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Overpayment of Income Support Benefits – Submission from Anonymous 5
My friend has advised me to contact you because she said you wanted to hear from anyone with regards to income support over payments and the carpet component/loan.
I was sofa surfing for 2 years up until recently and was originally on income support of £ pw. I then got assessed for ongoing medical issues and was awarded % which is £ per month in one lump sum. When you get LTIA they have to sort and send a report to various departments I believe. This took months and while it was happening I was still getting the income support which I went in to social a couple of times to say I was still getting the full amount and that money needs to stop and get calculated correctly however I was told no they need to wait for the report' which I ended up being over £2000 overpaid.
I believe when on income support if you work or get maintenance they disregard the first 26% because it's classed as an income however with LTIA is classed as an income yet they deduct the full amount from income support which I don't think is right. People on LTIA have been awarded that because it's been recognised as you have medical issues, yes I know you can work when you get LTIA however there's people like me who can't because of other continuous medical problems. I'm currently receiving LTIA and now STIA at a lower % and am paying back the overpayment out of that at around I think my letter stated £ pw.
Now onto the carpets, on 2023 I signed a lease with andium for a new property at
. I went to income support to get help with the rent. As it stands I now pay £ on the 1st of
every month to Andium out of my monthly LTIA of £ .
My income support has been calculated that I carry on paying the overpayment and live off the remainder STIA which should be £ ish a wk however when a new sick certificate gets handed in as a rollover I have got £ here or £ there.
While at income support the lady did offer me new carpets as a loan but because of already paying them back for the overpayment I declined the offer because I didn't want to get into more debt. My kitchen, hall and bathroom have already had Lino put down through Andium as they do with all their properties but I'm left to sort the bedroom and living room out myself.
I've also been informed that as of the 1st July 2023 to December anyone going into andium will have their carpets supplied and fitted for free which I feel is unfair because I'm really not in a financial position to get into debt for carpets and on the basic living amount of income, I know there will be others like myself that will get the free carpets next month but there will be a lot who work are on income support and can afford to get finance for such stuff but I'll still be left with nothing.