Universal Credit

JJ2021S

I have a similar problem. I claimed UC between June - Oct 2020. As soon as I got a job I informed them & I received no further payments. Having never claimed any benefits before I assumed that my case was then closed. 

4 days ago I received a letter from DWP stating that I owed just over £1600. They gave me no reason or why or where it had come from. I was deeply distressed. The only thing it could have come from was the UC. I added up all the money I had received & it came to just under the amount they were demanding back. I rang UC & they said it was because they had tried to contact me in July 2021 to verify my ID & because it wasn't done that I why I had to pay it back. They put an appeal forward but it was rejected. 

Looking back in my emails I can see I has a couple of emails asking me to sign into the journal but I assumed it was just generic messages & I couldn't remember my log in details, I was also in the middle of applying for a new job. 

Previous to applying for UC I had worked for 20yrs & paid tax all those years. I'm so worried about how to pay back this money, I'm not sleeping well & it's affecting my mental health. In the last year I've battled back from a bad mental health breakdown, 8 months of therapy, got myself a job, then a new one with more hours, life finally felt like it was back on track & now this & I feel so upset. 

I just don't know what to do. Any advice would be greatly received. 

Alice_Holt

As advised in preceding posts, I would suggest:

1)  Formally submit a written Mandatory Reconsideration of their decision;

2)  Contact UC again and supply them with the ID verification they have requested;

You may wish to involve your MP / see if your local advice agency can help you.

If the mandatory reconsideration notice doesn't change the decision, then continue the appeal to tribunal.

(Links to the MR form can be found in previous posts on this thread).