Social Security Benefits

(asked on 3rd September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to produce a replacement publication for the document entitled What happens if you are overpaid Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 13th September 2021

There are no plans to replace the publication ‘What happens if you are overpaid Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance’, which was withdrawn in October 2017. This is because the information previously contained in that publication is now part of the mainstream guidance on GOV.UK under the sections ‘Benefit Overpayments’ and ‘Reporting Changes in Circumstances’.

The majority of claimants are able to make and maintain their Universal Credit claim online. Claimants can report a change of circumstance by signing into their Universal Credit account and accessing the ‘How to manage your Universal Credit Claim’ Guide. Where a Universal Credit claim is made and maintained by telephone, changes of circumstance can be reported by telephone.

Full details of how the Department deals with overpayments can be found in the publically available Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide - Benefit overpayment recovery guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

It should be noted that the Department has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that overpaid benefit payments are recovered in accordance with the appropriate

social security legislation. We seek to do so as quickly as possible without creating any undue financial hardship to the claimant.

Recovery rates are set out in legislation, but customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship in order to negotiate a reduction in their rate of

repayment, or a temporary suspension of repayment, depending on financial circumstances.

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