Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits Overpayment

[essexmat]

Sorry for another thread but I really am in a bit of a mess/state at the moment and really need some help/advice.

 

After sorting out my UC claim I totally forgot about a WTC overpayment I had from last year and forgot HMRC said to simply wait until I heard from them. Well today I got in from town to find a brown envelope from HMRC saying I owed £1,227.31 from when I was employed as an overpayment. I do owe this and am not disputing it.

 

So, I call HMRC and they tell me that they have passed the 'debt' over to DWP (UC) for them to deal with and they could not tell me any more and I should call UC.

 

I call UC and at this moment in time they say they have no notifications of this on their system however it can be updated at any time and that legally they can take up to 40% of my base award as payment towards the overpayment which works out at £127.13pm

 

My UC award is £572.82pm and there is no way I can pay this amount each month for around 10 months with rent and bills to pay. What makes it worse is that the letter to me could cross and a deduction could be made with nothing I can do about it!

 

HMRC said I should ask UC for an income and expenditure sheet to fill in so I asked UC for this and they said they could not do anything yet as nothing was on their system. I am now in between HMRC and DWP and do not know what to do howeber HMRC said I should be able to come to an agreement with DWP.

 

I done an I&E sheet anyway and worked out that I have £13.92pm after all bills are paid which includes rent, utilities, food etc.

 

What do I do now? Wait for the letter from DWP and then contact them to arrange a repayment plan on what I can afford based on my I&E. Do they have to agree to this if I can prove outgoings or can they really attach a larger amount as a repayment against the overpayment? If it is the latter I am 100% screwed and basically homeless or will there be some compassion based on my circumstances?

 

One part of me is saying I should pay the balance in full by credit to DWP by doing a cash transfer to my current account as it is obviously better being in debt with a bank than the DWP and HMRC the other part of me says surely they cannot take what I do not have.

 

I am very worried about this, what should I do?

[mariner51]

Not a UC claimant but I would expect some your savings should feature as income, if only noted for 'interest Rx'.

[essexmat]

I have no savings!

 

Anyway, I called UC again, they said still nothing on system - I was told they can legally take 15% of the base element as overpayment so this would be around £47.67pm putting me right in the sh*t to be honest and this would be for around 26 months.

 

This stress is not good for me - having lost around £100pm anyway they now want to take another £47 from me - when will it end? I simply cannot survive like this!

 

Anyway, I cannot over worry yet as nothng has happened but a member of the family is so worried about me that they said they would help me and pay it off for me and I can pay them back a nominal amount each month.

 

Can I, once I get the letter about overpayment deductions, offer to pay the overpayment off in FULL and request my UC payments go back to the normal rate? I do not, nor does the person helping me, want me to owe anything to the HMRC or DWP. I just want this done with.

 

If the HMRC would have givenme time to respond rather than automatically passing details to DWP this would have been easier but no, they sent this to DWP straight away without so much as giving me a chance to discuss a repayment plan or offer to pay the whole amount this making it even more difficult.

 

If I do pay in full do I pay on line to DWP and if so how do I get proof of a £0.00 amount owing?

[mariner51]

hmrc do not administer UC. They are only interested in recovering your underpayment of Tax by any available method.

You are best to direct your Qs to DWP Manager.