DWP arrears

[Unknown2023]

Posting on behalf of my partner. Many years ago (around 2014) she was on UC and DWP were taking payments from it to recover a benefit which she had been overpaid. She went back to work in 2017 and has been on a high salary ever since.
A few months ago she received a letter saying that she had been overpaid a benefit and they were applying to her employer for DoE to repay the benefits. Although they could not say what she had been overpaid from and that she could not dispute it as it was from 2014 and her window to dispute the debt had passed. Unbelievable.

We have since sent a SAR to DWP and have received all data regarding payments since 2014, however there is no benefits or anything about over payments or arrears.

We now keep receiving letters from different departments of DWP saying they hold no information about my partner and yesterday received a final letter saying that the DWP holds no information of any benefits in this person's name at all (see attached)

https://ibb.co/q5gjppk

DWP will not speak about this on the phone. My question is now we have proved that she does not owe this money but they have applied for DoE through her employer how the hell can they legally take anything from her and how do we stop it?

[echat11]

Can you please put a time line to the events, i.e. date, started deductions etc.

[Unknown2023]

She doesn't know what was claimed, it was being taken out of UC until around 2017 and then nothing until she received a letter at the start of December stating that she was in arrears to DWP, no specifics, they wouldn't explain it on the phone. So we sent the SAR and then received a further two letters just before Christmas, stating that the account is on hold for 60 days while they investigate but also that they would be applying for deduction of earnings at the same time in the second letter. We then heard nothing until the past week where we have been receiving data from all her child maintenance, no issues with payments there and then social fund who had no record of payments and then this letter yesterday stating that they have no record of any claims made to her at all.
I just don't understand how they can charge us for something they have no record of and won't discuss, let alone take it out of her salary (which will be a 25% deduction due to the wage she is on) and with it being a Government department who on Earth are we supposed to raise this to?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice

[echat11]

Something is clearly amiss somewhere.

Follow their complaint procedure -

https://www.gov.uk/government/organi...ints-procedure

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/be...fits-services/

Update when you get a response.

When you do a timeline with events.

Date Event

a) XX/XX/XX - was receiving Universal Credit

b) XX/XX/XX - informed over paid UC.

etc.

Do everything in writing and get proof of postage.

[des8]

A starting point perhaps from https://nationaldebtline.org/fact-sh...erpayments-ew/

"If you are unhappy about the service you have received from the DWP, you can use the DWP's complaint procedure. Contact the office that dealt with the decision and make the complaint. You can find relevant details to contact on the GOV.UK website.

This should be dealt with within 15 working days. If you unhappy about the outcome, ask that the complaint is passed to a senior DWP manager. This should be dealt with within 15 working days.

If you are still unhappy after the internal process, you can escalate their issue to the Independent Case Examiner within 6 months. This can be done by phone on 0800 414 8529 or by writing to: The Independent Case Examiner, PO Box 209, Bootle L20 7WA.

If you are still unhappy, you could ask your MP to refer their case to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman deals with complaints about maladministration and delays by the DWP. You can begin a complaint by completing the online form and sending this to your MP. You need to do this within one year of becoming aware of the matter".

[Unknown2023]

Thank you for this. I will start the complaints procedure and hopefully get to the bottom of whatever it is she owes. We don't mind paying it back as long as we know what it's for and how much it is!

Will update when or if I hear back from the DWP