Universal Credit account closed because of overpayment. Can I reopen it?

Fordums

Hey guys, newbie here.

So a couple of years ago I was on Universal Credit but got a maintenance job at a local caravan park, the job was seasonal though so I kept my Universal Credit account open to keep me going through the winter months. Everything was good until last summer when my work for some unknown reason paid me my wage without tax for a couple of months despite the fact I was still working full time, this of course triggered my Universal Credit to be paid to me and my local job centre started asking me to attend meetings again. I told DWP multiple times that I was still working full time and was unable to attend meetings but I was still paid Universal credit anyway. Eventually work started paying me as normal and I got a message from DWP telling me I'd been overpaid Universal credit and I owed X amount, unfortunately at the time I couldn't afford the overpayment and I told them this, moving onto the beginning of this year my account was closed then last week I was told by my employer that they were having some major construction work done to the park and that I may have to stop working until the end of the summer. This is frustrating for me as I may need to go back on Universal Credit and still haven't paid off what I owe DWP yet, unfortunately I don't have the money to pay what I owe to them outright.

It is it possible to possible to pay back what I owe monthly? I'm thinking about signing on again but I'm scared that I might not be allowed to open a new claim, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

NedS

Firstly, you should make another claim for UC. You can use your old account to do this - login online and open a claim (or re-open your old claim).

If the debt has been passed to debt management, you can negotiate a monthly repayment plan that you can afford. Otherwise repayments will be automatically deducted monthly from your UC claim.

Fordums

NedS said:

Firstly, you should make another claim for UC. You can use your old account to do this - login online and open a claim (or re-open your old claim).

If the debt has been passed to debt management, you can negotiate a monthly repayment plan that you can afford. Otherwise repayments will be automatically deducted monthly from your UC claim.

So I can just reapply for UC and be back on it and go to my local job centre like before? I'm not sure currently if I'm paying off what I owe, I believe it's automatically coming off what I earn each month. Obviously I'm happy to pay back what I owe them I just can't afford to pay it all off right now so if I can pay off what I owe monthly whilst still claiming for UC the next few months that would be ideal.

NedS

Fordums said:

NedS said:

Firstly, you should make another claim for UC. You can use your old account to do this - login online and open a claim (or re-open your old claim).

If the debt has been passed to debt management, you can negotiate a monthly repayment plan that you can afford. Otherwise repayments will be automatically deducted monthly from your UC claim.

So I can just reapply for UC and be back on it and go to my local job centre like before? I'm not sure currently if I'm paying off what I owe, I believe it's automatically coming off what I earn each month. Obviously I'm happy to pay back what I owe them I just can't afford to pay it all off right now so if I can pay off what I owe monthly whilst still claiming for UC the next few months that would be ideal.

Yes, you can log into your UC account using your existing username and password and reclaim UC at any time.