Hi folks, new to the site and looking for any advice on how to deal with Mitcheldean Collections/Contact centre. A little while back I received a letter from them stating they were seeking repayment of £881.82p of unpaid crisis loans, dating from 2000 to around 2003( when I then had a partner and her 2 kids whom I was claiming for as a couple). The bug bear for me with this claim is that several large amounts are not, rightly in my mind, for repayment as we were at the time 'told' to claim crisis loans to the amount of out Income Support at the time. Which was £180 a fortnight. after receiveing the letter I called them, and asked for all the dates in question to be sent to me. I in turn sent these letter to an 'apparent' office in Clyebank asking for details of all my signing on dates to be confirmed as well as receipt of payment by Giro cheque. This I know they must have as I was told back then that it would take 11 weeks minum to process any lost cheques. These never turned up. There are payments on there which I wouldnt mind paying back ( although a part of me stupidly asks that if they knew I couldnt pay it all back then...why give it to me at all????). Can anyone help or have advice on this. Much apprecieted in advance

Hi Need some advice guidance as im at a loose end at the moment. This is in releation to my now wife, who in 2002 claimed for housing benefit she wasnt entitled too, as a result she went to court in 2004, who found her guilty and she got community service. She moved back to her mums address in 2003 (so prior to court so all documents went to this address), she served her community service however there was no mention of paying the money back to DWP. Fast forward to april this year, where we bought a house in 2011, we recieved a letter from DWP stating that you owed £3500, she phoned them up asking what the debt related too, then ended the call. We sent a letter stating statuary barred as the debt is long past the 6 years. We have now just recieved a letter from a DCA (CCS Collect) asking to make payment within 7 days of the letter. We were under the impression that the debt could only be repaid from benefits etc and they couldnt pass the debt onto a collection agency due to it being over 6 years old? Can anyone help?

Hi, i applied for a funeral payment from the social fund, the dwp granted it , but they got part of it wrong , so i phoned up to quiry it first off. however i got insulted , patronized and probable intimidating and threatening behavior. Ive got a Cd of the phone conversation from the dwp , im just wondering whats my first port of call.

I have been presented at interview with the DWP a cheque sent from my bank account many months PRIOR to my ever even making a benefit claim. I believe that this is fraud based on section 3 and 4 of the fraud act that a crime has been committed. The bank account was accessed via the bank themselves so they are too culpable, for failing to check the legitimacy of the DWPs request and for not protecting my data. It seems like the data was illegally accessed as well as being totally inpertinent and dispropotionate to an investigation that was concluded with "NO ACTION TO TAKE". i need to know what law or section of the dwp s fraud investigation guide has been broken and is it a police or civil matter .

Good Afternoon All, I have just received a letter from the Department of Work & Pensions, detailing a notification of customer compliance office interview. In other words, I need to go and talk to somebody about my claim. I have done some research online and this is basically a fraud investigation - which to be honest (excuse the pun) has really annoyed me. I have been claiming for a year and actively seeking work and have actioned all their requests and declared everything along the way. Obviously I will attend the appointment and I am very much looking forward to the discussion, that said I have two concerns and a question that hopefully you experts can advise me with :- 1. Just like with any 'hearing', the guilty/not guilty are not always charged correctly. My 'integrity' is at the discretion of the lady sat opposite me. So if for whatever reason (bad day, husband left her, kids playing up etc) she decides to find me 'Guilty'. What will happen then and how long will the appeal take? After the successful appeal, do I get any back dated money? 2. I have seen other people have had similar letters, saying the officer will attend their property. Can they ACTUALLY enforce this? I am very very particular of who I let into my property, after all - it is my home. I do not want a stranger coming here, let alone someone who is accusing me of criminal activities. I have no quarms with attending as many interviews as they want anywhere in the UK, but not at my home. Surely I have the right to refuse a home visit if asked, without penalising my benefits? 3. I live on my own - My girlfriend sometimes stays and even has her own set of keys to come and go as she pleases (she is a damn good cook and loves to clean my place as she only has a small room in her dads house - I know, Im very lucky ). What do they deem as "living"? I assume this is looked at number of nights she stays over? What are the guidelines for this please. Too me, this just looks like an easy way to stop paying legitimate job seekers to "help their quota" and it drives me nuts after seeing people in their smacked up and drunk for appointments who not only will not be looking for work, nobody in their right mind would ever employ them and I feel victimised being a polite, smartly dressed, non-violent claimant who clearly is trying but just not succeeding. Thanking you all in advance, James

