Help dwp deduction of earnings

[bellalou1234]

Hi I hope someone can help..I'm an nhs nurse and checked my payslip online last month and noticed it was alot less than expected.. there was a deduction of earning for 463..I was shocked rang dwp, couodnt pass the security of when i last recieved a letter.

Turns out theyve had my last address on record. The debt is for an overpayment of income support from the year 2001 when my daughter was a baby. They have said i can have the money back if i do a regular deduction of earnings so agreed £40 per month.. and have a refund of the 463 minus 40... I'm still waiting messed about my payroll hasnt released the money, they say they have..I'm so hard up.

Has anyone had this happen to them? Are they allowed to chase money from 20 years ago? I dont mind paying, but have been left in financial hardship..

No surely they carnt go back 20 years… they don’t back pay anyone 20 days back so why should they have the right to chase back 20 year

Government makes my blood boil

I didn't think they could go back more than 6 years... sounds a bit suspect to me.

From the Benefits Overpayment Recovery Guide.

Statute of Limitations for Recovery
5.111 Other than recovery by Civil Action, for England and Wales there are no time limits for recovery of a benefit debt. While the policy is to consider abandoning some debts based on the cost effectiveness of pursuing recovery, the legal right to recover does not expire in England and Wales, and DWP retains the right to recover the debt where it is cost effective to do so.
5.112 In Scotland the debt is abandoned 20 years from the date of the last effective recovery, or 20 years from the date of the last relevant claim (such as any action by the Department to recover the debt).
5.113 A compulsory deduction or recovery from arrears of benefit is treated as a relevant claim where the recovery is not disputed by the claimant (Scotland only).

Its disgusting I had no prior warning and cant afford to be left 450 down. The customer service is terrible. They dont care that the csa never once fought for a payment of child maintenance. If u could I would see a solicitor, in sure i would have needed to be notified.

Unfortunately the DWP are a law unto themselves. They can go back as far as they want to, often with very little proof.

You can submit a complaint, and go to the independent examiner if you're not satisfied with their response. Your MP might be helpful, depending on their leaning.

Rip Off Britain highlighted the issue last night (it's on catch up). Worth a watch, if anything just to know you're not alone.

Get help from CAB.

Were you ever told you'd been overpaid? If not, I'd ask them to exercise their discretion not to recover the debt, on the basis that you've been denied the opportunity to challenge their decision because it was so long ago.

It worked for a client of mine some years ago, when they couldn't find any trace of ever sending her notification.

I knew someone this happened to like 15y previously and several house moves. It was for crisis loan that they thought had been paid back 13y previous as their income was reduced to payback. But no one keeps letters that long ago if they think debt has been paid the DWP didn’t have proof anything just took the money out wages. Think was £500 and so took £150 month on wages over £600 it was large chunk. They are law unto the sleeves. Keep every bit paper work.