A mum-of-two has won a battle against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to get an over £8,000 overpayment waived.
In a decision made on February 7, the High Court ruled that the DWP "unlawfully" tried and recover a debt worth £8,000 from the Universal Credit claimant.
It ruled the debt should not have to be repaid as it was caused by repeated mistakes by the DWP.
The Government department was taken to court by a Universal Credit claimant, known only as K, who was represented by the Public Law Project.
In a release published on the Public Law Projects website, the group shared how the overpayments came about due to "multiple mistakes" surrounding her allowance in 2019.
K is a single mum of two sons who both have autism and ADHD with associated complex care needs which meant she couldn't increase her working hours for her part-time job.
K told the DWP that her son had enrolled in an apprenticeship scheme providing the exact details of the scheme. She also queried how this might impact her allowance.
The Government department, however, told her it would not impact her payments and although querying multiple times, K continued to receive her normal Universal Credit payment which included "child element" and "disabled child element".
After 18 months, K was told that she had been overpaid £8,600 because her son had not been entitled to extra elements due to the type of apprenticeship scheme he has started.
Due to this error, K faced having to pay back the money through deductions to her monthly benefit allowance.
The Public Law Project said this would've meant K losing up to 15% of her standard allowance each month which was over £50.
The department refused to waive the debt multiple times and K with support from the Public Law Project and the North Bristol Advice Centre launched a judicial review of the DWP's refusals.
The review was around the DWP's interpretation of their Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide (BORG), which stated that the DWP has the discretion to waive overpayment recovery where appropriate.
After the Tribunal, the judge Mrs Justice Steyn DBE found that the DWP's refusal to waive the overpayment was "unlawful" as it failed to "consider the relevant factors".
The judge found that K gave all the information that was asked of her and “took all reasonable steps both to clarify her entitlement and to prevent any Universal Credit overpayment by actively querying her entitlement on at least four occasions.”
The judge also ruled that the DWP had breached K’s legitimate expectation by promising that she was entitled to the money, and then later going back on this promise by trying to recover it from her as an overpayment.
The judge ruled, however, that the policy itself was not found to be unlawful.
K said: “When I was told I owed DWP over £8,000 I was in disbelief. Paying it back even at a small amount a month would have taken me years and meant making day-to-day sacrifices for my family.
"The worst part was I knew I had done everything right and DWP were in the wrong."
“While the process of going to court has caused me a lot of stress, I finally feel I’ve been heard and I hope my case can be used by others in the future.
"I would urge anyone that finds themselves in my position of being ignored by the DWP to get help and advice, as I could not have done this without North Bristol Advice Centre and Public Law Project.”
The Public Law Project said the ruling of this case could be "significant" to others who have faced official benefit overpayments in the future.
A DWP spokesperson said: “We are aware of the recent High Court decision in relation to this case, and we are considering the judgment.
“We carefully balance our duty to the taxpayer to recover overpayments with our support for claimants, and safeguards are in place to ensure deductions are manageable.”