hello. yesterday i recieved a letter from dwp about a "social fund payment" that they say is still owed to them i think it goes back at least 3 years or more.as they helped us with money to help us move house,removal etc. they are asking me for £502.and to pay by 28th november 2013. at this moment in time i have no income,as i look after my 2 year old daughter while my other 3 children are at school,when my wife is at work. id like some advice on this,and how to deal with them would be appreciated. thanks

hi, just joined up to hopefully get some information for anyone who has been in the same boat as me. my partner claims ESA but has just been declared fit for work so is going through all that mess on to decide against it like she has done many times before. we have just a got a flat together so i have just been added onto her claim, i was on jsa before that. my partner received a letter this morning and when she read it through it said that dwp were going to do a home visit and the reasons were for " to help complete claim forms for benefits she may be entitled to and more information on other services" so she gave them a call to ask what it was all about and they said it is because of missed appointments, now i will not lie she hasnt delt with this well, she suffers from anxiety and depression so she has been fighting them for the past 2 years and she was coming on leaps and bounds. she managed to start staying at my house which was a hour form her home so this was a big step and they gave her an appointment to come in and see her as she is in the work support group or something like that. anyways she ended up missing that appointment and every time they rang her father would give a poor excuse such as "ohh shes out with her mum" well she finally gave them a call and sorted it out, then the next appointment came though when she was away again and when she was about to ring up, she then got a letter for a missed appointment she then rang up and this got sorted out. when she called DWP about the visit they said she missed an appointment on the 18th of october, but we have had no letter,call or message about this appointment so did not even know about it, but apparently because of missing that a woman from DWP is coming out to see her about this. now i am very worried what they are going to say or do, i can talk my way out of anything but she cant do it aswell as me and the biggest problem is the fact that her excuse for not attending the other appointments its she forgot all about them, which is true but it is a very poor excuse to use. when she asked if we would loose our money the person on the phone said "not yet but we will have to see how it goes" so that is a big worry as we have a flat to look after now. so my questions are will they stop our money and would i be able to go off her claim back on a JSA then sign the flat over to my name. sorry for such a long first post but thank you for any help

I was told they were being challenged but i've heard nothing about it? I keep reading about frankly scandalous and shocking cases affecting people a lot worse than me and it seems like it's only going to get worse. I watch some news and political programmes and i never see it being a addressed at alll; why not? It's just sheer lunacy what's going on and i've thought about trying to return to work to avoid the uncertainty and difficulty of all these reforms. How they can get away with it? It's bad enough dealing with a health condition without the added pressure of some seemingly nasty and deliberate measures to hurt people or make things immeasurably worse. My question is how can this be allowed to continue withoyut legal redress when Atos doctors are coming forward and alleging they are asked to amend the interview notes. That's why i'm posting this, i was incensed when i read about that recently and i just remembered that Cameron said the weakest in society would be looked after with them in power but they don't seem to care which is why i guess they're called the nasty party! It's one thing to line you're pockets or be in bed with with big corporations but it's another to treat people clearly to sick or disabled to work this way. It goes against what this country, as i understand it, is about. Too unwell to continue so i'll leave it there! Cheers. Teej75

Here's the DWP's 'Business Plan 2014' I found on the whatdotheyknow site. Interesting reading - and artfully worded as always to encourage and inspire the troops (excuse my sarcasm). If their systems only ran as well as their literature promises... https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/jobcentre_plus_performance_manag#incoming-440496

Well today I have received a letter from DWP, claiming that I owe over 6k pounds. They also said not to ignore the letter. If I cannot pay off the amount still I need to contact them and arrange a payment agreement. They also threated me saying I don't they will eiter pass this to debt collection agency or recover from my employer and this will affect my credit scoring. They also said they conted me before but as far as I know I claimed JSA back in 2008 for several weeks as I was made redundant so to keep my NI contribution I claimed JSA and after about 3 to 4 weeks later I found a job so infomed DWP and stopped JSA. I would be grateful if you could please confirm whether they have the power to recover the sum from my current employer. Thanks very much for your attention. Kind regards Monmoy

I've been wandering around the site, and have a question/s and they kind of cover various subjects Statute barred debts do not appear on CRA's - is that correct? Only debts that are currently enforceable should appear on CRA's. When they become statute barred they come off CRA's When someone has DWP overpayment debt, do they appear on CRA's? - I know there is this whole thing of whether they can be statute barred, or not, or that they can behave different to other statute barred debts.. as they can take money from you when you next claim any benefit. But surely, if it can be statute barred, then the DWP when using DCA's should be obeying to all the rules.. not harassing people, make threats, being misleading etc.. as in what DWP is one thing (being a government department and what DCA can do is another).

