RESULT !!! My wife has just received a letter from the DWP. They say: We have looked again at the facts and evidence we used to make our decision and as a result we have changed the decision. The overpayment has been recalculated as follows: It now stands at around about £60 ! I'm sure we can pay that off no problem! So for anyone else who is certain they have been wrongly accused of owing money to the DWP, put the debt in dispute and send for an SAR request, and if you receive evidence proving your innocence, then send copies of it to them, and they just might change their decision. Thanks to Erika and everyone else on this board for your help in resolving this.

My wife has now received the SAR request and it is starting to make some sense. It appears that my wife has mistakingly told the DWP herself that she stopped claiming Carers Allowance on 29th October 2001, as they have supplied a copy of forms and a letter which she filled in and returned back in 2004. But they have also supplied copies of a statement from both herself and her Father dated February 2002 confirming that she is still caring for her Father. The only thing I can think of is that she started employment between 1st and 30th November 2001, so maybe she stopped claiming on 29th October 2001, and when her employment ended she resumed caring. We are going to write back to them attempting to explain this and enclosing copies of the statements from February 2002. Do you think there any chance of them reviewing this overpayment?

My wife has received another letter from the DWP Debt Centre Trafford this morning with some of the requested information for the SAR request. The letter says: I apologise for the delay in contacting you with regards to your Data Protection Request. As the overpayment to recover is for Carers Allowance, I have forwarded your query onto the Data Protection Officer for this Department. They will provide you with the information they hold as soon as possible. For the moment, I am able to provide you with a small amount of information. Please see the following details: Debt Manager Computer System Print (Item 1) Debt Manager Computer Abbreviation List (Item 2) Decision for an overpayment of JSA of £39.75. The balance of this shows as nil (item 3) If you wish to discuss anything about this matter, please contact me etc.... If you do not receive any details from Carers Allowance by the end of October, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will chase up the paperwork on your behalf. Item 3 is referring to a different matter all together, which we are aware of, this is referring to a brief overpayment of JSA in 2004, but they have yet to request this money back. Item 2 is just 3 pages of 'Diary Entry Codes' Item 1 is rather more confusing, consisting of various sheets of paper from a computer printout. One sheet consists of 'Overpayment Details', this says the following: Router Account Number (System Reference No): *********** Overpayment Recorerable Start Date: 5/11/2001 Overypament Recoverable End Date: 17/03/2002 Total Non Recoverable Amount: £0.00 Total Recoverable Amount: £*** Another sheet consists of 'Transaction/Payment Details', this just lists the dates of 2 small payments which they deducted from her benefits when she was claiming JSA briefly in October 2009. Another sheet consists of 'Debt Details', this is listing the details of the Debt, such as First Transaction Date: 29/09/2005, Benefit Type: CA, Client Code: DWP, the current and working balance, and the dates of 'Last Document Sent', 'Last Diary Entry' and 'Last Payment Date'. The last set of sheets are 'Diary Details'. The earliest date on this diary is 03/02/2006, most of these details do not make much sense to me, it looks like it is a record of every time they receive a phone call or letter, or make an amendment to the account. There are 4 entries dated 03/02/2006 relating to 'Migrated Notes', the next entry is on 28/03/2007 which is an 'Amendment to gender' it says 'Changed M to F... BRMIA' ?? There are then no more entries until 08/09/2009 which is when my wife was claiming JSA briefly and they got in touch with her informing her that they would be deducting payements from her entitlement. The information which they have provided does not appear to show any evidence whatsoever of how this overpayment has come about, the only thing it tells us is the dates of the overpayment (05/11/2001 to 17/03/2002) which we already knew. So they have forwarded the SAR request to the Carers Allowance department, I thought they would have done that in the first place? Does this mean that they now have another 40 days (end October) to collect this information? We have not yet sent the letter which we wrote yesterday, so i'm guessing if we just re-word it slightly acknowledging the information they have sent us from the SAR request, but point out that it still does not prove anything and we are still yet to receive the requested information, and to wait until we receive this information before we engage in any further correspondence. Does that sound like the best plan?

Thanks for you advice once again Erika, it is much appreciated. We have prepared another letter stating we have yet to receive the requested information, pointed out the date of the SAR request and asked for to wait until we receive this information before we engage in any further correspondence. We've also signed and returned the copy of the last letter which they had sent back to us. We should hear something from them end of the week about the SAR request.

The last letter she sent off asking for information she did not put her signature on, as i've read cases where debt collectors (not the DWP) will copy signatures in trying to force people to pay up. The letter she has just received states: In reply to the letter received on 06 September 2010. Unfortunately you have not signed the letter. Please sign the enclosed letter and return to us as soon as possible. I have sent a copy of your unsigned letter to our Decision Makers so they are aware of you intention to Appeal however they will not review the decision until they receive a letter from you with your signature. Please also provide more information as to why you think our decision is wrong with any supporting evidence. She did not ask for an Appeal in the letter she wrote, just for them to provide evidence and that the debt is still in dispute. A copy of the SAR acknowledgement letter which she had received previously was also sent to them. She has not yet mentioned her relationship with her Father, so they are not aware she is no longer in touch with him. Should she sign and return the letter with her signature? Regarding the accuracy of the dates, my wife got a bit mixed up initially, she originally thought the overpayment letter was referring to her Mother who passed away end of October 2001, even though it was her sister who claimed this benefit it was my wife who was looking after her throughout this time, it wasn't until after a conversation with her sister she realised that it was her Father who she was receiving the carers allowance for and not her Mother. She was definately claiming for her Father until March 2002 which was when she left home. The only date she has told the DWP is March 2002. The letter which she received from the Data Protection Officer about the SAR request states: As a Data Protection Officer, I am given 40 days to clear your request from the date your letter is received in our office. The final day I have to respond to your query by is 21st September 2010. If a problem arises and I am unable to meet the 40 day deadline, I shall contact you promptly, explaining the reason for the delay. Well, they've got 2 days left to supply this information. We will prepare a letter stating what you suggested above, and also mention that she no longer has contact with her Father. Is it important that she signs the letters?

