Bingo Worker Required to Repay Council Error

Hi LBB'ers

I came across a story about an employee at a bingo hall in the UK who, due to an error, received £1,500 too much in his housing and council tax benefit.

The council made an error two years ago and have recently discovered it. The man is required to pay it back now and there are those that don't think this is right because of his personal situation. His wife is ill and he has two children.

Do you think it's wrong for the council to ask for the money to be repaid? Should personal circumstances have any bearing on this?

I don't mean to be cruel, and wish I could say they should consider his personal situation, but I don't think that would be a right thing to do.

But also, it would be good to know some more information, how old his children are, or more info on his wife illness.

I'm not sure what his wife suffers from but his children are 8 months old and 4 years old. But on the other hand, like you said mark, does it matter? In situations like this I always think it's such a small amount leave them alone but that's not how things work.

My question would be did he get more per month for two years than he was supposed to?  If that is the case, he probably didn't realize it.  Maybe he got a raise in the amount he received per month and just thought it was normal?  If the 1500 was spread over two years, that is not a lot per month.

medtrans

Have a read on get out of debt free.org

Can't post links or I would have put up the exact forum

I believe that it's standard practice to make them repay even though it is not his error.  I would imagine they would do some sort of means test before telling him how much he needs to pay back per week/month.  He certainly wouldn't be expected to pay it back in one hit.

They should allow him to pay this back in installments over a year or two, after all it's not his mistake.

I would assume he would be able to repay over time like blue said. They've probably worked out a payment plan.