My client was deemed to be living together as husband and wife in 1987 and told that she owed £3000+ which she should pay back out of her benefits at £3.20 per week. She says that they were not, in fact, cohabiting but she was very young and the letter said that she could not appeal against the recoverability of the sum. Further down the letter it said, of course, that she had three months (those were the days!) to appeal but she did not read that far. She paid the £3.20 a week until she started work a few years later and then asked how she should pay, and started paying weekly, but stopped doing so fairly soon after. The Benefits Agency contacted her in 2000 asking for the money, she saw a solicitor who wrote and questioned the Ben AG. Ben Ag sent all the papers to the solicitor, nothing further was done. The same happened in 2004 - different solicitor, no action as the Ben Ag did not even reply to his letter. Client has now been contacted by Eversheds (Debt Recovery), collecting on behalf of DWP and threatening further action. If you're still reading here's the nub - on paperwork released by the Benefits Agency to one of the solicitors we find this:

30:1:1993 LT54 decision to be signed and dated. Then for reference for civil proceedings.

24:2:1993 Sorry but I cannot find the person who made the AO decision (or who will admit to it). As the OP calc has not been checked, and I would not include the abatement within the text of the AO decision, I am not able to complete it myself. Is there any further action we can take?

19:3:1993 In view of the above memo we will not be able to take civil proceedings action - Org 19 to typist

We think that if we send a copy of the above notes to DWP and to Eversheds that they will take no further action - but that the money owing will be recovered from her SRP when that time comes. Can anyone tell us a way to get rid of this debt for ever?

Thanks!

limitation act 1980 is always worth a read - 6 years to institute civil proceedings (and it does apply to benefits.....in my humble opinion)

The Limitation Act does apply to benefits but only as to proccedings in the courts. The time limit runs from the date that the overpayment is finally determined recoverable either by first decision or final disposal of appeal.

The Act has no application to recovery by deduction from benefits according to the commissioner in R(SB) 5/91.

I am not aware that that view has been successfully challenged since.

Thanks for the above - both of you.
Whether or not the limitation act applies seems a bit irrelevant to this case because even if no action can be taken at present, the overpayment will show up when she starts to get SRP and it will be deducted from that, I think. The adviser in our bureau who picked up this case was wondering about a complaint to DWP and a request for a write off. Can anyone comment on this course of action or suggest another way please? I've been reading through Paul Stagg's excellent (if out of date) book but have not come up with an answer yet.