DWP demand for monies already repaid

Sausmeister

Letter demanding £423 from DWP received today. It states that failure to respond will lead to either:

1.recovery of money direct from employer
2. recovery of money through the courts
3. referral of money to a debt collection agency

The background. My wife before I met her was caring for her terminally ill grandad in 2002 and took a social emergency loan to help with living costs

Upon his death the same year she used money from his estate to repay this amount in cash. A record of the repayment was kept.

in 2007 we moved house and this receipt along with lots of other seeming redundant paperwork was binned

If we cannot prove this debt was repaid 11 years since it was actually repaid in cash, does that really render us liable to repay it a second time?

I am loathe to ignore this demand as I fear the consequences

But if I request all the details of the loan, surely all they will do is show the paperwork of the loan being taken out? I can hardly trust them to find us proof that we have repaid it.

all suggestions of what to do now are welcomed please?

missapril75

You're sure the amount requested is the amount repaid and not a balance of a larger amount?

Was the Cash taken in to the office? If so, the receipt you had will likely have a carbon type copy in a book as well as an entry in a different book. There are likely two different records at the time it was paid and that's before the social fund section would be involved. in recording anything (or not).

Now, that would be great if it was last month. They could dig it out. They probably don't even have the records from 11 years ago even if they could track it down without a date to look for.

Maybe just say what you have said here. But tell them where it was taken (approximately when, if you can) - describe what type of receipt it was and anything known about the procedure.

For example was the receipt a written one by the person physically receiving the cash and was there a second receipt as well, that was maybe posted later.

Was it exact money or was there some 'change' involved?

Perhaps mention whether there was any other claim or enquiry on the estate and if it was confirmed there was no claim to be made by DWP.

It's a different matter if it was your wife's debt rather than the usual recovery from estates (other threads here about that) but if she was involved in the estate it would make sense to repay her loan at the same time, so there's a certain logic in that.

Lastly, stress how long the receipt was kept and that it was reasonable not to have kept it beyond that point. Oh...especially if there had been some other opportunity for them to have brought it up before. Would she, for example, have had any other reason for contact with them between then and now where they could have followed it up?

Do it in a nice polite letter and they may well accept it has already been repaid.

You never know, there might have been some office upheaval or fire or something that resulted in a load of missing records.

More likely it might sound convincing and together with a bit of embarrassment about only doing something now could mean they accept your version.

Sausmeister

Thanks for this detailed reply. I have pressed my wife for fine details which she frankly can't provide me with, her memory is somewhat flaky which is a hinderence.

I think we will start by requesting full details from them, copies of the agreement and all records relating to this alleged debt. Perhaps these will help trigger a more detailed recollection of exactly how and when she paid.

Many thanks