Why the city council could soon start taking money from your wages

[dutchman]

The council has wrongly paid out around £3million in housing benefit payments



Some Coventry residents could see money being taken out of their wages as the council acts to recover millions in overpaid housing benefit.

Coventry City Council currently has 2,770 cases where housing benefit should never have been made, worth around £3million.

That means, on average, each person owes the council around £1,083.

But the authority says it only expects to recoup around 40 per cent - around £1.2million of the total £3million.

The figures are highlighted in minutes for a meeting of the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources, which was published in September.

The minutes say the council has been unable to reclaim the money due to 'limited resource' and not being able to trace the debtors.

That is despite a scheme called the Housing Benefits Debt Service (HBDS) making it easier for councils to recover overpayments.

The HBDS was launched by the Department for Work and Pensions as a pilot scheme in December 2017, to match customer information held by councils with employer information held by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Where a 'match' is found, councils can then apply for a Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA) from the customer's wages to recover the housing benefit overpayment.

The cabinet has approved the appointment of an officer to work through the cases over a period of six months, at a cost of £13,000, and expect to recover 40 per cent of the overpayment, although their start date is yet to be confirmed.

Cllr John Mutton , Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources, said all councils were struggling to balance their budgets.

He added: "The council's benefits service provide an important role in supporting people who may be struggling with their finances.

"Our role as a local authority is also to make sure that we recoup money where housing benefit overpayments happen.

"All councils are struggling to balance their budgets. It's important that we manage our recovery of overpayments in a fair and efficient way, whilst always striving to support our most vulnerable residents."

Since Coventry City Council volunteered to be part of the HBDS pilot for a four-month period, it saw the number of overpayment invoices increase by 24 per cent.

As a result of the success, the DWP rolled the service out nationally in April 2018.

[rebbonk]

Since Coventry City Council volunteered to be part of the HBDS pilot for a four-month period, it saw the number of overpayment invoices increase by 24 per cent.

Perhaps the DWP ought make up the shortfall?

Perhaps heads ought roll at the council for not doing their jobs properly?

No, as usual, the honest council tax payer will be picking up the bill.

[Melisandre]

Or perhaps Rebbonk London should send their people to sort it and run the council like they had to some years back.

[dutchman]

It's the result of fraud. People have been claiming housing benefit while earning more than the amount permitted. Housing departments can now check with HMRC to find out how much people really earn.

[Melisandre]

They share all our information to every department Dutchman as some years back in the 199?s I had to sign a form to agree to this housing tax social and housing benefit so why are nt they doing their job on checking.

[rebbonk]

It's sloppy procedures and people that simply can't be bothered to do their jobs properly. Heads should roll, but they won't!