of law added to this is of course the cut to legal aid on benefit appeals.

So really you need to make the reconsideration work for you, so do not rush the letter take you time and get the facts correct and remember there is a time limit in which to get your reconsideration in which is 30 days from the date of the overpayment letter.

Given the amount they say you owe and the seriousness of this I think you need the help of someone with legal training and know just the person so give me a shout if you get stuck

[Maggie]

Hello Everyone.

I need help and advice with regards an overpayment of ESA. I will endeavour to explain the circumstances we find ourselves in.
my husband began claiming ESA as advised by his then employer when he became too ill to work and his salary was reduced by half after six months. (Sept 09) At the time of this application he was still employed. He submitted his ESA50 and added that he was being referred for consideration of medical retirement.
Following a medical and an initial reconsideration, he was placed in the support group where he remains to date. He was medically retired on 31 Jan 2010 and began receiving his occupational pension.
At this time he notified the DWP of his retirement via phone and also the tax office. HMRC could not get his tax code right and he actually received notification of 11 different tax codes in the same month! Whilst recovering from complicated surgery he was desperately trying to sort out his tax affairs and had three way conversations with HMRC and DWP. He has a letter from HRMC confirming that they would be writing to DWP to inform them of the correct tax code to use as his ESA would be taxable at basic rate. However this letter does not actually mention occupational pension, but by telling DWP to tax his ESA would indicate he was in receipt of income I believe.
in all correspondence regarding ESA since this time my husband has always stated that he was now medically retired. He has completed two further ESA 50 forms since where he states he is now medically retired.
July 2013 he received a letter from the DWP saying a Compliance Officer would be visiting. We had no idea what a compliance officer was so rang DWP to make enquiries to be told it was merely to make sure records were up to date. Not unduly worried we waited for the visit.

It turns out whilst he is entitled to the benefit he is not entitled to any money as his pension is taken into consideration. Shocked and panic stricken would be too simplistic a description of our reaction. Apart from believing Contribution based ESA support group was non means tested as many web sites tell you this is in fact not the case. I understand that ignorance is no defence and the officers were not in anyway suggesting that we had deliberately mislead them. We showed them our paperwork and even a letter from my husbands pension administrator who low and behold is the DWP! But of course they are different depts. I guess it comes down to the fact that we don't actually have physical proof /hard copy of our notification to them as it was via telephone.

What advice am I looking for? I don't really know. I guess firstly in your opinion do we have to repay this money which will be approx £18000!! Secondly, if we do have to repay, can we negotiate a repayment plan? We of course don't have £18000 laying around sadly.
I hope I haven't rambled too much, it's difficult to explain and of course I'm emotionally knackered with all of the stress. My husband has struggled with disability since aged 26 to be told he would never walk again and it was suggested he should give up work then. He refused and has pushed himself to his detriment until now aged 53. The only benefit he has ever claimed is DLA, all adaptions to the home etc we have paid for ourselves. I know this is not relevant but I just feel so angry right now and it's good to get it off my chest.
Thanks peeps.