Hardship repayment causing more hardship

Bum2018

Hi,
I'm looking for help. I got an unfair sanction of just 7 days,which is being appealled. I had to get a hardship payment on top of last months UC which was about £75.


I am due payment in less than 7 days so my account has been updated online and they're taking the hardship payment in one go leaving me in a position where I won't have enough money to get by.



What's my options ? Surely it can't be to try get another hardship as that will just leave me in this position again in a months time.


Thanks for any help.

pmlindyloo

Bum2018 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking for help. I got an unfair sanction of just 7 days,which is being appealled. I had to get a hardship payment on top of last months UC which was about £75.


I am due payment in less than 7 days so my account has been updated online and they're taking the hardship payment in one go leaving me in a position where I won't have enough money to get by.



What's my options ? Surely it can't be to try get another hardship as that will just leave me in this position again in a months time.


Thanks for any help.

Have you complied with your claimant commitment since your sanction? For instance, if you were sanctioned because you did not attend an interview/did not do your work requirements have you since complied?

I suggest you put a note in your journal asking them to suspend payment of the hardship payment whilst you are appealing the sanction/until this is settled because payment would cause you hardship.

Give them dates of the sanction/appeal etc etc.

If this is refused then you will need to ask them for a repayment plan and go through the rigmarole of producing evidence of why you cannot pay it back in one 'go'.

I am presuming that your sanction has now been lifted and you are receiving your full UC minus the deduction for the hardship payment.

Bum2018

Yeh, sanction is over and i've complied with my commitments. I think my issue might be that the payment has already been sent to my bank account which means they now can't suspend the hardship repayment as its already been removed ?

pmlindyloo

Bum2018 wrote: »

Yeh, sanction is over and i've complied with my commitments. I think my issue might be that the payment has already been sent to my bank account which means they now can't suspend the hardship repayment as its already been removed ?

I thought you said it was due in less than 7 days?

You might as well write in your journal and see what they say.

Bum2018

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I thought you said it was due in less than 7 days?

You might as well write in your journal and see what they say.

They finally got back to me and said theres nothing they can do. So now I'm left without a pot to !!!! in.

calcotti

Unfortunately DWP are allowed to do this. The standard recovery rate is a maximum of 40% of the standard allowance which is therefore £100.71 if you are below 25, £127.13 if you are over 25. I believe the DWP can vary this to take less but you can see that £75 is already significantly below the maximum permitted.

Bum2018

calcotti wrote: »

Unfortunately DWP are allowed to do this. The standard recovery rate is a maximum of 40% of the standard allowance which is therefore £100.71 if you are below 25, £127.13 if you are over 25. I believe the DWP can vary this to take less but you can see that £75 is already significantly below the maximum permitted.

Thanks for reply.


Is there anything I can do ? They advised to try get a crisis grant. They're difficult to get from what I read.

calcotti

Crisis grants apply to Scotland - I don’t know if that’s where you live.
Looking at the information here https://www.mygov.scot/scottish-welfare-fund/crisis-grants/ i’m Not sure that you would qualify.