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

In April 2006 Jobcentre Plus wrongly told the
Tribunals Service that Miss F’s appeal about her
income had lapsed (they had muddled this appeal
with one about mortgage interest payments). In
September a tribunal decided that the money from
Miss Y should not be treated as income for the
purposes of calculating her income support. The
Tribunals Service forwarded the decision to Debt
Management, and they asked Jobcentre Plus for a
revised decision in light of the tribunal decision.
In December Debt Management calculated a
recoverable overpayment of £1,169.01 and a non
recoverable overpayment of £27.06. Jobcentre Plus
suggested to Debt Management that the
overpayment could be written off without the
need for a revised decision.
On 17 January 2007 Debt Management asked Miss F
to repay £1,169.01. She appealed and provided
a copy of the tribunal’s decision. At this point,
the Ombudsman received Miss F’s complaint.
In July Debt Management revised their decision
and told Miss F she had been overpaid from
9 April to 8 November 2004. Income support
had been paid in error between 9 November and
20 December 2004, but any overpayment was
not recoverable. Miss F appealed, again citing
the tribunal’s decision. Following our enquiries,
Jobcentre Plus told Miss F’s local authority that
the decision not to allow her income support
had been revised at appeal. Jobcentre Plus also
told Miss F that she had not been overpaid. They
also sent a revised decision to Debt Management,
and noted that their decision to recover the
overpayments was incorrect. Debt Management
amended their records.
Overpayment of mortgage interest payments
Jobcentre Plus calculated Miss F’s mortgage interest
payments on the basis of the information from
her lender, which turned out to be incorrect.
In September 2005 Jobcentre Plus asked
Debt Management to calculate the resulting
overpayment and to consider recoverability. Miss F
appealed. In January 2006 Debt Management
decided that the overpayment was £895.44 and
should be recovered from the lender. They did
not tell Miss F about that decision. The lender
repaid the money in April, but it remained in a
suspense account until December because it bore
no reference. In the meantime, Debt Management
sent three letters to Miss F in April and May
chasing up repayment. On 5 May Jobcentre Plus
told Miss F that they had revised their decision
about her housing costs and her appeal had lapsed.
The lender added the overpayment to Miss F’s
mortgage account.
What we investigated
The complaints we investigated were Miss F’s
grievances that:
• Jobcentre Plus had given conflicting information
to her and her local authority about their
decisions concerning her benefit entitlement;
• Debt Management had taken £895.44 from
her mortgage account without telling her and
without giving her a right of appeal; and
• Debt Management had wrongly tried to recover
the income support overpayment.
Miss F said she had closed her income support
claim because she was confused about her
entitlement and possible overpayments, and so had
missed out on help with her mortgage interest and
council tax benefit. She had also been distressed
and inconvenienced.
74 Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP | March 2009