UC deductions

R200

I’ve just found out there are some other deductions coming off my UC

Other money you owe

Need help understanding other money you owe?

Court Fines minus ‑ £28.94

I’ve asked UC about this but they aren’t being very helpful 

What can I do I have no idea what this is for?

Or how to speak it

kaMelo

It looks like a third party deduction.
For fear of stating the obvious, do you have any outstanding court fines?

NedS

You will normally need to speak with the courts to find out what the fine is for. DWP will not know - they just receive an order that you own money for a fine imposed by the courts and they are to deduct it from your benefits. It would be a gross breach of your privacy for the courts to disclose personal information about you and your fines to DWP, other than the amount you owe.

tomtom256

It should have a reference number and which court requested the deduction showing on DWP's side of the claim.
You could ask for that so you know whch court to call and what reference to use.

HillStreetBlues

NedS said:

You will normally need to speak with the courts to find out what the fine is for. DWP will not know - they just receive an order that you own money for a fine imposed by the courts and they are to deduct it from your benefits. It would be a gross breach of your privacy for the courts to disclose personal information about you and your fines to DWP, other than the amount you owe.

That's not correct, fines and what they are for are in the public domain, a local rag might have a story "Mr Bloggs  was fined £10 for stepping on the cracks of the pavement" this is allowed. Breach of privacy is information that isn't  in the public domain as the head of Natwest found out.

R200

HillStreetBlues said:

NedS said:

You will normally need to speak with the courts to find out what the fine is for. DWP will not know - they just receive an order that you own money for a fine imposed by the courts and they are to deduct it from your benefits. It would be a gross breach of your privacy for the courts to disclose personal information about you and your fines to DWP, other than the amount you owe.

That's not correct, fines and what they are for are in the public domain, a local rag might have a story "Mr Bloggs  was fined £10 for stepping on the cracks of the pavement" this is allowed. Breach of privacy is information that isn't  in the public domain as the head of Natwest found out.

So UC should be able to tell me.

I have no idea about contacting courts, how does one go about that?

I will ask UC for details and if they can’t give them to me then please give me details of which court to contact and a reference number 

tomtom256

UC can only give you the reference number and court, as they do not have any other information, public domain or not. Hence that is all they can give you.

Once you have the reference number and court, you search for the courts telephone number and call them, quote the reference and they should be able to tell you what it's for.

HillStreetBlues

R200 said:

So UC should be able to tell me.

I have no idea about contacting courts, how does one go about that?

I will ask UC for details and if they can’t give them to me then please give me details of which court to contact and a reference number 

I don't know what the court shares with UC, but anything they do share isn't protected.

R200

There is max amount that is allowed to be taken from UC and if you are already there then no more can be taken

poppy12345

R200 said:

There is max amount that is allowed to be taken from UC and if you are already there then no more can be taken

That doesn't apply to 3rd party deductions.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/benefits/universal_credit/deductions_from_universal_credit_for_debts

The DWP can make third party deductions in respect of a maximum of three different debts at one time.

R200

poppy12345 said:

R200 said:

There is max amount that is allowed to be taken from UC and if you are already there then no more can be taken

That doesn't apply to 3rd party deductions.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/benefits/universal_credit/deductions_from_universal_credit_for_debts

The DWP can make third party deductions in respect of a maximum of three different debts at one time.

If you can make a case that it would put your family in extreme financial distress then it will be reversed 

not hard these days with raging inflation