Universal Credit dispute

Alice_Holt

rangout wrote: »

In the meantime, I have no money and they have stopped my housing benefit

Is there any way I can escalate this?

1) http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/judicial-review-pre-action-letters

http://www.cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/12%20CPAG-JR-template-letter-RTI-incorrect-earnings-Feb2019docx_0.docx ???
You would have to word the letter with you as both the the claimant and the person initiating JR (unless a local law centre can take this up). The important thing is to get it in front of the DWP legal team (not decision makers) who then have 14 days to reply. Of course you won't be following up with an actual JR (hugely costly), but it's a way to get DWP errors looked at quickly by someone with the authority to act.

2) Visit your MP's at their surgery and ask them to intervene with the DWP ???

3) Complaint letter ???
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

rangout

Thanks. There's one for an rti dispute that looks like what I need

Ineededaname

rangout wrote: »

Well, still no update after two and a half weeks, but now they've told me it might be another month before they make a decision! I handed them the information they requested over 2 weeks ago (bank statements), but they only escalated to their line manager last Tuesday

In the meantime, I have no money and they have stopped my housing benefit

Is there any way I can escalate this? I have a horrible feeling this is going to happen again this month

Did you reactivate your claim or not? If the claim is closed then you aren't being assessed for the next payment! If you don't reclaim before the end of the assessment period, you will lose the next payment. (Unless they actually do decide in your favour, reopen from date of closure and issue any missed payments maybe).

Being advised to leave your claim closed makes no sense to me. There's no gaps in your claim if you reclaim (unless you leave it too long!) and they can continue to deal with the dispute of a previous payment with the claim still open.

calcotti

Ineededaname wrote: »

Did you reactivate your claim or not? If the claim is closed then you aren't being assessed for the next payment! If you don't reclaim before the end of the assessment period, you will lose the next payment. (Unless they actually do decide in your favour, reopen from date of closure and issue any missed payments maybe).

Being advised to leave your claim closed makes no sense to me. There's no gaps in your claim if you reclaim (unless you leave it too long!) and they can continue to deal with the dispute of a previous payment with the claim still open.

I completely agree with this. OP needs to make sure they have an open claim.

rangout

I was getting different advice depending on who I asked (Job Centre said wait, woman on phone line said reopen it), so I reopened it

Just as well as my landlord got a letter earlier this week telling him my housing benefit was stopped. Something else I need to sort out:p

calcotti

rangout wrote: »

I was getting different advice depending on who I asked (Job Centre said wait, woman on phone line said reopen it), so I reopened it

Just as well as my landlord got a letter earlier this week telling him my housing benefit was stopped. Something else I need to sort out:p

If you're on Universal Credit you're not getting Housing Benefit. The help for rent is part of your Universal Credit claim so if your UC claim is closed then payments to your landlord will stop.

rangout

That's now over 4 weeks since they closed my account. They found in my favour last Thursday, but I might only get the money at the end of this week

Now I looked at my journal and it's happened again. Another zero payment because if a phantom wage. This is affecting my housing benefit and I'll now be 2 months behind on the rent

How do I escalate this? I'm not wasting another month waiting for them to investigate