How can I access statements from a closed Universal Credit account?

julieanne1811

Between 2019 and 2020 I received UC (for just over a year). In July 2020 I was told that it was a mistake and shouldn't have been awarded. A couple of days later my account statements were all reset to zero, giving the impression that I hadn't had any payments from UC at all. Some time after this I was contacted by the over-payment people about repaying all the UC I'd been given (over £3000).

Because I was working (seasonal invigilation work), I wouldn't repay anything unless I earned over £400. I never earned more than this.  However, now I've had to stop working because of increasing ill-health and am in receipt of PIP. I was asked to repay 1/3 of my monthly PIP payments to UC but can't cope with this, so have agreed to pay £20pm, which is still more than I would have had to pay if I was working (my PIP payments are around £300pm). 

But this is the thing: the error was entirely on the side of Universal Credit, and they've tried to cover their tracks by changing my statements to look as if I hadn't had any UC payments. At the same time they are reclaiming money from me. 

I didn't take a screen-shot of the altered statements and am finding it impossible to access them. UC say they can't access closed UC accounts. 

poppy12345

julieanne1811 said:

Between 2019 and 2020 I received UC (for just over a year). In July 2020 I was told that it was a mistake and shouldn't have been awarded. A couple of days later my account statements were all reset to zero, giving the impression that I hadn't had any payments from UC at all. Some time after this I was contacted by the over-payment people about repaying all the UC I'd been given (over £3000).

Because I was working (seasonal invigilation work), I wouldn't repay anything unless I earned over £400. I never earned more than this.  However, now I've had to stop working because of increasing ill-health and am in receipt of PIP. I was asked to repay 1/3 of my monthly PIP payments to UC but can't cope with this, so have agreed to pay £20pm, which is still more than I would have had to pay if I was working (my PIP payments are around £300pm). 

But this is the thing: the error was entirely on the side of Universal Credit, and they've tried to cover their tracks by changing my statements to look as if I hadn't had any UC payments. At the same time they are reclaiming money from me. 

I didn't take a screen-shot of the altered statements and am finding it impossible to access them. UC say they can't access closed UC accounts. 

Even if it was an error by DWP all UC overpayments are recoverable. I also don't believe you will be able access any of those past statements. What was the reason they said you were overpaid?

NedS

Firstly, all over-payments are recoverable, it doesn't matter if it is DWP's fault. That's the law.

When there has been an over-payment, the case manager will manually recalculate all previous APs issuing new statements for those APs that show the correct amount of any awards. That's the process, it's not DWP/UC covering their tracks. You have your bank statements which show how much they originally paid you (in error).

calcotti

NedS said:

Firstly, all over-payments are recoverable, it doesn't matter if it is DWP's fault. That's the law.

When there has been an over-payment, the case manager will manually recalculate all previous APs issuing new statements for those APs that show the correct amount of any awards. That's the process, it's not DWP/UC covering their tracks. You have your bank statements which show how much they originally paid you (in error).

If a claimant does a Subject Access Request will they see earlier versions of the statements or do the earlier versions vanish completely even from DWP records (rather than just the claimant interface)?

NedS

Even after a claim has been closed, the claimant still has access to their statements. When logging in, they land on a page that says Your claim has been closed. At the bottom, there are buttons to make a new claim. In the middle, among the text, there is a link to payments which shows all previous statements. These will show the corrected statements, not the original statements. I see no value in the original statements, as they were wrong.

UC staff have no access to the original statements once they have been updated/corrected. More correctly, there are no original statements. There is only one statement each AP and the "original" statement has been updated/amended/regenerated, so there are no copies to the best of my knowledge of the earlier versions. Whether this information is stored somewhere and accessible in the event of a SAR I do not know.

calcotti

Thanks, Ned.

Robbie64

NedS said:

Even after a claim has been closed, the claimant still has access to their statements. When logging in, they land on a page that says Your claim has been closed. At the bottom, there are buttons to make a new claim. In the middle, among the text, there is a link to payments which shows all previous statements. These will show the corrected statements, not the original statements. I see no value in the original statements, as they were wrong.

UC staff have no access to the original statements once they have been updated/corrected. More correctly, there are no original statements. There is only one statement each AP and the "original" statement has been updated/amended/regenerated, so there are no copies to the best of my knowledge of the earlier versions. Whether this information is stored somewhere and accessible in the event of a SAR I do not know.

I would have thought for audit and security purposes that the original statements must still be accessible in one format or another. I thought it was just the UC account which is available to view online which would no longer have available any of the original determinations.

NedS

Robbie64 said:

NedS said:

Even after a claim has been closed, the claimant still has access to their statements. When logging in, they land on a page that says Your claim has been closed. At the bottom, there are buttons to make a new claim. In the middle, among the text, there is a link to payments which shows all previous statements. These will show the corrected statements, not the original statements. I see no value in the original statements, as they were wrong.

UC staff have no access to the original statements once they have been updated/corrected. More correctly, there are no original statements. There is only one statement each AP and the "original" statement has been updated/amended/regenerated, so there are no copies to the best of my knowledge of the earlier versions. Whether this information is stored somewhere and accessible in the event of a SAR I do not know.

I would have thought for audit and security purposes that the original statements must still be accessible in one format or another. I thought it was just the UC account which is available to view online which would no longer have available any of the original determinations.

You may well be correct. I guess a SAR would establish that.

tomtom256

The statements aren't available online as they get overrriden, however the original calculation used in creating the original statements will be available as this is system generated and remains regardless of any manual award changes etc.

julieanne1811

poppy12345 said:

julieanne1811 said:

Between 2019 and 2020 I received UC (for just over a year). In July 2020 I was told that it was a mistake and shouldn't have been awarded. A couple of days later my account statements were all reset to zero, giving the impression that I hadn't had any payments from UC at all. Some time after this I was contacted by the over-payment people about repaying all the UC I'd been given (over £3000).

Because I was working (seasonal invigilation work), I wouldn't repay anything unless I earned over £400. I never earned more than this.  However, now I've had to stop working because of increasing ill-health and am in receipt of PIP. I was asked to repay 1/3 of my monthly PIP payments to UC but can't cope with this, so have agreed to pay £20pm, which is still more than I would have had to pay if I was working (my PIP payments are around £300pm). 

But this is the thing: the error was entirely on the side of Universal Credit, and they've tried to cover their tracks by changing my statements to look as if I hadn't had any UC payments. At the same time they are reclaiming money from me. 

I didn't take a screen-shot of the altered statements and am finding it impossible to access them. UC say they can't access closed UC accounts. 

Even if it was an error by DWP all UC overpayments are recoverable. I also don't believe you will be able access any of those past statements. What was the reason they said you were overpaid?

They said I shouldn't have been given UC at all because I have a pension that takes me over the limit.

julieanne1811

NedS said:

Firstly, all over-payments are recoverable, it doesn't matter if it is DWP's fault. That's the law.

When there has been an over-payment, the case manager will manually recalculate all previous APs issuing new statements for those APs that show the correct amount of any awards. That's the process, it's not DWP/UC covering their tracks. You have your bank statements which show how much they originally paid you (in error).

Thank you - yes, I understand that it needs repaying. I'm just cross that it took them about 14 months to find out it was awarded erroneously, and then (appeared to) remove(d) evidence of payments made to me.