The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that benefit claimants will be able to ask for a review into a previous request to stop (waive) Recoverable Hardship Payment (RHP) repayments made between January 1, 2014 and January 11,2021. People can now begin gathering evidence to support their query ahead of applications opening on December 19, 2022.
Recoverable Hardship Payments provide money to claimants who have seen their benefits reduced by sanctions or a fraud penalty. Claimants have to apply for them with evidence of need, and each request is reviewed individually.
Hardship payments must be repaid by the claimant, however, claimants can request for the recovery of these payments to be waived, and must provide further evidence to show that paying back the money is either unaffordable or would affect their or their family’s health or wellbeing.
The DWP has started looking at previous waiver requests that took place prior to January 11, 2021.
A new guidance page on GOV.UK explains the process and asks claimants to share evidence if they feel their RHP should be waived.
Applications can only be considered if a request was made to waive the RHP between January 1, 2014 and January 11, 2021 and was refused at the time. The Debt Management team will use the evidence supplied to check the claimant’s circumstances to see if they would have qualified.
The application window will open on GOV.UK here, on December 19, 2022.
How to ask DWP to review decision you must repay a hardship payment
You can ask DWP to review its decision not to stop the repayment of your hardship payment if all of the following apply:
- You asked DWP (either Universal Credit or DWP Debt Management) to waive the repayment of a hardship payment between January 1, 2014 and January 11, 2021
- DWP refused your request to waive the repayment
- You have repaid the hardship payment
You will also need to show that either:
- You could not afford to repay the hardship payment at that time
- Repaying it had a significant effect on your or your family’s health or wellbeing - this means that it caused a health condition or made a health condition worse
People living in Scotland, England and Wales may submit an application to DWP.
How to apply
You can apply from December 19, 2022. On that date, an application form will be published on GOV.UK.
DWP guidance warns that applications received before that date will not be accepted, but you must apply before June 19, 2023.
Evidence you need to submit
You will need to provide evidence from the time you were repaying your hardship payment.
DWP will need to see evidence that:
- You could not afford to repay your hardship payment, or
- Repaying your hardship payment affected your or your family’s health or wellbeing
This could include:
- Financial information from the time, such as bank statements, information about loans, or letters from creditors
- Information from a doctor or other medical professional saying that repaying the money caused a health condition or made it worse
You will also need to provide information about your income and living costs at the time, however, DWP advises that if you do not have all of this information, you can still apply - but it will help your application if you can provide as much information as possible.
You can also write a letter that answers the questions on the form.
Why this is happening
DWP has reviewed its policy about when it asks for a Universal Credit hardship payment to be repaid.
You may get a hardship payment if your Universal Credit has been reduced because of a fraud penalty or a sanction. When the reduction has ended, you usually need to pay back the hardship payment through deductions from your benefit.
If the repayment is waived, this means you do not have to pay it back.
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