DWP chasing an old debt

teppyminds

Basically I agreed I owed an overpayment in Income Support back in 1999 I disputed the amount and it went to a Tribunial, I recieved a letter from them in Dec 1999 stating that they allowed my appeal, and they would recalculate the amounts.
It stated that they would contact me and they never did.

Until today demanding a whole different amount and payment by the end of April 2011 this is over 11years ago.
What do I do?

Hannah_10

You put what you have just told us in writing and you send it to the signed for. See what their response is.

teppyminds

The trouble is I don't know thats what it is for and I don't want to speak to them as on some of these sites says if you respond it gives them legal right to harrass you?? so confused??

fermi

Who has contacted you demanding this?

Culex

teppyminds wrote: »

The trouble is I don't know thats what it is for and I don't want to speak to them as on some of these sites says if you respond it gives them legal right to harrass you??

Nobody can have the "legal right" to harass another, as harassment can be a criminal offence.

Chrisblue1962

Sadly Teppyminds, I don't think HM Govt debts are ever staute-barred but I would write to the sender of the letter you received asking for a full written breakdown showing what was paid to you, when and how the aledged overpayment arose. Give them 14 days to reply and a further 21 days to provide the breakdown. If you don't get a satisfactory reply, write to your MP as having previously worked in DWP, they really jump if they get an MP Complaint.

fermi

Chrisblue1962 wrote: »

Sadly Teppyminds, I don't think HM Govt debts are ever staute-barred

Debts to DWP and other government departments can be statute barred.

Only tax and duty cannot.

Being statute barred means that DWP could not recover it through the courts, but they could still ask for it back or deduct from future benefits.

That is why I was asking who is demanding repayment now?

If it's a debt collector then you can probably tell them to get lost as the debt is disputed and likely statute barred, and require them to return it to DWP.

Then you sort it out/dispute it with DWP direct.

Hannah_10

It's DCA's (debt collection agencies) that harass you, and credit lenders like banks, credit cards and catalogs. The DWP aren't known for employing any of the really iffy tactics that I would be warning you about if it were a DCA or certain credit cards chasing you. They're just people. Between you and I (and the entire net now) they are often people who find thier jobs really uninspiring and who long for someone nice to talk to. So I wouldn't worry about ringing the DWP, they're not going to harass you. You can ring, it'd be Ok, you don't been to be "on guard" with them. They play by all of the rules, they're sometimes just a bit forgetful or make a few mistakes is all.

I said write because it often gets a better response. A call can get lost a bit, as the right person you need to speak to might not happen to be there that day, or they might lose the post-it note that says to call you back. That's the sort of levels of worry I'd have with them, just innocently meant human error is all, they are not the evil DCA's. I would absolutely have told you if I thought you needed to be warned about something

teppyminds

Hi all, Thanks for your comments..
The demand letter is addressed from DWP Debt Management. At Contact Centre Trafford and a Po Box number then an address in Gloustershire??