Incapacity Appeal won, but confussed over Income support overpayment.

[confused1]

This week i won my appeal for incapacity benefit and was informed that i would get it backdated and be put back on it.

However im confused as to how they will work it out...

Do they work it out fairly?

Just it confuses me as there had been an overpayment in income support (which they are still working out and im waiting to hear back from them - husband worked part-time hours and they "lost" the payslips we sent in so its been a real mess but please NOTE that under IB i would get the full amount as it does not effect whether or not my partner is working )

If i was entitled to incapacity benefit during this time, then under IB rules i should have been entitled to that money i received and technically should only be given a "top-up" in the difference from IS to IB

For example (numbers are not accurate just for an example):

if the amount overpaid in income support was £600 for a period of 8 weeks
then amount i am owed in incapacity benefit will be the full rate and be around £900 -
they cant then just pay me £300 and take back the income support because then i am still owed the remaining incapacity i was entitled to during those weeks?

The logical way i see it is that :

a) Either they cancel off the £600 IS and pay me approx £100 in top up OR
b )if they keep it separate pay me £900 + i pay back the IS

Under income support i was not entitled to x amount money however under incapacity i am and more than x.
So they should cancel the overpayment and pay me the top up from income support to incapacity (approx £15-20 a week) to balance it out.

Because if i have to pay X amount back but then i was entitled to X amount and then they take X amount of Y i am left with a huge loss of what i am owed.

I dont want to be given any more than what i am entitled to and i also dont want to be losing money which i am entitled to.... so the money i have already received i dont expect to be paid again nor really i should have to pay back since i should have been entitled to it so should only be given a "top-up" for the period i received IS.

im just really worried that what they will end up doing is taking the overpayment of IS off the backdated lump sum of IB that i am owed... even though i was entitled to that money under IB rules anyway.

Its really complicated for me to understand i feel perhaps i am over complicating the matter....

Can anyone help me make sense of this?

I appreciate any feedback

[Carneucopia]

As I understand it you received IS while the appeal was going on, which would have been at the basic rate, because with no IB there would be no entitlement to any extra Disability Premium with IS.
On winning the appeal you regain entitlement to any Disability Premium in the calculation - and should get back pay of any shortfall incurred during the appeal process.
But then there was an overpayment of IS due to DWP error.
Normally any shortfall during the appeal would just be calculated automatically, and paid to you. It might look a messy calculation on paper, but you would eventually get back anything you had lost out on. The problem now is that the DWP could also recover the IS overpayment.
They may not bother if they accept responsibility. If they do make an adjustment appeal against the recovery on the grounds that it was their error. It isn't possible really to predict how it might all turn out, but when it comes down to it, even if the DWP does recover the overpayment, you will still have ended up with the correct income over the relevant period of time.
I know that doesn't help though when a lump sum recovery is made - but you can ask to make repayment in installments if necessary.

[Stepheninleeds]

Do they accept they lost your husband's payslips, do they accept they did get them? If so you might be able to use that for an appeal against any overpayment they may demand your repay. At the end of the day the onus is always on us to know what we are entitled to, which is crazy as claiming is so complicated.

My advice to anyone who has to provide proof of any thing that would affect the amount of benefits or the type they get, is to take this proof in personally & get a receipt for it. Proof you have handed this information over to them. It does not always help because of the fact the onus is on you, but at least you then have proof you did provide it.