Universal Credit Overpayment-Fraud??

Hello Everybody,

I have used the forum before and found this extremely helpful and put me in the right direction to deal with my debts..

I have sadly been put in a situation that i dont know what way to turn, as this was done by the DWP..

Due to the 1st Lockdown I was advised to sign on to Universal Credit, due to being Self employed i didn't know if i would receive Universal credit or the Furlough scheme.

I ended up being accepted for both, the furlough scheme came through and i made a record of this on my Universal credit Journal, so they knew that in this first month i had recieved the money from HMRC with the furlough scheme, all of this money recieved paid the mortgage, council tax, utility bills and food... when the Furlough payments began to be reduced was the time i used 3 months for mortgage holiday.

I did send for the council tax support but only when i was told and then didn't get a reply until a few weeks back

i was advised at the time by a job coach , that any money that came from universal credit would be inline with the information given to them by HMRC..so not to worry and to continue, as they would have all the information anyway.
so at this point i continued to gain the furlough and would receive payments from DWP, that i felt were based on what HMRC had told them, so this was a reduced payment(Haven't signed on for 20 odd years and then it was a few weeks only), so i understand that i might be a tad naïve to what is given and how..

A few weeks back, i was told by a new job coach that the information they have was incorrect, due to their misunderstanding of the rules, set out at the start of the lockdown, so now i had to put all monies given by HMRC, as i had "falling down the wayside, like a few others", after i questioning this.. they said it was an administrative error on their end...and i now needed to put any money i recieved...

i duly complied with what they asked for and then got a message on my Journal, that they had over paid me and i have a month to make a decision to pay it all back in one lump sum or pay in instalments...thats 6 months worth of Universal Credit monies.. something i have not got

If this was a debt collecting company i could talk in terms of being given information fraudulently(which is true) and demand that they clear the debt due to this situation... BUT.. this is a government department and i am pulling my hair out trying to find the best way to go about it, what statement to write and obviously make it viable for an appeal against the information they have given me.. if i had known that HMRC wasn't telling them, then i would have... but the information they told me, this was all communicated between the departments and not to worry

I am terrified they will take the money i have from my HMRC payments and put me in a position that i the ability to pay for the house, or any means of survival, all this due to their incompetence and in reality (in my mind) fraudulent information

Regards and thanks

Phil

Hi.phil.
Enjoy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5uNN7LF2RI

ps.
I assume the download is...FREE

Thank you for link, sadly this isn't a free download, £4.95, so im a little undecided..
if it does the job and gets them of my back, then i am more than happy to pay it.. but.. when you have little money to play with, £5 is heating in the house or 2 days worth of food...

Sad that you have to weigh up if you can spend £5 on information that might help or £5 for food or heating....

once again, Thank you for the info Pitano1

phil.
Would you like to discuss the video.?

Phil, more links; https://youtu.be/FO6_ynfYlo4

https://goodf.forumotion.com/t924-overpayment-notice?highlight=overpayment

other threads on here search, overpayment

i have drafted a very basic 2 section letter..

1st section states my grievance against them and that i feel it was their mistake, so their responsibility to resolve this themselves
2nd section is evidence based from the income support journal, stating they have made the mistake, not me
3rd section(maybe), will be as many very straight forward questions on misinformation(fraudulent information) they gave me and attempting to get them to admit they were incorrect and drop the process...

Thank you Pinano1 and Daveiron for your time, if i get this situation under control, and they drop the overpayment claim.. ill be eternally grateful to you both and this absolutely fantastic community

I hope you have all the paperwork. That letter from them admitting they made a mistake is
very valueable to you.As many will confirm this is nothing more than a scam they have been
operating for a long time. Make a point of getting the names of those making that claim ,and
be sure to let them know you are collecting names.