Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP - the ...

savings had affected his income support eligibility,
and informed Mr H’s MP that the Disability and
Carers Service had confirmed that their advice to
Mr H had been that he could save his disability
living allowance without it affecting other benefits.
At the start of March 2006 Mr H told
Jobcentre Plus that he had saved enough money
to buy a van and asked if he could purchase one.
On the same day the Disability and Carers Service
told a Jobcentre Plus fraud investigator that their
general reply (to queries like Mr H’s) would be
that disability living allowance would not affect
other benefits. They added that as they only dealt
with disability living allowance and attendance
allowance they did not have a lot of knowledge of
other benefits, and that they did not realise that
Mr H would be saving for such a length of time
as to affect his income support. Later that month
Jobcentre Plus decided that Mr H’s income support
should have been reduced from 9 August 2000 (as
he had more than £3,000 in savings) and stopped
altogether from 4 June 2003 (as he had over £8,000
in savings). Mr H was told that his entitlement
would be recalculated and that he would be
informed of any overpayment. (Mr H appealed
against the income support decision.) In a separate
letter to Mr H, Jobcentre Plus provided more
information about their decision and said that they
considered it acceptable for Mr H to spend his
savings on a van. (Jobcentre Plus should also have
told Mr H that from 10 April 2006 the capital upper
limit for income support was increasing to £16,000
and the amount to be disregarded was increasing
to £6,000.)
backdated to 12 April 2006. Debt Management said
that they did not receive Mr H’s case until 5 May.
The file was then returned to Jobcentre Plus as the
information on it was incomplete.
In June 2006 the Ombudsman accepted
Mr H’s complaint for investigation. In August
Jobcentre Plus told us that they were unable to
confirm the status of Mr H’s file or when a decision
on his case might be made. In October Mr H told
the Disability and Carers Service that if he had not
been misinformed he would not have pursued
the saving of disability living allowance in the way
that he did. In November Mr H advised us that
his wife was unwell and had attempted suicide;
he believed that the ongoing problems with DWP
had contributed to her actions. In December
Jobcentre Plus confirmed that they were seeking
a bank statement from Mr H’s bank (which they
obtained in February 2007). The file was then
returned to Debt Management.
In March 2007 Debt Management received
advice that the overpayment was recoverable
from Mr H and a decision was issued seeking
repayment of £3,813.30. Mr H appealed against the
overpayment. In September a tribunal dismissed
Mr H’s income support appeal, and decided that
the income support paid from 9 September 2000
to 8 September 2002 was recoverable, but not the
income support paid from 2002 onwards, as they
were satisfied that Mr H had declared the capital.
DWP later decided not to recover the remaining
recoverable overpayment of £282.
Jobcentre Plus said that they transferred Mr H’s file
to Debt Management at the end of March 2006
for an overpayment calculation. In April Mr H’s
MP referred his complaint to the Ombudsman. At
the end of April Mr H paid a deposit for a van and
then claimed income support, which was awarded
70 Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP | March 2009