DWP Social Fund Recovery After 25 years

[MDF]

I am looking for some advice .

 

In August of last year my wife received letter from dwp saying that they were going to deduct monies for a social fund loan .  At that time we had no idea what it was about

 

we called them and got no joy with comments such as you have got to pay it simples as that.  We still had no joy we wrote and waited 3 months for a response as stated at that point we had no idea what was going on.  In a phone call after escalation it was said that it related to 4  crises loans that we had in 1994-1995  some 25 years ago.  during this period we had not received any communication from the DWP at all.  However during this call the dip advised that i had them that i had called them and advised that i had been made Bankrupt in 1998. 

 

I have admitted that we had the loans though , however it remains about the bankruptcy.  As it is so long ago i have no information only what was put into the legal notices in the gazette i am sure i sent them the documentation however it this late stage cannot prove whether i did in fact put it in my bankruptcy .

 

could someone advise where i stand 

[dx100uk]

have they actually started to deduct anything to date?

stay off the phone from now on please

 

pop onto the DWP website 

type in SAR

and fill one out.

 

as you'll find with numerous threads here already, it is extremely rare for them to actually hold the data to PROVE you owe the money

it usually a case of an operators note from that period with no actual proof you owe anything.

admitting you had the loans doesn't hurt you, but DWP will have to prove what they are claiming not just supposition. 

 

 

[MDF]

They just started deducting money I had it investigated and though I haven’t received a letter they say they have the documentary proof 

[honeybee13]

I agree with dx, send them a [free] SAR and find out what they can tell you about how much they say you earn.

 

HB

[MDF]

Sorry I should of added my wife is severely disabled and I gave up work to be her carer such we are reliant on benefits 

 

as I said in my initial post I was declared bankrupt in 1998 I did call them and advise but cannot remember if I sent them the details of it

 

it’s 25 years ago and there is no information that I have kept I did go online and have found what was put into the London gazette

 

I am also informed that even if it wasn’t included as any debt accrued would be written off

I am also certain that the official receiver would have been in contact with them have requested information as advised but want to get things right 

[dx100uk]

they still need to hold the actual information of the loans and when they gave them too you etc etc

i bet they don't have that at all.

 

but a simple entry that there were loans , they used to farm all this out to outside agencies in those days and they put all kinds of twaddle in peoples files without documentary proof.

[dcahater76]

The social fund system exists on what is called the JSAPS computer system that was designed in the early 1990s and exists on mainframe computers at major DWP sites such as Quarry House in Leeds.  The details on those systems go all the way back to 1992.  

 

In short (I am a former Civil Servant from DWP) you need to SAR them as there is a chance from that long ago that the details may not have been processed through the computer system but processed on paper (this happened a lot in the 1990s)

 

I doubt any paper records from that time still exist I also doubt DWP would ever be able to enforce repayment especially as you are reliant on Benefits.

[MDF]

Thank you dcahater76 for your information i have requested through the SAr for the information.  

 

The matter was escalated to Milton Keynes which i believe is a major dip centre .  They just started taking the money off us through our benefits without any paperwork

 

it was only after having no success with phone calls we put it into writing then after long wait and chasing 4 months they write for our permission to investigate it,  they responded to say they had signed documents from us to say about them  they did say they had written with enclosed proof but no such letter arrived.  

 

After chasing a response they said that they had the proof and as such would be perusing continuation of recovering the money.  They did however say that they had not dealt with our situation over the past 25 years and apologised very well and put it down to resources and other things happening.  

 

I have done a lot of info looking today and have found out that if they can't recover they put it into debt collection agencies to get it we had none of that nor any communication rom them. in addition the official receiver would have also been in contact with them.  

 

there is a lot wrong with the way our situation has been dealt with and im sure many others but one department doesn't answer for all there you go around the houses and get nowhere. we don't even know the full amount  

 

I am determine to fight this but they are bigger than me so will have a fight on my hands.  they are deducting so much per week and it will take around 3 years to pay back.

 

thanks to everyone for their comments all are most welcome

 

[dcahater76]

To give a bit of background DWPs predecessors the Benefits agency administered social fund loans from the early 1990s.  At this time none of the government departments had a massive amount of technology everything was done on paper for example I live in Halifax and back in 1995 I had to sign on as unemployed for 1 month between jobs.  I made a claim for unemployment benefit at the office in Halifax which meant my claim was processed at Halifax Benefit Centre as was.  ThenPaperwork would have been stored in a file store which occupied the top floor of the building.

 

every Benefit Centre had this back then.  Over the intervening years a lot of local benefit centres were closed and most of the historical paperwork got shredded I.e Joe blogs claimed jobseekers in 1974 four pages detailing his claim not needed anymore so due to this process a lot of old paperwork never got transcribed onto the various legacy DWP systems.  
 

the notes on the systems from those times aren’t probably extant now as the jsaps sytem notes have to be pruned every now and then as it is limited to 2 pages on Notes.

Edited March 26, 2021 by dcahater76
Spelling