A client has just received a letter from the Nuneaton Debt Centre re an overpayment of JSA of £1274. I rang them and was told this had arisen because the client's DLA rate had changed but our local DWP office had not known so had continued to pay premiums (should imagine award went from middle to low rate care so that SDP was lost). Nuneaton say he should have known this was a change in circumstance and reported it. PLan to ask for a review of decision on the grounds of official error (shouldn't 1 DWP dept inform another?). Client has slight learning difficulty(is attending basic skills courses)and mental health problems.Is this a reasonable / strong argument; ny other relevant arguments?

Hi Mary

The House of Lords (specifically Lord Hoffman) said, in the Hinchy case, that it was not for claimants to second guess the internal workings of the Department and the duty to disclose was the lawful responsibility of the claimant to the issuing office irrespective of what one office may or may not have told another.

However, in Hinchy the HL was concerned with the proper construction of reg 32 of the Claims and Payments Regs where the duty to disclose was found. In reg 32(1B) there is leeway as to reasonability. However JSA is not coverred by reg 32. The disclosure provisions for JSA (where it is in payment) are to be found in reg 24(5) of the JSA regs and I can't seem to find any equivalent of 32(1B) in that reg.

This is just a quick posting before going home and I may have missed something about the disclosure provisions. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong or omitted something.

Regards
Paul

I think the equivalent to reg 32 (1B) in the CPR looks to be actually reg 24(7) of the JSA regs which imposes a duty to notify the SoS of any change of circs which he "might resonably be expected to know might affect his entitlement to JSA". I think reg 5 is the equivalent to the one about providing information you have been specifically asked for (CP Regs 32(1A)and the problem then is establishing what information was in fact asked for.

This will require evidence of the form provided in lieu of order book (can't remember the number right now) and whether what has happened is included in it, clearly and unambiguously. If so then any issues of eg learning disability do not come into it. Only if there is no clearly and directly standing instruction to report do you get onto the other (32 (1B/ 24 (7)) duty to disclose other things where what the claimant ought reasonably to have known (B v SoS <2005> EWCA Civ 929, following on Tribuanl of Comms in CIS/4348/2003.)

Ah! It was right under my nose all the time. I had a feeling it might be.

it would be interesting to know what method of payments he had. does anybody know what is sent to claimants in replacement of the blue pages in the old order books, and also, what the internal procedures are post- CMS for DLA unit to notify changes in DLA awards? i don't...
DLA claim forms still ask about IS/JSA...

Did the DLA continue to be paid?

I've just had a client where it was said IS had been overpaid after DLA had stopped and EDP should also have stopped. It would seem that a letter was sent out telling client DLA award had ended, but it continued to be paid through bank for 2+ years. I argued that client wasn't aware that DLA had stopped and that IS was not therefore overpaid. Debt Centre have backed down and now say decision has been changed with no recovery.