My wife has received another letter from the DWP acknowledging her intention to appeal and are asking for her to provide more information as to why she thinks their decision is wrong with any supporting evidence. I am surprised they are letting her appeal as it has been almost 6 years since the decision of the overpayment was made, but she did not receive that letter due to her no longer living at that address, so maybe that's why they are letting her appeal now. What we are stuck with now is what kind of evidence can we provide to prove she was still caring for her Father between November 2001 and March 2002. She has not spoken with her Father in about 7 years and does not know his address or phone number, so it would not be possible to ask for a written statement from him to confirm this. In the last letter she sent to them she already told them everything she knows, and has asked them to provide details of whom informed them that she stopped caring sooner than she actually did etc. So apart from sending a very similar letter stating the same information, i'm not sure what else she can provide to prove she was still caring inbetween those dates. We are still waiting for a response to the SAR request, which they have until the 21st September to repond to. Any advice on what to do next would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help Erika, we shall prepare a letter mentioning everything you said and wait for their reply.

It seems like that when they originally said January-March 2002 they weren't sure on the exact dates, they probably did not have the details available to them at that time. She is not sure who notified the DWP about her mother passing away, it was either her sister or her father, there's definately been a mix up somewhere. So what now, do we wait for the results to come from the SAR request or does she write another letter to them attempting to explain the situation?

My wife received a letter from the DWP yesterday which was replying to the first letter which she sent out. They have enclosed a copy of a letter which was sent to her on 24 August 2005 at an old address which she was no longer living at, so she never received this letter. This letter states: The Carer's Allowance (CA) Unit was notified on 29/03/04 that you were not engaged in caring for (her father) for at least 35 hours per week. This means that you have been overpaid by £*** from 05/11/01 to 17/03/02 and you now have to pay this money back. On Page 3 of this letter 'Decision Maker's Decision' it states: As a result of the decision dated 10/12/04 an overpayment has been made from 05/11/01 to 17/03/02 amounting to £***. The Decision Maker has decided that this overpayment is recoverable from (my wife) because she failed to disclose to the Carer's Allowance Unit the material fact that she stopped caring for (her father) on 29/10/01 or as soon as possible afterwards. Now, we think they have got their facts mixed up as she was still living with and caring for her father up until March 2002, her Mum passed away on 01/11/01 (who her sister was receiving Carer's Allowance for), now we are wondering if they they have got her mother and father mixed up. We shall write a letter to the DWP trying to explain this but will they believe her? And how do we prove it? She is also unable to get in contact with her father as they have not spoken since 2003 and she does not know his address or phone number. She also received a letter from another person in the DWP 3 weeks ago acknowledging the Data Protection Request and that they have 40 days to respond. She is yet to receive this information. So where does she stand now, does she stand any hope of this matter being sorted out or is she going to have to pay it even thou she was entitled to this money?

She did receive a letter from them in late 2002 about the overpayments, but she queried this with them because she did not understand how the overypayments came about. That was the last she heard from them until late 2009 when she was claiming benefits briefly, they took a couple of payments from her out of her benefits, but shortly after she returned to work so stopped claiming the benefits and they were unable to take any more money from her. We thought she would have received a letter before now asking for the money to be repaid but did not hear anything from them until recently. The letter which we sent to them recently asking for details was sent in my wife's name so they had no reason to ignore it. We've now sent them another letter asking for these details again, not acknowleging the debt and putting the debt in dispute until they can prove otherwise. We've also sent an SAR request. They received the letter on Friday so we shall just wait and see what their next move is, not sure if we will get a reply from them or not. I'm aware they can not make her pay back the money through the courts due to the 6 year gap, but as they can recover it from any benefits she may claim in the future we would be willing to sort out a repayment plan, once they can prove the debt.

Thanks Erika, i've filled the SAR form in and prepared another letter, I shall send this tomorrow by Recorded Delivery and wait for their reponse.

Thanks Erika, The money the DWP are chasing dates back to 2002 which is over 6 years, so is there any point in me sending a SAR to them?

I've read elsewhere that to send a request for an SAR you also need to send a cheque for £10. Does this apply?

We're just looking at this SAR form, I assume she needs to fill in the whole form and send it with the letter, ticking all the relevant boxes in Part B (what information we require). What is the difference between Computer records and Clerical records?

The letter I sent was in my wife's name, she did not sign it, just printed her name to avoid them trying to duplicate her signature. So i'm guessing they either don't have proof or just can't be bothered to look for it, and are hoping she will be scared into paying up.