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DWP claiming overpayment from 29 years ago


When she logged in, they claim it's for an overpayment made in 1993 and they wrote to her on the 18th November 1994.
As far as I can remember we did have to repay an overpayment but it was taken from any benefits we had at the time.
As it's from so long ago we don't have any paperwork to look back on.
What would be the best way to approach this.
Comments
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Ask them how you can pay it back and at what rate, would be a good start?0
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I've never heard of anyone being able to log into any website to check for overpayments from DWP. Are you sure the letter is genuine?
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Sounds like a scam. Don't make sense.0
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How far back can DWP claim overpayments?
The DWP can usually only chase you to pay back overpayments that were made within the last six years. Any overpayments that were made to you more than six years ago are not typically recovered.
However, StepChange states that the DWP can use a Direct Earnings Attachment at any time for any previous debt. Therefore, you could still end up having to pay back overpayments that were made to you over six years ago.
A DWP overpayment debt can be written off if the overpayment was made over six years ago, or if repaying the debt is deemed detrimental to your or your family’s health and wellbeing.
For example, if repaying the debt is impossible without causing severe financial hardship to you or your children, the DWP will consider writing off the DWP debt. It’s not common for DWP debts to be written off because flexible and long-term repayment plans can be offered.
How far back can the DWP claim overpayments? (recap!)
In general, the DWP will only try to recover overpayments made to you within the last six years. But in theory, they can try to recover any overpayments made to you by taking money directly from your wages.
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You can call the DWP Debt Management team and ask them to provide evidence to support the fact that an overpayment was made. I would get them to log the fact that your recollection is that deductions were made from your beenfits in '93/94.The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.0
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poppy12345 said:I've never heard of anyone being able to log into any website to check for overpayments from DWP. Are you sure the letter is genuine?carmelbrulez said:Sounds like a scam. Don't make sense.
Repay and manage benefit money you owe: Part One - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The letter only came a couple of days ago so I'll have to get her to phone them.0 -
DWP have not time limit on how far they can gp back to reclaim overpayments.
Note it might not be a DWP overpayment, it could be a HMRC overpayment passed to DWP to reclaim (if from CTC or WTC for instance)
I would google DWP and contact them on the line provided on their website, confirm that they are wanting payment, including how much and from where the overpayment occured. At this point you can arrange a payment schedule etc.
Note if legitimate, DWP can take this from your OH earnings, also although this may not be the case here, but for others info if the CTC was a joint claim they may half the amount and request it from both claimants (regardless of where the payments were sent in the first instance)Proud to have dealt with our debtsStarting debt 2005 £65.7K.
Current debt ZERO.DEBT FREE0 -
Thanks for the replies.
As far as she can remember she came to an arrangement to pay the income support overpayment back and it was fully paid.
DWP said they wrote to her in November 1994, surely if no arrangement was made they would have followed it up back then, not leave it 29 years.0 -
I certainly wouldn't just accept that there is a valid debt and pay it. Back in the 1990s many systems were still at least partially manual rather than computer based. Ask for their records covering the relevant period before doing anything else. When I worked for DWP a friend of mine was a Decision Maker, i.e. one of the people who would look at claims where there was not a cut and dried, obvious answer. He worked for a time on overpayment claims and said that for many older cases it was impossible to prove that the money had not been repaid, because records were incomplete.
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