Pressure is mounting for the government to ease off on seeking money back on overpaid Universal Credit as the cost of living continues to put families under strain. Almost 15,000 Universal Credit claimants say the Government is wrongly asking them to repay some of their benefits, and shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth has branded the action as 'shameful'.
Usual face-to-face identity verification for Universal Credit claimants was paused at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is now checking to see if any claimants have been paid too much. Some people are being ordered to repay cash, with around 125,000 told they should not have had any Universal Credit at all.
Many claimants allege they are being wrongly asked to repay some of their benefits because they missed a message or phone call from the DWP. Mr Ashworth has joined members of the SNP in criticising the department's actions in pursuing the poorest families as they struggle to make ends meet in the wake of huge hikes in energy costs, food bills and fuel costs, as seen in The Chronicle.
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Scottish Nation Party MP Chris Stephens last month called for the Government to accept the responsibility for its own errors by scrapping the deduction of overpayments for which it has been at fault.
"That responsibility has wrongly been shifted onto hard-up households and this unjust practice must end," he said. His plea joined that of fellow SNP MP David Linden, who asked the Government to show compassion and “waive” the recovery of overpaid benefits. Mr Linden, whose constituency includes some of the most deprived wards in the Scotland, said the paybacks were pushing innocent people further into poverty.
Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth told the Independent: “It’s shameful that ministers are pursuing what could be thousands of people for debt they do not owe, in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Instead of parading around supporting their chosen leadership candidates, ministers in the DWP should be focused on their day jobs and solving the pressing problems in their department.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “During the pandemic, we rightly prioritised ensuring the welfare safety net reached those suddenly in difficulty. We have been contacting claimants via their preferred contact method to discuss aspects of claims we need to verify, and given them two weeks to respond. If we are belatedly provided evidence proving entitlement, we will reinstate benefit and cancel any debt straight away.”
Last month The Mirror reported that the Government spent more than £100m investigating benefits fraud in the last three years. The definition of benefits fraud by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is broad, and does not just cover people setting out to deceive. It includes "someone obtaining state benefit they are not entitled to" as well as "deliberately failing to report a change in their personal circumstances".
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