Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

[BlueArmy]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

To answer Inca, tax credits mitt have gone up or down a few quid but only once a year as far as I can remember when they are reclaimed. If there awe circumstances where one of my kids left school and went college they were informed but usually stayed the same.
The first thing I knew about it was a letter from HB saying they wanted to know why my tax credits had changed. We thought it was because the kids college course had finished so we phoned TC and informed them they were returning to college.
eldest lad has been on JSA for about 10 months and started working as an apprentice a few months back. He wasn't on our tax credits award as obviously he wasn't eligible,
If HB say we are overpaid it will have been since 2010 , which is how far back they want to go with p60 etc.

Doomed I tell you

[Pixie]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

Doomed I tell you

Not necessarily. It seems to me like you've done everything right.

[Inca]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

I agree with Pixie......don't start self flagellating just yet.......
IF and i do mean IF there is an anomaly and you can 100% vouch that you have made no Boo-Boo,,then it's their error ego tough luck on them
AgainBIG BIG IF..you have dropped the proverbial bollock they have to be reasonable in their sums,,you can't pay them more than you can afford,,I believe they have to avoid putting you in 'hardship'.

Don't let Wednesday ruin your Sunday/Monday/Tuesday.....you're not going to be slung in debtors Jail...I promise

[BlueArmy]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

Update time.
After a couple of months of threats from landlord etc , they phone housing benefit to be told they would get all the arrears etc.
But this morning I get multiple letters from council tax and housing benefit saying we owe £3800 council tax and have been overpaid £12,000+ housing benefit.
The landlord said the current arrears is £809 which luckily we have managed to save up whilst this was going on.
Now, at least there is a roof over our heads still.
Just not sure how we are supposed to pay back the HB and council tax.

There are some errors in the housing benefit working which I can see straight away. They seem to think that for certain periods we earnt £750 per week net. Which is way off the mark.
Been told to sit and work out what we earnt and write to them with the errors that we think they made and provide proof.....

This is what the home visit was for!!!

I dont think anything will rid us of the overpayment because from the figures I see we would have been just over the threshold....I think.

Also they have the wife as working more jobs than she does.

I just dont know where to go from here.

Already in debt to creditors which I have managed to stave off for now with £1 token payments. The wife is also in debt to creditors and on a DMP which we now might have to stop and offer token payments again.

Main thing I think is that our rent should be ok for now and we have a home. Its the overpayments and what we will have to live on that worries me.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

If this was me and I did not agree with the sum they say is owed I would contact them requesting proof of the sum they say is owed and by proof I mean copies of there calculations and documents used

They may supply all this via a letter if not you will need to SAR them for the info

Once you have this you can check to see if any and what errors have been made and even if you cannot discount the whole sum it may well be lower than they say.

[BlueArmy]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

I have looked through letter the sent me and it has all sorts of figures they used. The letter is 89 pages....no lie.
Going to have to sit down tonight/tomorrow and look through it properly.

Really dont know what else to do now.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

Point is just because they say that is owed does not mean it is and you have every right to challenge it and make them prove it is owed

[Pixie]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

Look through those calculations carefully BlueArmy....though it will do your head in!

I've had letters from HB/CTS which ran to many pages (but I don't think I got to 89) where the figures they have given have been incorrect and they have contradicted themselves.

[BlueArmy]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

Just an update and request for advice on the weekend.

We went to citizens advice and they discovered that the figures were wrong and the total overpayment was reduced by around £8000
all we got was a standard apology letter. It's a good job we are of sound mind and not jumped off a bridge somewhere. I was absolutely fuming.

Anyway, we still owed £5400 housing benefit and 2000 council tax.
Housing is in wife name and she has just completed a DRO application and paid the £90 fee so we a awaiting hearing something.
the council tax is in my name also so I assume that will pass to me once, hopefully, the wife is debt free. So I will tackle my own DRO at a later date.

thAts the current situation, so for anyone in same boat with overpayment, get it checked.

this morning the wife got a letter from the council saying they are asking her employers to reduce her wages each week by a certain amount. This is after the DRO application went in and after the cab wrote a letter to them (which we have seen and is in our files) asking them to put a hold on any proceeding as we are looking at a DRO.

typically this arrived at the weekend so we can't phone anyone to do anything about it.

I can't understand why they are so non-understanding about It all. They claim to have heard nothing from us Aparantly.

just when I thought there was a chance this could be over.

anyone have any advice ?

thanks

[Pixie]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

It's just possible that the letter hasn't got to the right department in the council yet...or they could be trying to pull a fast one.

I'm not sure what system your council has for appointments etc but, if you can, I would go down there Monday morning with a copy of the CAB letter and a copy of the DRO application if you have one (you could also take the apology letter). If you can't, I would email them and attach scans of the letters mentioned previously. My council need name, address, telephone number, HB reference number, council tax reference number, National Insurance Number and date of birth on any email you send to ensure you are who you say you are. They usually respond within 24 hours.

I think it's ridiculous that you only got a standard apology letter when they were so far out in their calculations. Make sure you mention how much stress all this has put you under.

[BlueArmy]

Re: Housing benefit review...need p60's....how?

The main problem is in the dro it asks if any of the debts are taken from wages and my wife obviously said no. Now we get this letter 3 days after we sent forms off. Hopefully it won't affect anything. Can't go to town hall on Monday as wife works. And the letter copies are at the cab office. So the plan is on Monday after work we are driving to cab and asking to speak to our advisor and take it from there..... Fingers crossed.