Dear Colleagues.

I have a forthcoming HB overpayment appeal. Claimant suddenly went abroad in an emergency, having notified the landlord before departing,(who continued to receive the cheques). Also stopped attending the Employment Service (at the time), for signing on to claim JSA. Is there an obligation for the Employment Service to notify the local authority of JSA ceasing, which it did for failing to attend the appointments. If so, can this come within 'official error' under ommission by the ES (DWP) for failing to notify the LA?

I will also be grateful if someone has the decision R on the application of Sier V Cambridge CC, 28 February 2001, QBD. Many thanks.

Jabbar

Not had time to make a detailed reply, so bullet points for now:

- clmt is under an overriding duty to inform LA - not enough to inform L/L or DWP etc.

- DWP / Employment Service are not under a LEGAL obligation to inform LAs in such circumstances. Even if it counted as official error, it is likely that the LA would (rightly) argue that the clmt contributed to the mistake by failing to undertake his legal obligation to inform the LA him/herself.

- some will quote "Hinchy" in which it was held that if one part of the DWP knew info, then another part of the DWP was deemed to have been notified of that same info. (Something is niggling at the back of my mind that Hinchy is being appealed in any case?).

- Hinchy does not apply to LAs in respect HB/CTB. Two CDs confirm this (will post refs later if I have time). Reason - LA is not part of DWP.

- CH 571 ???? - again overriding duty of clmt to inform LA.

- L/L also has duty to inform LA if he/she has the info in question.

- If the O/P is not a result of LA error, O/P is recoverable irrespective of whether your client informed the L/L.

- Appeal(s) against WHOM recovery of a recoverable O/P should be sought from are limited to judicial review grounds only.

- Sier: Could be wrong, but I thought a copy was on Rightnet (don't have the link handy). In Sier, clmt informed the DWP of a change of address, but not the LA. Court found that he was under a duty to inform the LA and therefore O/P was recoverable (very very shortened version!).

Hope the above assists - there are arguments / additional info for all of the above points, but the above is only meant to be a summary.

Regards

Wed 22-Sep-04 09:43 AM by ken

thanks to stainsby ..... here's sier -

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/pdfs/Sier_v_Cambridge_EWCA_Civ_1523.doc

Was he away for less than 13 weeks ?
If so why has his claim not been assessed for the period under Temp Absence rules?
Was he working abroad? Was he on Nil Income?
If not why has o/p not been cleared by underlying entitlement?
Just because his JSA stopped and just because he went abroad no reason for the claim to not be assessed for the period !