Currently dealing with 2 cases where, in a commonsense world, offset should be applied. In one TCO say that for 2 years running annual renewal was not completed on time - they want over £5K. In the other (immigrant with poor command of English) a single claim should have been a couple - they want over £10K. In neither case has there been any loss to public funds. In fact both clients have lost out by a break in claim (one for 2 years).

Reading other threads on offset & info. from the Compliance Manual I don't have much hope of getting TCO to agree to offset. I am thinking of running with an argument (will almost certainly have to end up with the Ombudsman) that these are draconian penalties out of all proportion to the gravity of any "offence" and therefore contrary to natural justice; if you compare with the relatively insignificant penalty for late submission of a tax return the difference is laughable (or would be if it wasn't so serious for the claimant).

Has anyone any comments on this approach please? Has anyone got anywhere with trying anything like it? Any alternative suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hi Derek

On the 2nd case (immigrant with poor command of English) - was the mistake about the claim made at the point of claim (i.e. when they filled in the claim form they only put one person down instead of two) or was it a single person who failed to report a change of circumstances when someone moved in?

Victoria