Compliance interview

Jubrand11

Good morning, I recently had a compliance interview where it was pointed out i had gone over £6k for my income based esa during the lockdown. I explained that during lockdown I lost my younger brother to cancer and I myself had a serious operation. I will of course pay any money back but at the time I couldn't have cared less whether I had 50p in my account as I was in such turmoil. I just wondered if anyone else had had this occur and what was the outcome? My mental health isn't great as lost my dad this year as well but am now being referred for bereavement counselling. I would appreciate any help or comments! 

poppy123456

Sorry for your loss. Any overpayment will need to be repaid back. You will also have a small fine on top for not reporting the changes at the time. The deductions for savings are £1 for every £250 or part thereof over £6,000.

Jimm_Alumni

Hi @Jubrand11, welcome to the scope community. I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time right now, I'm sure this issue with ESA is the last thing you want to be dealing with.

Can I ask if they mentioned anything about a civil penalty? You should get a letter detailing the amount they believe overpaid and any possible civil penalty. It's usually around £50 I believe. 

You can appeal against the civil penalty if there are reasonable circumstances that meant you did not inform them about your change in circumstances. Though, they list there must be ongoing reasons you did not later inform them. 

I would highly recommend contacting your local citizen's advice bureau and talking with a benefits adviser.

Jubrand11

Thank you for your comments Jim and Poppy. I'm not sure how to reply to people individually on here. The lady I spoke to was very nice. She said the worst thing that will happen is I will have to pay it back which I'm happy to do plus penalty. She also said they will take into consideration that it was lockdown. I think it's more the timescale as she said they have a massive backlog so will take months to sort. I'd just rather sort it now and pay whatever it is!

Jimm_Alumni

@Jubrand11 you can quote sections of other people's posts by clicking on the "quote button at the bottom of their post. It's a bit finicky though.

Every message here is just in chronological order is all. Just say the person's username and they should understand

Jubrand11

woodbine said:

There are massive back-logs for anything to do with the DWP my advice would be to make sure you have the £ ready for when they get round to asking for it.

Thank you yes, I have the money to pay them when they have sorted it out 🤦‍♀️

Jubrand11

Jimm_Scope said:

@Jubrand11 you can quote sections of other people's posts by clicking on the "quote button at the bottom of their post. It's a bit finicky though.

Every message here is just in chronological order is all. Just say the person's username and they should understand

Thank you Jimm