Help - Pulling our hair out DWP

thomas68

I hope somebody can help us. My daughter received through the post an attachment of earnings order, basically saying she owes universal credit £3000 and they are taking it out of her wages! She has never claimed any benefits at all and knew nothing about it. After a lot of calls she has established that somebody has used her details to claim universal credit advances and then closed the account. The DWP have agreed to suspend the order for 4 days but the main issue we have is that universal credit are not agreeing to cancel the wage order, we dont know why they just are refusing to do it............Does anybody know what we can do as she is only 19 and cant afford to have £3000 taken out of her wages that she never recieved!!:mad::mad:

Comms69

thomas68 wrote: »

I hope somebody can help us. My daughter received through the post an attachment of earnings order, basically saying she owes universal credit £3000 and they are taking it out of her wages! She has never claimed any benefits at all and knew nothing about it. After a lot of calls she has established that somebody has used her details to claim universal credit advances and then closed the account. The DWP have agreed to suspend the order for 4 days but the main issue we have is that universal credit are not agreeing to cancel the wage order, we dont know why they just are refusing to do it............Does anybody know what we can do as she is only 19 and cant afford to have £3000 taken out of her wages that she never recieved!!:mad::mad:

This does happen occasionally, but it's also quite a common scam which many young people fall for - do double check with her that she didn't give anyone her details in exchange for 'free' money

pmlindyloo

Please read this:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/09/universal-credit-scam-leaves-claimants-pounds-hundreds-out-of-pocket

It is not clear from your post but it seems (if I have read it correctly) that this attachment of wages has not actually happened yet? It also seems that the order has been suspended for 4 days. There will be an investigation and if it is proved that your daughter was scammed then she will not have to pay back the money.

Give the DWP a little time to sort this out or telephone them again and ask them to explain the procedure. Have paper and pen ready to write down what is going to happen. Be sure to ask whether the attachment of earnings is going ahead or not. If the order has been executed then ask how it can be stopped, how long it will take, and (if any money has already been taken from your daughter's earnings) how it is refunded.

I am sure it will all get sorted out but if you are not getting the information you need or they are being extremely slow then contact your local councillor or MP.

[Deleted User]

I know from my letter the DWP had to raise for my online journal coz letters aren't posted anymore, (madness really) it does say if you don't talk to their collections they reserve the right to go for attachments of earnings at 40% after one month alone and your employer can charge you an administration fee.

Claims that involve a fit note are tricker to shut down I learnt and it was said HMRC hadn't helped by failure or lateness to feed earnings. I kinda got the impression this is quite a failing of universal credit
- not once was I asked to sign anything though like on old JSA. So no idea how you prove anything except hope of live feeds and interaction with an online account.

Going to them of my own ferlition (don't think I've spelt the word right apols) saw the civil penalty wiped. Personally I couldn't deny what I'd seen in my bank account even with an overdrawn account. I went through to the collections dept within a hour after talking with the DWP and collections are just call us in a few days, "we won't have it transferred to us straight away" at which point I understood you do get a month by own means to get it to them and setup repayment so your daughter's situation sounds advanced.

Perhaps your daughter will need to bring her employer into it. Only good thing when you owe DWP you seem to get an express telephone line. No waiting.