Universal credit question

[kirinm]

I know nothing about universal credit and I'm asking on behalf of a family member. During covid he was / is a chef. He immediately couldn't work and was one of the last to be able to work again.

During that time he claimed universal credit. He stopped claiming as soon as he was able to work again.

His employer forwarded an email they had received from the UC people in which they are saying he's been overpaid and they are taking money directly from his earnings. Apparently he didn't respond to their requests for proof of rent.

He's tried calling them but can't get thorough. He checked his online account and believes from what he can see that the correspondence he's missed all came after he stopped claiming - so he'd stopped checking whatever the online system is.

He didn't overclaim - and what he did receive didn't cover all of his rent anyway. He will be able to prove his rent expenses for whatever period they've asked for but he doesn't know how to. I googled and can see that you can ask for a mandatory review (or something similarly worded) but that has to be within a short time frame which he is presumably passed.

Can he do anything? I've no idea who he could contact if he can't actually get through to UC.

I've just re-read that. He provided proof of his rent etc when first making the claim (that was a requirement) so this second request for proof happened some time afterwards and more importantly after he'd stopped claiming.

It might be that his rent was never verified because of covid. Claims were put into payment automatically. When the covid restrictions were lifted review teams were set up to retrospectively complete the verification process. If he failed to respond to this then the rent costs paid to him would be treated as an overpayment. I'm guessing his claim was never closed even if he was getting NIL awards due to earnings

He needs to call as soon as the phone lines open, is it 8am? You won't get through unless you do this but if you call soon as they open you get through right away. he needs to speak to them and ask them for proof of the overpayment firstly and maybe ask for proof of notification.

take the person's name and time of the call and get the info sent out and then challenge it from there.

Did he provide a copy tenancy agreement or just write what his rent was on the application form?

if he only did the latter then yes they can claim that the rent element was not payable as he did not comply with the requirements to claim it. The rent element will almost never be the same as private rental as local housing allowances are set ridiculously low

He should ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration as this will give more detail on why they say he has received more than he ought. Once he has this info and if he accepts he ballsed up then the best he can do is negotiate a repayment plan based on his current financial situation

He needs to call them. During covid many claims went ahead without the thorough checks being done and there was a lot of fraud so they are just checking now that those who received UC were actually eligible. It sounds like they want more evidence of rent costs and have asked for it and he has not responded so they have refused him rent element. He needs to ask for a mandatory reconsideration and supply whatever evidence they want. Sounds like they asked him a while ago for it to have already gone to his employer to be reclaimed. As for them not covering all his rent , that would depend on his local housing allowance and if rent was more than that he would have been expected to make up the rest from his other Uc elements.

Thanks everyone. That's really helpful. He definitely has proof of his rent but whether or not he actually provided it, I'm not sure.

I did appreciate that he wouldn't get all of his rent covered - I just meant that he wasn't being vastly overpaid or anything. He claimed what he was entitled to claim.

I'll tell him to call at 8am and keep a note of who he speaks to and to request a mandatory reconsideration.

He had arranged a call with them yesterday but they didn't call. So he's having to chase them up again. Ironic that it's okay for them to ignore him but not vice versa.