Don’t be frightened by the enormity of a situation. There is always a way out. Ask for support and please don’t assume it’s your fault."
Two elderly Hastoe residents, Jane and Rob (not their real names), were joint tenants in a property. They had received notice from the council that their Housing Benefit had been stopped. Not knowing why, they started using their funeral savings to pay part of their rent each month. As they were unable to cover the entire rent payment each month, they quickly fell into large rent arrears.
Jane and Rob’s Housing Officer was concerned about the growing arrears, so she got in contact with our Benefit and Welfare Team. Benefit and Welfare Advisor, Sarah Allen, immediately contacted Jane and Rob and quickly arranged to see them. Sarah visited Jane and Rob at their home and spoke to them to try and get to the bottom of their situation.
After Jane showed Sarah some letters from the council, Sarah found out that their Housing Benefit had been stopped 6 months ago. Sarah also discovered that as the couple had filled out the original housing benefit forms themselves, they hadn’t realised that they needed to declare their funeral savings. Whilst filling out a benefit review form, they had declared the savings and this was the reason for the sudden end to their housing benefit payments.
In addition to this, Sarah found letters about Housing Benefit which demanded repayments. In distress, Jane and Rob had mistakenly believed this demand came from Hastoe and had written to the council to express their confusion. They never had a reply. Sarah looked through their accounts and explained that they were facing debt of £2,000 in rent arrears to Hastoe and £1,000 in repayments to Housing Benefit. Panic-stricken to hear this, Jane and Rob asked Sarah to help them clear their rent arrears immediately via an over the phone payment.
One of my top tips is to keep any letters in a safe space. This really helps us to help you!"
Sarah’s next priority was to call the Housing Benefit Team to find out how much was owed. Shockingly, they informed her that Jane and Rob potentially owed them £15,000. As Jane and Rob were elderly and vulnerable, Sarah argued on their behalf. She raised the fact that they had no support when filling out the original form and had not received a response to their letter asking for clarification.
After a long period of back and forth, Sarah was able to get the overpayment debt to the Council reduced by £11,000. She helped Jane and Rob create a repayment plan and they started making small monthly payments towards it. Sarah also helped to reapply and reinstate their Housing Benefit, along with an award of 4 months of backdated housing benefit, further reducing the debt. .
With Sarah’s help, Jane and Rob are now in the clear. They face a massively reduced debt, which would have drained their life savings if they hadn’t received help from the Benefits and Welfare Team.
Does this situation sounds familiar to you? Our Benefit and Welfare Team can help.
