Changing your name, moving house of having a new addition to your family are just some of things you need to tell the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)about to avoid a £50 fine if you claim Universal Credit or other benefits.
Millions of people claim benefits if they are unemployed or on a low income or unable to work for health reasons, but since October 2012, the DWP have had the power to impose a fixed rate civil penalty on claimants who have been overpaid. Government advice warns anyone could be fined £50 if they fail to let the authorities know of a change in circumstances.
If you do not report a change you might be paid too much - called an overpayment - and you will have to pay the money back, on top of the potential £50 penalty. In the worst case scenario, if the Government believes you deliberately did not report changes, you could be prosecuted for benefit fraud, which could lead to your benefits being stopped altogether, and/or a penalty of up to £5,000. These rules on civil penalties only apply to benefits and not to Tax Credits.
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The penalty will be added to the total amount of the overpayment and will be recovered by the same method. For each overpayment, only one civil penalty can be applied.
According to Turn2Us, for a civil penalty to apply the overpayment must:
Have occurred after October 1, 2012, and
Be an amount of £65.01 or more, and
Be recoverable.
The overpayment of benefit must have been caused by a person:
Making an incorrect statement, or
Negligently giving incorrect information,
and
That person not taking ‘reasonable steps’ to correct the error.
These are some of the changes you need to tell the DWP about:
- Changing your name or gender
- Finding or finishing a job, or changing work hours
- Change in income
- Starting or stopping education, training or an apprenticeship
- Moving house
- People moving in or out of the place you live (for example your partner, a child or lodger)
- The death of your partner or someone you live with
- Having a baby
- Starting or stopping caring for someone
- Getting married or divorced
- Starting or ending a civil partnership
- Going abroad for any length of time
- Going into hospital, a care home or sheltered accommodation
- Any changes to your medical condition or disability
- Changing your doctor
- Changes to your pension, savings, investments or property
- Changes to other money you get (for example student loans or grants, sick pay or money you get from a charity)
- Changes to the benefits you or anyone else in your house gets
- You or your partner getting back-pay for salary or earnings you’re owed
- Changes to your immigration status, if you’re not a British citizen
- If you claim Child Benefit, you also need to report changes to your child's circumstances - such as them staying in education after turning 16, or if they start paid work.
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