Universal credit fraud

ben_cooper01

Hi

On March the 31st I made a claim for universal credit due to the lockdown measures. May the 4th I was due to receive my first payment, however when I checked my account I had not received it so I immediately checked my universal credit journal where it stated that I had closed my claim, which I hadn’t. I called the universal credit helpline and was told that there must have been a mistake and my case manager would call me back within 24 hours. I tried a couple more times and was told the same thing and again nobody contacted me. Next I called citizens advice who informed me that my claim was closed because another claim had been set up under my name so I called universal credit again to tell them that this was a clear case of fraud and was told once again that my case manager will call me in the next 24 hour and yet again they never did. This went around in the same loop for the next three weeks, and at one point I even tried to set up a new claim which was again cancelled. Eventually I managed to speak to someone who went out his was to help me and after being put on hold for nearly an hour I was informed that my case was now in the hands of the CFCD (counter fraud) and if I needed further information I should contact my local council as it was now out the hands of universal credit, and I was even advised not to make a new claim as it could further complicate matters. So for the last two weeks I have been trying to contact my local council who never answer the phone, sometimes it’s engaged but most of the time they just cut my call off. I tried to call citizens advice again who say they can’t help me, I even tried writing to my local MP for advice but again nothing. It’s now 6 weeks since I should have had my first payment and I’m broke and desperate, and to make matters worse I can’t apply for any jobs as I have no money to travel. I’m at a compete dead end and don’t know what else I can do. Any advice at all would be much appreciated.

Thanks

calcotti

I think you need to try DWP again. I don’t understand why they would suggest you speak to your local council as UC has nothing to do with them.

[Deleted User]

How do citizens advice know another claim had been made in your name? Or have I missed something? 

calcotti

MarkN88 said:

How do citizens advice know another claim had been made in your name? Or have I missed something? 

Possibly it was the Help to Claim service who spoke to DWP - just speculating.

[Deleted User]

calcotti said:

MarkN88 said:

How do citizens advice know another claim had been made in your name? Or have I missed something? 

Possibly it was the Help to Claim service who spoke to DWP - just speculating.

Oh yeah I never thought of that. 

huckster

My guess is that if you know nothing about another claim, before the claim you made was closed, is that you may have been subject to identity fraud.  
Or if you have been in a relationship with a partner, they have made a claim including one for yourself, which has been linked to form a joint claim and they have received payment for a joint claim.  Then when you have attempted to make a claim in your name, it is has flagged up the new claim as being a duplicate, so they have closed it. 
It could be either of the above, so get checking with partners, check your bank records, check credit records and if appropriate contact Action Fraud. 

If you made sufficient national insurance contributions, have you looked into a New Style JSA claim.
Local Councils can offer one-off help, if you are facing a crisis situation.  Visit the local Councils website to see if there is any online application.

tomtom256

If it was ID fraud they should have given you a number to call, as there is a team dealing with this.

TELLIT01

The UC system should not permit two claims to be set up using the same National Insurance number.  The problem is far more likely to be a glitch in the system than "a clear case of fraud".  Given the number of claims being processed, along with the reduced staff numbers I'm not surprised that the occasional problem bubbles up.  Give them time to work out what has happened and to try to sort it.

tomtom256

TELLIT01 said:

The UC system should not permit two claims to be set up using the same National Insurance number.  The problem is far more likely to be a glitch in the system than "a clear case of fraud".  Given the number of claims being processed, along with the reduced staff numbers I'm not surprised that the occasional problem bubbles up.  Give them time to work out what has happened and to try to sort it.

Owing to how you make a claim, you an create several claims, as the NINO is input at a later date.
Where ID fraud has occurred, people are not aware a claim has been made for UC until the NINO is matched, but by this time the damage is already done for legacy benefits, as only when matched with a NINO are tax credits notified to stop the claim.

The unsuspecting person then gets a letter from tax credits stating your claim has stopped or realises tax credits haven't been paid and then contact HRMC to be told your claim has ended.