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Back dated pip

dropback

Hello everyone
my wife has just won her pip appeal and it is being back dated 2 years and is going to be over £10,000 I was wondering what affect this will have on our universal credit
thanks lan

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poppy123456

HI,

Great news! Backdated money is disregarded from all means tested benefits for 1 year. If after this time your savings are more than £6,000 then you'll need to report those changes.

dropback

thank you
is that year from when you receive the payment as the payment is over £10,000 ?

Jurph

@dropback it's ignored for one year from the date received.

It only affects UC in a years time if you've got more than £6,000 of it left.

dropback

Great news thanks for the help
Ian

Misscleo

And a happy new year to YOU WOO HOO

Adrian_Scope

Brilliant news @dropback! A great start to the year I imagine?

kirstyleigh

Hi I am in the same situation, just been awarded on monday enhanced daily care and standard mobility, backdated to 31/01/2018.
I am currently arguing with tax credits, who are claiming I had an overpayment of £11800 in 2011-2012, which I am disputing. I believe I owe about £300! Will my back payment go to debt management? Is there anyway I can get my backpayment, because I have been suffering massively these last two years, and want to repay my friends who have had to reduce working hours/being put out to support and care for me, when services were withdrawn due to lack of funding. Its not fair that this money may be taken to clear a debt that I dont agree I owe in the first place!

poppy123456

kirstyleigh said:

Hi I am in the same situation, just been awarded on monday enhanced daily care and standard mobility, backdated to 31/01/2018.
I am currently arguing with tax credits, who are claiming I had an overpayment of £11800 in 2011-2012, which I am disputing. I believe I owe about £300! Will my back payment go to debt management? Is there anyway I can get my backpayment, because I have been suffering massively these last two years, and want to repay my friends who have had to reduce working hours/being put out to support and care for me, when services were withdrawn due to lack of funding. Its not fair that this money may be taken to clear a debt that I dont agree I owe in the first place!

Hi and welcome,

Unfortunately, you are too late to dispute that over payment now but you're entitled to ask why they think you were overpaid.

May i ask if you're still claiming tax credits or are you now claiming Universal Credit?

kirstyleigh

No, I am only claiming UC now.
What do you mean I am too late to dispute the overpayment? They paid me what I was entitled to, and have now years later decided I was entitled to nothing. Surely I can dispute that I was entitled to it? Theyre claiming I was entitled to £0, whilst I was receiving ESA, HB and CB/CTC for my three children. Clearly I was entitled to child tax credit.

poppy123456

The reason is because it's been longer than 13 months. As you're now claiming UC then DWP would have taken over that debt, this means that yes your PIP backdated money can be used to repay that debt.

kirstyleigh

They only told me about it a few months ago though? I'm being advised elsewhere that as PIP is nothing to do with tax credits or UC I should receive the full amount. Im really confused, and dont know who to believe.

poppy123456

You would have received a tax credits award notice the year the overpayment had been made. As you're now claiming UC and not credits then the overpayment would have passed onto DWP and PIP and UC are both part of DWP.

Have you actually been told by DWP that you're not receiving any of the backdated money because of this debt?

kirstyleigh

Not yet,as I was only awarded PIP after a tribunal on Monday, so waiting for DWP to award the PIP properly. But they tried to take my backdated LCWRA to repay debt, of which they gave me 1 months rent as I am in rent arrears, so anticipate they will try to do it with this, and there will be a change to my housing element too resulting in an underpayment, which I anticipate they will send to debt management also. I need the money to sort out my actual debts I've accrued over the last two years, and it is causing me alot of worry.
I didnt receive paperwork at the time (2012), as I was really ill and fleeing a DV relationship.

poppy123456

If you moved house at the time and you didn't change your address with HMRC then the award notice would have gone to your old address which may have been when you say you didn't receive it.

Backdated money from a Tribunal win can take 8 weeks and about the same time to put your award into payment. All you can do is wait.

kirstyleigh

Ive been advised that even though its been more than 13 months, I can still request an appeal and it would go to a tribunal to decide whether or not I can appeal the award decision. There was no overpayment, theyve just decided I wasnt entitled to anything when I clearly was as had three children

poppy123456

I've no idea who advised you that but it's not correct. The first step is to dispute the overpayment, which you would have had 3 months to do that, at the time the award notice was issued. You can only dispute against overpayments that happen in the tax year of your final award notice.

After the dispute, it would have been Tribunal and you have a maximum of 13 months to request the Tribunal. As it's been several years you won't be able to do anything about it now and both will be refused.

You can request a SAR from HMRC and this will then tell you all the information they hold about you, including all the letters they sent you in the past. See link. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmrc-subject-access-request

More details in this link. https://www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/survival-guide-dealing-tax-credit-overpayments

I can't advise on the overpayment because i don't know your circumstances during those dates and i can't see any paper work. Some advice just isn't possible on an online forum.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @kirstyleigh.
Congratulations on your PIP appeal win, sounds like it's been quite a wait!
Your backdated PIP can't be used to cover tax credits overpayments, so you don't need to worry about that.

You can challenge overpayments (caused by official error) any time, so if you don't feel the overpayment is correct, please do challenge it. I'd start by issuing a SAR and I believe Poppy has linked to information on SARs above. I've spoken to one of my colleagues @Joanne_Scope and there's also a possibility of putting forward a financial hardship argument and trying to get the debt written off that way.

You also mentioned that you may have been underpaid UC housing element because of this too, is that correct? Can I assume you are under 35 and were receiving the shared room rate instead of 1 bedroom LHA?

If so, backdated or underpaid housing element shouldn't be sent to debt management and if yours is, it can be challenged.

I hope that help, but any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

poppy123456

Adrian_Scope said:

Hi @kirstyleigh.
Congratulations on your PIP appeal win, sounds like it's been quite a wait!
Your backdated PIP can't be used to cover tax credits overpayments, so you don't need to worry about that.

Hi @Adrian_Scope Are you sure about that? DWP would now have taken over the debt because once a person claims UC then the debt moves with them.

Overpayments can only be challenged within a certain timescales. I posted a link regarding this.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @poppy123456. I double checked with @Joanne_Scope and although UC would now hold this CTC overpayment debt, PIP backpayments wouldn't be used to cover it.

Overpayments from official error can be challenged years later and both Joanne and I have had success challenging overpayments from that long ago. So it's definitely worth trying.

Sadly, lots of people have found when switching over to UC that TC overpayments they'd never been informed of are suddenly rearing their heads.

poppy123456

Very useful info about the PIP payments, thanks for that @Adrian_Scope. Yes, i had heard about DWP suddenly catching up with the overpayments.