Anyone received a Direct Earnings Attachment from the DWP before?

[DianeC2020]

Has anyone received a Direct Earnings Attachment (DEA)? It's where money is being taken from your earnings due to a debt. The letter I received from the DWP tells me I have £1115 of debt which they will take from my earnings.

There is no information about what the debt is and after calling various numbers, the debt dept at te DWP don't give out the information. So I have to pay back over a grand and I have no idea why.

It's not council tax because I have paid it all. I don't get housing benefit and it's not a child maintenance issue. I cannot think what this could be..

Is there a code on it?

Just a reference number. It has all my details (NI number, work address, home address etc)

Have you ever received any benefits eg tax credits?

No, nothing. I earn too much for any benefits. The only benefit I get is child benefit.

You could maybe contact this organisation for advice

www.stepchange.org/debt-info/direct-earnings-attachment.aspx

[quote Comefromaway]You could maybe contact this organisation for advice

www.stepchange.org/debt-info/direct-earnings-attachment.aspx[/quote]
Thanks - yes I had a look at this. Even called the numbers given. However, the DWP will only give info to my employer, not me. Seems ridiculous as I have no way of knowing where this debt came from.

No advice I'm afraid, OP, but that is absolutely awful that money can be taken without them expressly stating what it relates to.

You must be livid, OP.

Wow - I have just come on to start a thread to ask the same thing! I have just received a DEA today for £1300 and have to contact DWP. I have only received UC very briefly during maternity leave as my partner left but before and after that I have always earned well and didn't need nor qualify for anything.
I have never heard anything from DWP in 4 years and then this today. I am livid.

Not sure how to proceed with this now 😤 will you update on your progress OP?

I'd contact your MP. They seem to be able to get government departments to communicate with you.

Are you sure it’s not a scam? Ie one of those where they scare you into thinking you have a debt, you then ring them and end up paying something you don’t owe? Similar to the Hmrc scam doing the rounds last year.

OP I made contact today and apparently it's a very old overpayment from tax credits that was passed to DWP and they are just acting on it now. I don't have the breakdown but they are sending information to me.
They couldn't explain it

Print suitably they'd have o get a Liability Order before being able to attach to earnings? Have you had anything from the Courts?

@thegcatsmother I contacted them and although no one could give me any insight in to what it was for the only way they would stop the DAE was by me agreeing a payment plan. This has bought me some time to investigate - they are apparently sending information out.
The DAE was the first communication I have had. Think OP was the same 😬

I had this when I started a new job I was 3 weeks into it and hadn't yet received my wage and was still on probation.

They wrote to my employer with an attachment of earnings for a £145 pound debt, my employer called me in and asked if I was financial trouble even though i'd passed my credit check, which was extremely humiliating, when I explained he was quite shocked at how quick they had done it. I was in a finance role and I was dismissed because of it.

How strange. I got one of these letters last week. They will have a job claiming it back from my employer as I haven't had one for 20 years. The only benefit I have ever received in my whole life was Child Benefit. We didn't even get Child Tax Credits. My kids are well and truly grown up now and I stopped getting CB long before they introduced thresholds, which would make no difference anyway because DH has never earned anyway near 50k a year.
In fact they owe me some tax back from a PPI payment, which I need to claim back.
I'm ignoring it for now.

@jelly79
This may be informative www.creditfix.co.uk/blog/direct-earnings-attachment/

Having worked in CTax, we had to obtain Liability Orders before we could attach to people's earnings or benefits. I just wondered if there was a legal process that had to be followed before the DWP could attach.

@jelly79
Have just found a PDF on YouGov, which says there is no requirement for the DWP to obtain a Liability Order.

@thegcatsmother thanks so much! I read they didn't need to do a liability order too. Pretty horrendous that they can write to your employer with no explanation of the debt to me. They are sending me all the paperwork though.

@ContraryMaryIII that is horrendous!! Did you make a formal complaint??

Hi everyone. I found out the cause was indeed tax credits from 5 years ago when I was with my partner. Had to be paid, but my ex has paid half.

This has been happening for a year or two now. I'm a welfare rights officer, and have had several queries from staff who suddenly get overpayment notices or deductions made for historic TC overpayments. One went back 8 years.

They've obviously been doing some sort of reconciliation of old tax data and linking the data to TC claims.

Hi everyone. I found out the cause was indeed tax credits from 5 years ago when I was with my partner. Had to be paid, but my ex has paid half. Well at least you know what it's for and he's paid half.