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Old IS overpayment
I’m dealing with an overpayment of IS from back in 1999. Debt Management have accepted that they are statute-barred from instigating civil proceedings to recover this due to the Limitation Act, but say they intend to recover this if ever the client claims benefits in the future (i.e. SRP etc). They also say they may instruct private debt collection agents to collect the overpayment, and will be able to recover from their estate when they die. The client’s partner is currenmtly the dominant claimant for their means-tested benefits, so they can’t deduct from benefit without partner’s permision.
My question is whether this continued collection is lawful. Is there anything I can put to them as to why they shouldn’t be pursuing this. OFT guidance and harassment laws spring to mind, but will these be relevant to benefit overpayments?
Have a look at the very interesting discussusion on the HB forum, second post down entitled “HB Decisions” posted by Mairi.
Thanks. Wonder why my search for ‘Limitation Act’ didn’t throw that one up?!
As well as the issue Nevip refers to, any debt collectors they appoint will have absolutely no powers. They are not bailiffs & any attempt by them to harass or threaten the debtor should result in a strong complaint to DWP. I can see no point in DWP appointing them unless they think they can pressurise the debtor in some way. This is unreasonable when DWP know the debt is statute barred. The debtor should be advised that If any debt collector turns up at their door they should not be admitted. They should simply be told the debt is statute barred, that no payments will be made & that DWP know this. They should then be asked to leave. Any threats they utter can be ignored - there is nothing they can legally do. But if they do make threats complain &, if necessary, involve the MP.
As for getting the money from the estate - I wonder how they think they can do this. I may be wrong but it seems to me that if they have no enforcement powers now they can have none against the estate.