The DWP wrote to me on 14/11/2012 to say they had overpaid me and needed me to pay back £2.842 I immediatly appealed this decision. In January this year the DWP starting to deduct my ESA FOR £10 A WEEK TO COVER THIS SO CALLED OVERPAYMENT. On the 19/07/2013 I received a letter from the DWP stating they have looked again and have changed their original decision. And I no longer need to pay this money back as it was there error. Great News but they are still taking the money out of my ESA and have been since Jan. I phoned 2 weeks ago roughlyto be told it will be sorted within 2 weeks to date nothing. Has anyone any idea were I go from here. Thank You

Hello all, Is there a form or a letter I can send to the DWP to withdraw consent from them in terms of contacting my employer?

My benefit has been stopped due to the DWP not receiving a form back on time (they say). I have told them I sent it off and it should have arrived on time (have proof of posting). It was a BF.... (something!) for not attending an Atos test. Is it possible to claim hardship payments, if so, how do I do this? Is it possible to get the money reinstated. I have sent in an appeal well within the time limit and received a reconsideration telling me they have not changed their decision and it will be sent to an indepent tribunal. Any suggestions please.

I have recieved a letter to attend a compliance interview at the jobcentre. I'm very confused by this as i don't claim benefits? I tried to contact the women named on the letter but she's not been available to speak to, no-one else in the office can understand why i've been sent this because they can see i'm not claiming any benefits so can't understand why the letter has been sent out?! How can this happen? Absoluatley baffelled!! has anyone had this happen before?

My husband has been placed once again in WRAG group at renewal; however we were not notified of this decision until the JCP advisor rang, and she told us it was for 2 years this time. We requested all of the information held from DWP, upon reading through they state my husband was assessed at a medical - but he has never had one for ESA! Even the JCP lady thinks he should be in Support Group, she advised him to appeal and it was a real shock to see what has been written. So my question is, where do we go from here? Do I add this further information to his appeal or do I keep this back in case its needed at a tribunal? Many thanks

