has the Law changed regarding liability to another parties mistakes.

[flytebass]

Hi everyone, my first post so I hope this is the right place. I'm struggling to find anything relating to this online, what used to be there has been removed. There used to be Legislation in place regarding repayment of of money if mistakes had been made by one party. My question is in relation to benefits paid by the DWP, if they overpaid you and it was your fault for not declaring information or through fraud then you had to repay the money back, but, if the mistake was entirely theirs and you could prove it, then they had no legal right to recover the money. They seem to take a different approach now in their "guidelines" but can anyone tell me if the Laws have changed ? This Law used to apply in all such cases, not just the DWP.

[des8]

Hi and welcome

The basic position under common law is that a person who receives money to which they are not entitled can be asked to pay it back.

The DWP operate a Small Overpayment Limit under which it is not considered cost effective to employ the full overpayment recovery process.
There are some exceptions to this limit eg fraud cases

I do not recall ever reading that the DWP had no legal right to recover overpaid money, although I have found references prior to 2013 that there might have been case law that meant DSS were in certain circumstances unable to pursue a claim through the courts. It appears this has now been changed though.

also this:http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/overp...y-state-waiver

[flytebass]

Thank you DESB, much appreciated, I'm sure your right about it being changed which is a great pity, not because the money has to be paid back, but because in the case of benefits it can cause great hardship to struggling families, especially hard when it wasn't their mistake.