Housing benefit overpayment not my fault

[Lpt]

housing benefit payments take into account my state pension and small BT Pension. BT informed me there has been an accounting error in my pension and I have been underpaid by £10.55 a month. I immediately informed housing benefit and they are making me pay all this back from when my pension started 5 years ago. I have appealed of course but they say even tho it's not my fault and I could not have possibly known of this I still have to pay it back. They increased my rent by £44 a month, to Pay this back and have knocked that down to £20 a month. Is this correct legally?

[lawboy65]

To be able to recover an overpayment, the local authority must determine whether the overpayment is legally recoverable and notify the claimant *within 14 days.
Most, but not all, overpayments are legally recoverable by the local authority.
Where the overpayment is the result of an official error, the local authority cannot recover it unless the claimant *could reasonably have been expected to realise that it was an overpayment.
It is up to the local authority to demonstrate that the claimant would have known that s/he had been overpaid in such a case.
An official error is a mistake, whether in the form of an act or an omission, by the local authority or the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or a person working on behalf of either of them. This could be:
The length of time *the authority can take to process information received before its inaction becomes *an official error will depend on the facts of the individual case.
Your *appeal should be based on the grounds that you could not have reasonably known of the overpayment. If this is dismissed apply to the ombudsman for a final decision.
*

[Lpt]

Tksfor your reply.* Probably left it too late for next step of Tribunal,* not sure about ombudsman? Council sent me this
"In order for us to write off the overpayment, you would have to have been unaware that you were being overpaid, and the overpayment would have to have arisen as the result of a local authority error. In a case such as this where the overpayment is not the fault of either yourself or the local authority, the overpayment is recoverable from the payee."
‹very harsh and of course totally unfair to a pensioner on the breadline to backdate it to when my pension started almost five years ago

[Lpt]

I don't know what to base my appeal on now as I have already said* *that I could not have possibly been aware of the overpayment at the time.* BT weren't even aware of the overpayment.* *What do I base my appeal on now. Apart from it being totally unfair, stressful, creating hardship etc ?

[lawboy65]

As stated previously, the appeal should be based on the fact that the l

ocal authority cannot recover the overpayment unless the claimant could reasonably have been expected to realise that it was an overpayment.

[des8]

But if BT have underpaid you something in the region of £600, can't you use that to pay back the over payment of HB?
I naively assume BT have made you that credit and that the over payment of HB is a lesser amount

[Lpt]

Oh yes BT did give me a backpayment just before Xmas, and I naively thought,* (being on the breadline and unable to save money ) l* Will be able to buy Xmas presents etc with this.* It didn't occur to me housing benefit would ask to pay it back from the start* of my pension, five years ago. I knew they would deduct the rise from my rent payments and I informed them of it straight away.* If I lived with surplus cash in hindsight I should have saved this, but I don't .* I wish BT hadn't got it wrong in fact I would probably be better off if I hadn't claimed my small pension and was able to claim pension credit!* But all in hindsight!* *Tks anyway!