Can anyone point me to case law regarding overpayment due to official error when the claimant has queried the amount of benefit and been assured it was correct? Her weekly income had been counted as monthly. The claimant did not contribute to the error but the council point out in their submission that she was experienced in claiming benefit and had had previous overpayments due to changes of circumstances. I appreciate that the onus of proof is on the claimant to show that she did query the amount(unsurprisingly her call was not logged)but if we could get over that hurdle is one call enough or should she have made more effort to get the figures revised?

Zebedee mentions CH/4065/2001 which concerns a claimant ringing to say she thought there was an error. Does anyone have a copy? Can't find it on the usual sites.

Fri 17-Aug-07 09:11 AM by shawn

(Edited to fix link)

CH/4065/2001 is here.

http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/aspx/view.aspx?id=619

Although I am not suggesting that the circumstances in your clients case are the same, you may need to take account of CH/3309/06.

In this case the claimants appeal failed because she had queried the entitlement with the Council concerned. In that case, however, the claimant clearly knew she was being overpaid and contacted the Council on a number of occasions. It was not just a case of the claimant being uncertain if the benefit was correct. However you might want to be aware of the case should it be used by the Council involved.