A young mum has been left with an unexpected debt that she says she can't afford after a Universal Credit blunder that wasn't her fault. Charlie Cotton, 23, went on maternity leave at the end of last year to care for daughter Darcie.
She started receiving Universal Credit payments, but an admin error meant she had, without her knowledge, been paid £738 more than she was owed, reports StokeonTrentLive. When the error was discovered, she was clobbered with a £50 penalty, despite the fact that it wasn't her fault.
Charlie had worked since she was 16 and, with it being the first time she had claimed benefits of any sort, she was unaware that she was being paid too much. The £50 penalty has been waived, but she is now faced having to repay the overpayment just as the cost of living is soaring.
Charlie said: "My earnings weren't declared correctly (by her employer), so Universal Credit did not receive the information it needed. As a result I've had to make two repayments so far, which have been taken off my entitlement. It's money I can't afford to have taken off as a sole parent."
Charlie added that she accepted that the money was more than she had been entitled to, but added: "You'd expect it to be right." Describing the impact the cost of living squeeze was having on her and six-month old Darcie, she said that after paying her rent, she was left with just £325 a month in Universal Credit income to live on.
The Burslem mum said she paid for her electricity and gas on a pre-payment meter, and had to limit herself to putting around £50 a month on it.
Charlie added: "If it's dark and I need to look at something, I have to walk around with the torch on my phone rather than put a lamp on. I probably do washing once a fortnight now.
"I eat at night but don't eat anything during the day. It's a mixture of not being able to afford it and knowing I would rather put food in my daughter's mouth. I would rather know I had bought food for her than for me."
She said it was particularly difficult providing everything on such a basic income while she was unable to work, while "Boris Johnson probably doesn't even know the cost of a loaf of bread". StokeonTrentLive recently reported that the number of people in North Staffordshire who were receiving Universal Credit sanctions had gone up since before the pandemic, with 399 being penalised this year compared to just 94 in February 2020.
Nationally, the number of people being sanctioned has doubled, which means the quadrupling of sanctions in North Staffordshire suggests people here are being hit harder than elsewhere.
On having to struggle on Universal Credit, Charlie added: "I think a lot of people are kind of ashamed to talk about it, but if people don't talk about it then no one knows how difficult it is."
A spokesman for the Department For Work and Pensions (DWP), said: "Unfortunately, Ms Cotton incurred a benefit overpayment after her employer was late in reporting her maternity pay. We will get in touch with Ms Cotton to provide support and information on discussing manageable repayments with our recovery team.”