I was directed here from another forum, after posting there for people's opinions. I think this is posted in the wrong place - it's my first time here, and I don't know where to post it. Sorry. I don't know what to do, but I want to take the matter further, and was thinking of filing a small claims court case. I don't know if it's wise or not, but I don't know how a small claims court work - and what happens if I lose? ________________________________________________ Background (LONG - SORRY!): I received a letter 19th Dec 2011, dated 13th December 2011, stating that from the 10th December 2011, the DWP were deducting money on a weekly basis from me, for a Social Fund debt. I had no idea what this so-called “Social Fund” was, and called up for advice. I was told to call another number. Calling these numbers cost me money as they are all 0845 numbers, however, I had no option but to keep calling and paying out on call costs. I spoke to a lady, who said that I had taken a Crisis Loan (the old name for the Social Fund) out on 1st July 2004. I informed her that this was not the case, but she was insistent. She said it was for food and rent bills. I told her again, this was not the case - as I don't get money for rent, as I live with my parents as their carer, in their private house. I also asked her that, if it was the case, then why this alleged loan was not talked about before? It is now the very end of 2011. Most legal situations say there is a limit of 6years to reclaim... this was 6yrs and 7 and half months later! She informed me abruptly that DWP company can re-claim the loan, once a new claim for Jobseekers Allowance is submitted. However, this too, does not make sense in any way. I had claimed a few times since 2004, in between various employments, and there has never been a mention of any Crisis Loan that I allegedly had taken out, and not repaid, which would have led me to address the matter sooner. I was told to send letters in (5 times in total, on Special Delivery at their instruction! - and have sent several emails too) to an office, then to be told on chasing that they had got the letters, and were looking into it, but in the next call, was told they had no letters, and could I resend. And then resend again, to a different address. All calls were made to their chargeable 0845 number. Eventually it was passed to the Fraud Team, who again were supposed to call back, but didn't, but when they did after another chase, I was told that the debt was on hold until they had investigated, and not to worry. I told them that the money was being taken from me already and had pulled me into the overdraft limit, and now I was getting bank fees charges because of it. They said they would freeze that - but they didn't, and went on to take the full amount in the end, leaving me with high bank charges, and the need to take a loan to pay them off, and then paying interest to pay off the loan. After much complaining it finally was sent to the Recoveries Team, who said they are investigating but I never heard back. Finally after several calls, and one telling me it can take months, and to wait for a callback - I got a landline number for a Supervisor - (lets call him Bob for ease - not his real name!) and have been chasing him since June 2013, and then from end August, Bob's Supervisor too. I got a call back 4 weeks ago (after another chase), to say in the next day or 2 Bob would send me copies of the original documents, for me to look over immediately. I heard nothing more. Finally today - after yet more chases, and through Bob's Supervisor, Bob calls back...remember he said he'd send me copies? He now says that they don't have the original documents (no date on when he allegedly got that confirmation either), as they were destroyed, and therefore on the "Balance of probability" they would uphold the debt - "especially as the debt had been recovered.". I told him again that the debt wasn't mine - it was a fraud case. He said that there was no point of Appeal on this. I asked him who made the decision, he said 'the office', it was a local decision - and that there was nothing obviously fraudulent about the case. I quoted ALL the reasons why it was fraudulent, and he began to stutter. I asked again for the name of the head of the Department, who had made the Decision - and he was very hesitant - so I asked again who made the Decision, and he eventually said, he did. I asked how he'd reached that decision, as the had that the paperwork was destroyed after 3 years in line with their policies? He said he made it in line with their policies. He couldn't tell me which Policies. I asked for a full breakdown, with copies of the Policies he used to come to a decision, to be sent to me by the end of the week. I pointed out that, that was not my fault the paperwork had been destroyed, and that it had taken so long to come to this stage. That I was disabled with mobility issues, and the post office the Giro had been cashed at, was a few miles away, that I couldn't have got to, and I had sent in medical evidence to prove it on several occasions - that had cost me money to obtain too. I asked about decision reversal, but Bob said that they don't reverse decisions. He said I could lodge an official complaint - in light of new evidence (he claims he didn't know about the Post Office, or my disability - all of which has been noted in letters I've sent, and calls I've made) - and that they would look at the case and get back to me! I have paid out so much on phone calls, and postage, and bank charges, that I want to pursue this further - even if I only get the original so called debt back. I wondered whether it would be worth filing a small claims court claim? - and try and recover some of this. I have no money currently as I am on a 6 month DWP sanction (awaiting appeal), after being fired from my last job, and I don't know about court costs and such, so I want to know the Pros and Cons of filing a case against the DWP. Sorry for the long post - I have Aspergers, and the complete inability to summerise.

Hi, Can anyone tell me where I can make a complaint about the DWP. I received my details through the mail as I was going to Tribunal about my DLA. I was looking through the paperwork the night before my tribunal to find a page with big black letters on it saying "YOUR BANK DETAILS HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR SECURITY REASONS". Great my personal details not been shown until I turned the page to find MY WHOLE BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS. I do believe I can complain about this but I do not know where to send it . Can anyone else please.

Came accross this and thought it important enought to post. Make sure you tell your Doctor that he must contact you personaly for consent if ATOS are requesting any Medical Reports etc. Consent DWP obtain consent (1) from the patient (2) to approach you for the release of clinical information. Therefore you can rely on an assurance from DWP or a healthcare professional working for Atos Healthcare that consent has been provided and there is no requirement for you to ask to see a copy of the patient’s consent. 1. Consent may be provided either in writing, electronically or verbally. DWP has procedures in place to ensure that consent is valid. 2. Occasionally consent may be provided by a third party acting on the patient’s behalf. • If the patient is mentally incapable of managing his own affairs, and there is power of attorney or an appointee is acting on behalf of the patient, as permitted in legislation. • If the patient is potentially terminally ill and the claim to benefit has been made by a third party on the patient’s behalf, as permitted in legislation.

