Universal Credit over payment and phone call advice plz

[nimblejack]

Hi,

I just wanted some advice from anybody who may have had a similar problem or might know what's going on please?

 

Last March, just as this pandemic took hold my  husband lost his job. No furlough, no redundancy pay or anything. Just finished.

We knew nothing about claiming benefits but we managed to put in a claim for JSA and then UC (they just deducted the JSA from anything we were entitled to from UC)

 

later in the year, I made a claim for carer's allowance as I am my mums full time carer. She receives attendance allowance. I waited several weeks to hear anything back but the claim was successful and I reported this to UC.

 

My husband got a job again in August. This too was reported to them and his earnings meant that we received very little or nothing during that time.

He then lost this job in December yet again due to covid and again we reported this and he again claimed for JSA.

 

He got another job in January and again told UC and JSA. We received pretty much nothing and the last payment we did receive, they deducted everything that was left for a tax credit over payment that we apparently owe from previous years.

 

We have now received a letter in our journal saying that we have had an over payment due to back pay of carer's allowance that I received last year after all the weeks of waiting. Fair enough, I don't really understand still how all of this works as we have always worked but they told us before that all earnings etc and things from DWP get reported to them anyway so they knew what carer's allowance I had received.

 

I then replied to ask if we can set up repayments for this and we then had another letter in the journal saying..

DO NOT IGNORE THIS MESSAGE

We are carrying out a review of your information, and so I need to speak to you BOTH about your universal credit claim.

We'll be checking a few details with you on this call to make sure you're entitled to universal credit. You might also be asked to provide additional evidence but we will discuss that on the call. If we can't get in contact or speak with you, your claim will be suspended and ultimately closed. There will likely be an over payment and this will be recovered from you.

 

This seems a bit serious

is there anything I should be worried about? Or is it purely just a review to maybe close down the account now that my husband is back in work and earning more money? It doesn't mention the over payment so I am not sure if it is about that or not but my husband suffers very much with stress and anxiety and now he is panicking over this because he thinks that they are going to make out we have been up to something when we most definitely have not.

 

Admittedly, we have struggled with it because we have never claimed before and not been able to attend any face to face appointments etc but as far as I am concerned, we did everything asked of us.

 

The only other thing is that I now have £2000 in the bank sitting there as we are in desperate need of another car as this one we have is on it's last legs but I was told you only need to declare £6000 and over.

 

Any advice or anyone had the same please? Pretty confused. Thanks.

[dx100uk]

you appear to have everything correct and have done what you needed to do at each stage.

 

now, looking thru you state:

 

39 minutes ago, nimblejack said:

He got another job in January and again told UC and JSA. We received pretty much nothing and the last payment we did receive, they deducted everything that was left for a tax credit over payment that we apparently owe from previous years.

 

i would be questioning them what this was actually for, they should not be just taking money without PROOF , and as you state you had never had any benefits before period this puzzles me and we've seen very historic tax credit grabbacks that date back 10's of yrs. so try and nail that one down, don't get fobbed off they are simply right all the time.

 

as for the rest of it, to me it sounds like they want to ensure you did get all you were entitled too as you situation changed many times.

nothing to be afraid of.

 

dx

 

 

[nimblejack]

Ok thank you for such a quick response. Yes we did claim tax credits for a while when we were both working but not earning a great deal but again, I don't know how an overpayment of that happened but they have written to us although the amount is different every time.

 

I did call to set up repayments but they refused..saying deductions from UC will be made until the claim is closed and then I can pay directly.

 

However, I might ask for some sort of proof or breakdown as we have no idea what happened or how that overpayment has occurred.

 

Thank you for that bit of advice.

I hope to get it all sorted as soon as possible.

[dx100uk]

how long ago was this tax credit issue?

 

if you pop along to the HMRC website and type in SAR

that should bring up a form which compels them within 30days to send everything they hold on both of you (do a joint claim both of you sign the SAR) .

 

 

 

 

[nimblejack]

It says 2015/16  but I have no clue so yes that's a great idea thank you. I will do this today!

[dx100uk]

they must hold the data to prove their claim of TC over payment and ofcourse it must be correct!!

 

if you use our enhanced google search box on this page (i think still) type in HRMC tax credit over payment

or like words

there are numerous stories here from others inc those that prove they had no data and the issue was latterly sorted in their favour.

 

just be aware that yours is not too historic so they probably will have the data but check the figures are correct and your pers data like income etc is correct for that time, we often find they were not aware of XYZ from you and that changes their conclusion.

 

dx

 

[Bazooka Boo]

I can't really add anything to the advice DX has already said, except that where this particular government dept is concerned you MUST MUST MUST keep EVERYTHING they send you and vicky vercky.

 

Whenever you send them anything in the post ALWAYS obtain ''proof of posting'' which is free from the PO counter.

 

If you can record your phonecalls with them then fantastic, if not ensure you get their details, time of call, and department they are calling from.

 

If you are uncomfortable discussing anything over the phone with them, then simply tell them that your preferred method of communication is in writing only, and they WILL accept this.

[unclebulgaria67]

Several issues raised. 

 

What sometimes happens with benefits, is that when one benefit is backdated, there is a knock on effect to other benefits. 

 

In this case, you had received Universal Credit payments without Carers Allowance being deducted for, as when those UC statements were issued, the CA backdating decision had not been made. 

 

Eventually CA was backdated and you received a lump sum.  This would have been advised to UC, who would have recalculated each monthly assessment period that the CA related to and this overpayment would have been automatically system calculated.  Your revised UC payment statements can be viewed online on your claim  and you can compare the revised net award amount with what you were originally paid by UC. The letter in your UC journal advising of the overpayment should confirm the time period the overpayment relates to. No harm in asking for a breakdown of the overpayment via your journal.

 

In regard to the DO NOT IGNORE THIS MESSAGE , what this is about, is that due to the Covid-19 crisis the country was in during 2020, with millions of benefit claims being made, is that DWP did not check all information as thorougly as it would normally be checked.   So they are currently going through a process of checking information  again, to ensure it was accurate.   

 

Savings above £6000 need to be declared, as then UC would make deductions.  And £16000 or more would mean not eligible for UC in most circumstances.

 

In regard to an Tax credits overpayment debt, DWP Debt Management shoud be able to provide details of the debt amount referred to them and what the outstanding balance is.  But as advised, if you dispute the Tax Credits overpayment, contact HMRC to challenge this.

 

 

[nimblejack]

Thank you for that response unclebulgaria67, I appreciate it. It has helped us to understand this better and yes I cannow see how that would be the case. If only THEY explained it that easily. Thanks again.

[Sirbob00]

Were you also receiving the carers element.  This is roughly £160 per month extra.  Make sure you were also receiving this and it was also backdated