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overpaid UC, no fault of claimant
clamant has been overpaid UC c£3000, her child died and UC paid extra benefit in error even though claimant had informed UC of change of circs,
DWP are demanding repayment even though they accept its dWP error, what’s the best way to get this overpayment written off please, no point appealing I assume,
cl did ask for an MR and the result is ,” yes its our fault but you have to pay it back anyway”
Hi
You could write to DWP and ask them to write off the debt- they can do this at their discretion if the impact would be severe financial hardship, it is rare they will agree but possible- particularly when it is their error.
Presuming she is till in receipt of UC I presume they would recover the amount through deductions i.e. a maximum amount of 25 percent of the standard allowance- if this is unmanageable she can contact DWP debt recovery to suspend payments for a set time or reduce the monthly amount.
Have a read of Chapter 8 of :
The key paragraph in the BORG is 8.6. As well as financial hardship the effect on the debtor’s health is important. An error of this kind when a child has died will surely have had a serious impact on the client’s emotional or mental state, directly attributable to the DSWP’s egregious error. I would also empahsise the “public interest” test. As paragraph 8.8 hints, pursuing a debt when the Department has behaved in this way (especially if the correspondence is unsympathetic in tone) is not a good look for the Department’s reputation, already tarnished by the Carer’s Allowance mess.