DWP chasing debt from 1998

[SARLynch]

Received a letter from DWP saying I owed than money from çrisis loans and care grants from 1998 and that are taking it out of my benefits.

 

 

I requested a SAR to try and identify these debts

 

 

they sent a computer printout that makes no sense and a letter stating that they no longer had the clerical records.

 

 

Surely they must keep these to prove the debt as any data can be fed into a computer to produce a print out.

 

 

Help me please

[dx100uk]

if they've no evidence you need to put them to strict proof.

 

 

if you have a look thru posts in this forum

you'll see several examples already

 

 

dx

[Andyorch]

Do you recall taking any crisis loans and care grants from 1998 ?

 

Andy

[SARLynch]

I did take out one or two but these were paid back through my benefit. They are saying I owe for another 9 that I do not remember at all. I have looked up strict proof but cannot find a letter to send them as they are taking money out of me already.

[unclebulgaria67]

The other point is that DWP would have had processes in place to chase this up a lot earlier. They don't wait 17 years to produce a computer print out to use to deduct sums from benefits.

 

You might face banging your head against a brick wall corresponding with DWP, as they will just say there is no reason why their computer systems would show an outstanding amount if it did not exist. Therefore you might want to contact your local MP, to see if they can raise this with DWP officials.

[Andyorch]

9 crisis and care grants seems rather excessive for one claimant ...how much are they deducting PW ?

[SARLynch]

Thank God they are only taking £10 per week, but I cannot afford for them to do that. They say on their letter that they do not hold personal information when there is no longer a business need, but surely proving the debt is a very big business need. It also states that if I have any queries to send it to the disputed debt team so I will need to send them a letter asking for strict proof.

[Andyorch]

Only £10 per week which is considerable for a claimant.....which is a deduction for an unsubstantiated 17 year old debt.Contact the disputed debt team and ask them to quantify/ specify the 9 debts.

[Bazooka Boo]

And get onto your local MP about these clowns too..

[antone]

The DWP pulls this stunt all the time. Blame the politicians who keep making it easier for them to collect alledged "debts" without any real oversight into what they're up to. It's a Catch 22 situation, really: when they can't actually provide documentary proof that a debt is owed, they offer instead the fact that they are demanding repayment of a debt as "proof" that the debt exists. After all, they must have evidence to support their claim, even though they can't produce said evidence, because if they didn't have evidence they wouldn't know to ask for repayment in the first place. QED. Kafka would be turning in his grave.

 

Yeah, strict proof. And because the DWP doesn't need a court to order deductions from benefits (or wages, for that matter) I second the suggestion to get your MP involved. If this is the first time you've been notified of these new debts then I would suggest the civil appeals process would be worth considering - as far as I can recall the existence of these debts, and your liability to repay them, are appealable decisions.