UC overpayment due to not taking childcare grant in SF?

Welcome any thoughts.

Got a client who UC say she has been overpaid because she didn’t access the Childcare Grant of Student Finance, and instead paid and reported her childcare costs through UC (and was working sufficiently to get this). She cannot apply for this childcare grant retrospectively and so has been held to have been overpaid for a period where she now can’t access the grant. She has now applied for it for the rest of the year. 

Is there an effective argument to be made, or is it just normal notional income rules?

Thank you

Why are they saying that she has been overpaid?

Is it because the unclaimed childcare grant is notional income? This cannot be right because it is disregarded income. See Reg 70(h) UC regs and ADM para H6137.

Or are they saying that she shouldn’t have been paid the childcare component as its a double-counting? Not sure quite how that works.

Hi Rebecca

Reg 34(2) of the UC Regs excludes “any amount—

(a)that the Secretary of State considers excessive having regard to the extent to which the claimant (or, if the claimant is a member of a couple, the other member) is engaged in paid work; or

(b)that is met or reimbursed by an employer or some other person or is covered by other relevant support.

(3) “Other relevant support” means payments out of funds provided by the Secretary of State or by Scottish or Welsh Ministers in connection with the claimant’s participation in work-related activity or training. “

So this could be the problem.

Mark

Thanks both. We had assumed it was a notional income problem, but haven’t seen the full explanation from UC (assuming one’s been provided so far).

Thanks for the suggestion, that looks helpful.