DWP letter asking for more money..need advice!

[gixser1001]

Hello all,

 

I have just received a letter from the DWP asking me to contact them regarding my repayment plan for an overpayment. After much hassle and failure to get them to write off the overpayment due to extremely low income I finally agreed to pay them £1 per month which they accepted and have been paying that for the past 6 months. I received this letter on Saturday..undated by the way...asking me to review with intent to increase my payment.

 

I have been on ESA for the past 4 months and have the dreaded ATOS medical on February 19 and as we all know how they operate I doubt I will be on ESA after that even though my gp says different and that if they do fail me he will certainly back me to the hilt in an appeal. He was genuinely surprised that given my condition such a thing would happen when I told him I was very worried about the outcome as the worry is making my health/condition worse.

 

How do I go about handling this? If I do lose out on the esa then the £1 has to stay in place as I cannot afford any more. As I understand it during the mandatory reconsideration period (however long that takes)I do not get paid so still could not afford more and same goes for the reduced rate you get during appeal. Can I insist that the current agreement stay as it is for the time being? I am not sure if they can force me to pay more or not.

[Bazooka Boo]

If your circumstances haven't changed then simply tell them that the £1 a month payment will remain for the foreseeable

future, and if your financial circumstances change in the future you will inform them.

 

It is common for them to send begging letters every six months, it's pretty much standard protocol.

[Littleredriding]

Hello all,

 

I have just received a letter from the DWP asking me to contact them regarding my repayment plan for an overpayment. After much hassle and failure to get them to write off the overpayment due to extremely low income I finally agreed to pay them £1 per month which they accepted and have been paying that for the past 6 months. I received this letter on Saturday..undated by the way...asking me to review with intent to increase my payment.

 

I have been on ESA for the past 4 months and have the dreaded ATOS medical on February 19 and as we all know how they operate I doubt I will be on ESA after that even though my gp says different and that if they do fail me he will certainly back me to the hilt in an appeal. He was genuinely surprised that given my condition such a thing would happen when I told him I was very worried about the outcome as the worry is making my health/condition worse.

 

How do I go about handling this? If I do lose out on the esa then the £1 has to stay in place as I cannot afford any more. As I understand it during the mandatory reconsideration period (however long that takes)I do not get paid so still could not afford more and same goes for the reduced rate you get during appeal. Can I insist that the current agreement stay as it is for the time being? I am not sure if they can force me to pay more or not.

 

 

As the other poster has said, tell them that that is all you can afford.

 

 

I am extremely pleased for you that you did actually manage to negotiate such a low figure in the first place. They normally will demand and start to make deductions equal to 1/3rd of the total benefit payment. At best they would then consider, weeks down the line and after those deductions have been made, an absolute minimum payment of I think of about £3.50 a week.

My husband had a debt with them and they would not budge from the 30% figure no matter what we told them.

[gixser1001]

As the other poster has said, tell them that that is all you can afford.

 

 

I am extremely pleased for you that you did actually manage to negotiate such a low figure in the first place. They normally will demand and start to make deductions equal to 1/3rd of the total benefit payment. At best they would then consider, weeks down the line and after those deductions have been made, an absolute minimum payment of I think of about £3.50 a week.

My husband had a debt with them and they would not budge from the 30% figure no matter what we told them.

 

 

I will write them and let them know. Actually Red I was making the payments before I went on ESA. I think there was a three or four month gap between the two so that may be why I evaded what they did to your husband. As my income is so low they really did not have any option I think but to accept the £1 per month or get nothing at all. In saying that though they did have another option which was to totally write the debt off but somehow I doubted that was going happen. I did try to get it written off and even got their wrists slapped (sort of as I doubt it bothered them) from the ICO for failing to follow up on not one but two SAR's but was just banging my head off a brick wall in the end.

[Littleredriding]

I will write them and let them know. Actually Red I was making the payments before I went on ESA. I think there was a three or four month gap between the two so that may be why I evaded what they did to your husband. As my income is so low they really did not have any option I think but to accept the £1 per month or get nothing at all. In saying that though they did have another option which was to totally write the debt off but somehow I doubted that was going happen. I did try to get it written off and even got their wrists slapped (sort of as I doubt it bothered them) from the ICO for failing to follow up on not one but two SAR's but was just banging my head off a brick wall in the end.

 

I see. You actually dealt with the offer of a suitable payment BEFORE you started to receive a benefit. That tells me everything. You were in a very strong position as you say, it was £1 or nothing. Being in receipt of a benefit does change it. They can start deductions at a rate that they want simply because they can take it from your benefit before it is paid to you. Being in that position, you are at the mercy of the DWP as to what they will accept is reasonable.