Has anyone ever had a problem with the DWP activating a debt for overpayment when you weren't even signing on? I am having money taken for an overpayment in January 2006 from Hull Jobcentre (for a job I was supposed to have done) when I wasn't signing on and not even living in the Hull catchment area, I was living off the proceeds of my house and credit cards. I did sign on later that year in late September when I was living near Hull. I can't seem to get them to grasp the fact that even if I did a job then it was none of their business as I wasn't signing on. I am awaiting written details of all this but to date have not received anything apart from a letter from the Hull jobcentre manager confirming that there are no papers for that time and that I am still liable for £138.04 in total (£65.40 has already been deducted). Anybody out there who can advise I would be grateful.

Hi All, My other half has received a letter from DWP claiming that she owe them £801! The letter states: About the £801.xx still owed I am writing about a debt that out records show is outstanding. Debt Management, part of the Department for work and Pensions is at present responsible for collection this money, However your case is now being considered for immediate transfer to a private company for repayment collection. The letter is dated 22/08 and asked us to respond by 05/09/13 - We have not responded yet nor know anything about the alleged debit My partner was on benefits (looking after her child) for about 3 years until she moved in with me around June 2012. Before she moved in with me she managed to get a job so informed them of this - but I don't know if she changed the address (and she cant remember however we have moved again since She moved from Hull to Doncaster in June 2012 and then back to Hull in Feb 2013 As the letter doesn't mention if its an overpayment or anything and this is the first letter she has received where do we go from here? We don't claim any benefits (other than standard child allowance £20 per week or whatever) Thanks Col

Can anyone help me? A year or so ago I received a letter from DWP dating back to a time when I was on income support saying there had been an overpayment, I had no idea what it was and wrote a letter asking for details. I had no reply but an identical letter last month followed by a phone call from Akinika, I refused to confirm details, said I would write to them. The girl said she would tell DWP that I was refusing to cooperate and put the phone down. I wrote to akina telling the history and asking then to contact client(DWP ) as I had no response. To my horror I arrived home today to find a letter from akinika and enclosed was sensitive personal information from DWP. my national insurance number the dates that I had claimed, my child's name and the benefits that I had received, they aslo enclosed a copy of a letter that they apparently sent to me in 2005! akinika have therefore had information to all my private business. Surely this is a breach of data protection from DWP? I would have thought that the dca have no right to allow then such personal information. I rang DWP and she said that as dca were dealing with the 'debt' they had a right to access my personal information. My view is that they should have n't disclosed such private information.

Hello, I haven't been out of my home in over 6 months. I missed an ATOS assessment & have been ordered to keep providing fitness for work statements. On my latest one the GP has put that I have agoraphobia- technically I don't have this. But the GP seems to have put this rather than actually address or acknowledge the long list of complex issues I did report. GP also sent me letter stating not been out in 6 months & can't attend assessment. Could ATOS still find me fit for work/WRAG? If so how do they expect me to attend please? I know GPs must get hundreds of requests daily for help with supporting evidence for benefit claims. It just seems so wrong that ill patients are expected to request medical evidence our self- we're not doctors. It also seems like the GPs are then spending time that is suppose to be their patients consultation time on providing evidence- with time severely rationed by GPs they then have no time left to actually address their patients health issues. I wrote out a list of problems in the past too. Instead of even attempting to address them in a competent manner- they too were just all just classified as 'depression'- even though in no way related to such! I'm getting the distinct impression that the GP is trying to save himself paperwork by only listing up to 2 problems or maybe they are told they can only do 2?

Hello, this is my first time using this website and forum but I read some previously in regards to my own question - the "DWP" people - and struggled finding one directly relevant to me. So here I am, writing my own. A week or so ago I got a call from these people, requesting a visit to my house to speak with my 15 year-old (soon to be 16) son. He has Asperger's Syndrome and I have been claiming an enhanced parents allowance because of it for a few years now, which, I assume, is what the whole visit is about. I was worried about this due to current financial problems, and so I was wondering - are they here to assess whether we are still eligible for the benefit? Are they here to cut what they can? It does seem that way, especially do to their vague reasoning's for the visit. Just to "assess" how things are going with my son. This is the first time anything like this has happened in five years. So, to cut this short, all I'm wondering is what their intentions are. To cut my benefits, to alter it, or any of the like. Furthermore, I heard my son is even eligible for some sort of claim of his own? This whole process confuses me - I didn't even set up the enhanced benefit scheme in the first place, nor did I ask for it, it was suggested to me by schooling a long time ago - but now I'm on my own on the subject, and any help or further detail I would value immensely. Thank you.

Hi can the DWP take an overpayment owed to them from a compensation payment paid to you or can it only be repaid from benefits ?/