General Chat

Before becoming a carer I had had experience of benefits but not for a long time. Even then I had tried to declare a small amount of work I had done but was told that there was no way to do so.

Like most who have any sense and don't think they are clever enough to beat the system, we have been completely honest with them but, especially with my state of mind of late, have sometimes made mistakes.

Not properly understanding a letter I was sent, I became £300 odd in arrears with bedroom tax, we were paid rent and council tax to the tune of £3000 odd that we were not entitled to and OH has been paid tax credits. He queried his entitlement to these tax credits and was told that everything was in order and that he was, indeed, entitled to them.

Luckily, the housing association wrote to me before the bedroom tax arrears became greater, I had thought I might not been entitled to the rent and council tax allowances and had put them by so was able to repay in full after I had been to see them.

All the sums I owed I was able to pay back as lump sums to get rid of the debt but, after the official had informed me of the sum I owed, the next question was how much a week I was able to pay.

Now we have had a letter to tell us that OH has not been entitled to tax credits at all and they would like yet another £3000 back please I have decided that that one will go back at as tiny a sum as possible weekly because it was not out fault.

We will not be the only people who have been paid large amounts of benefit that they were not entitled to and, because the question of how much we could pay weekly was so common, I would assume that there is an awful lot of money being paid back in dear little bits that should never have been paid out in the first place and could well have been put to much better use.

So, the needy are being made to suffer and denied their rights because of ineptitude in the departments who pay the benefits. Maybe a bloody good shake up and re-organization in the benefits agencies would save the country countless money.

Generally speaking tax credits, housing benefit , council tax etc are designed on a 'one size' basis, therefore if your personal circumstances don't fit neatly into a category it is very difficult to know whether you are or are not entitled to what you are getting and most organisations seem unable to cope ( eg when I was a carer and afterwards I was for ever having to correct the assumption that because I lived with Mrs M I must be MISTER M)

I had much the same a couple of years ago when I had letter after letter giving me a different amount of council tax to pay, from nothing to double what I had previously been paying, and no way of working out the equation myself. They eventually realised that I had indeed informed them of a "change in circumstance" ( ALWAYS make a copy when you do that) and it was their fault not mine.

Sharron - that is just awful!

My daughter contacted the Tax credits people phoned, then sent a registered letter, explaining that her eldest would now be attending Secondary School (apparently this results in a loss of Tax Credits!).
She hadn't noticed that they hadn't reduced the amount.
She was accused of Benefit Fraud, as she hadn't informed them.

Daughter pointed she had phoned and sent a letter.
Apparently, they hadn't received the letter, sent by registered post.
They did, however have a transcript of her phone call and sent a copy to her, but this wasn't enough, and she had her Tax Credits cut for 6 months.

The other bad thing about all this, is that people who are overpaid, even if it was no fault of their own, go on the 'Benefit Fraud' list.

So those of you who watch all the recent 'entertainment' (AKA Cheap TV) about 'Benefit Fraud', Benefit's Britain' etc, please be reminded, that it takes a lot of searching to find people who are intentionally claiming fraudulently.

They've cut a lot of admin at Government Offices, because, apparently, they're not needed, what with everything being computerised.
What it appears ARE needed are overpaid hierarchy, who either 'work' from home, or sit in meetings discussing how well/badly the admin are doing, and how they could have more work foisted upon them.

Yes, it is ridiculous.

What I was really trying to get at was the fact that there are untold sums of money that went out at something around £100 a week and are now being repaid at £5 a week (out of other benefits) so nobody sees the benefit of that money.

I know you can only have 'X' amount of savings before you're not entitled to Benefits, but why can't they pay you the maximum amount every, say 3 months?

I am very fortunate in that I have never had to rely on benefits, but the answer to Maggie's question is, I think, that most people couldn't manage being paid quarterly.

When my BiL was still at home with his mum they managed to double pay one of his benefits by CT and also by girocheque or whatever for quite a long period.
We told MiL to say "Sorry, it's your fault and it's been spent on his living expenses" (which was true) and he doesn't have three grand available to refund (also true).
Never heard anything more.