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Overpayment Advice

  • 12-07-2013 7:50pm
    #1
    active1234
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4 ✭


    I was overpayed while on jobseekers allowance. I then came off it while I attended univeristy, I have just graduated and signed on around the start of May. It is now July and after several phone calls and visits to my local office about the delay in processing the claim I have now been told that I should have been claiming supplementary welfare allowance this whole time. The Community Welfare Officer phoned me to discuss repayments and told me that they would be 15% which is fair enough. After this discussion I checked online and noticed that the Department may take any arrears owing as recovery of the overpayment. I am now worried that the reason for the delay in processing my claim is to build up as arrears to take off me. Obviously as I had not been informed I was entitled to supplementary welfare allowance I have been anticipating receiving the arrears in order to repay family members who supported me from the start of May until I got my first payment last week. What should I do if the department does decide it is taking the arrears of me, do I have any rights to contest this?


Comments

  • #2
    eastbono
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,758 ✭✭✭eastbono


    active1234 wrote: »
    I was overpayed while on jobseekers allowance. I then came off it while I attended univeristy, I have just graduated and signed on around the start of May. It is now July and after several phone calls and visits to my local office about the delay in processing the claim I have now been told that I should have been claiming supplementary welfare allowance this whole time. The Community Welfare Officer phoned me to discuss repayments and told me that they would be 15% which is fair enough. After this discussion I checked online and noticed that the Department may take any arrears owing as recovery of the overpayment. I am now worried that the reason for the delay in processing my claim is to build up as arrears to take off me. Obviously as I had not been informed I was entitled to supplementary welfare allowance I have been anticipating receiving the arrears in order to repay family members who supported me from the start of May until I got my first payment last week. What should I do if the department does decide it is taking the arrears of me, do I have any rights to contest this?

    Any payments you receive from supplementary welfare allowance will be paid back from you jobseekers claim. As you have an overpayment it will depend from deciding officer to deciding officer as what they will deduct... up to 28% can be deducted each week... it would also depend on the size of the overpayment and the reason why the overpayment occurred... do you know how much you owe and the reason for this. You could call into you sw office and chat to them and arrange a payment plan that would suit both parties. The fact that you have borrowed money from relatives is of no concern to sw.


  • #3
    active1234
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4 ✭active1234


    The agreed figure is 15%. My concern is that the claim hasn't processed for two months and only last week was I informed that I could be claiming supplementary welfare allowance. My concern is that the arrears from the start of May until last week will not be paid to me and had I not badgered the office they would have continued to delay processing my claim in order to recover the overpayment in full via arrears. I want to know can they take the full sum of arrears owing (bearing in mind this is not owed to the community welfare officer as they only began paying me last week) without my consent?


  • #4
    eastbono
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,758 ✭✭✭eastbono


    active1234 wrote: »
    The agreed figure is 15%. My concern is that the claim hasn't processed for two months and only last week was I informed that I could be claiming supplementary welfare allowance. My concern is that the arrears from the start of May until last week will not be paid to me and had I not badgered the office they would have continued to delay processing my claim in order to recover the overpayment in full via arrears. I want to know can they take the full sum of arrears owing (bearing in mind this is not owed to the community welfare officer as they only began paying me last week) without my consent?

    I presume the reason there is a delay in processing your claim is that you have to be means tested and also it is a very busy time of the year in sw offices. Yes they can take the full sum without you consent... it depends on the deciding officer...the amount owing and the reason the debt occurred. It obvious the community welfare officer is starting to recoup the overpayment by deducting 15%.


  • #5
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    eastbono wrote: »
    I presume the reason there is a delay in processing your claim is that you have to be means tested and also it is a very busy time of the year in sw offices. Yes they can take the full sum without you consent... it depends on the deciding officer...the amount owing and the reason the debt occurred. It obvious the community welfare officer is starting to recoup the overpayment by deducting 15%.

    They only take the overpayment in one go- if there are arrears built-up, otherwise its either the agreed repayment (in this case 15%), or the standard repayment schedule (28% of gross). If the OP has a query on this they need to talk to their CWO.


  • #6
    active1234
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4 ✭active1234


    The_Conductor wrote: »
    They only take the overpayment in one go- if there are arrears built-up, otherwise its either the agreed repayment (in this case 15%), or the standard repayment schedule (28% of gross). If the OP has a query on this they need to talk to their CWO.


    I read online that they can take a combination of arrears in addition to weekly repayments. I just feel so stupid for not knowing that the CWO could have been paying me for the past two months, I was expecting the arrears of JSA to repay my family who have been supporting me. Now it's likely that money will be taken. I feel like they deliberately let it build as much as possible before processing the claim and did not inform me in of supplementary welfare allowance in order to recoup as big a sum as possible.


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  • #7
    Balagan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,168 ✭✭✭Balagan


    Just to let you know that the JSA does take quite some time to process for everyone and from posters on here over the years it is clear that it is the common practice of the Dept of Social Protection Offices NOT to inform new claimants that they have the right to go to the CWO and claim Supplementary Welfare while awaiting processing of their JSA claim. It is an odd situation especially now that the CWOs are in the employ of the Dept of Social Protection and not the HSE as previously.


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