-
-
Guest Online
-
Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:31 am
by Guest » Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:31 am
Did you appeal the overpayment decision at the time, Fran? From your post it appears to be an official error which is not recoverable. It might be worth you getting advice from a welfare rights adviser, although you are out of time for an appeal you may still be able make a late appeal.
Nothing has improved, I have a four week overpayment sitting in the bank waiting to be reclaimed. I was underpaid one week and then overpaid four, I was told by the department of the DWP involved that a cheque for four weeks had just been printed and replied that it was an error, they only owed me one, they then sent another duplicate payment. I was told to put it in the bank and they would ask for repayment. That was 18 months ago and I am still waiting to receive a letter asking me to repay it. Luckily we have no debts but it is a nuisance having to remember all the time that the money apparently available to spend includes a sum which may need to be paid back. If I had not said anything they could not reclaim it, official error again, but I did, silly me

.
I could just send them a cheque of course but this is my second overpayment and the first time I immediately repaid it only to find some time later that they had started taking it out of my money with no prior warning, I sorted that out and a couple of years later they again tried to get me to pay it. They make so many mistakes it is always worth challenging overpayments, there is a strong possibility that they are not recoverable.