Thousands Ordered To Repay Benefits As £500m Clawed Back In Pandemic Payments

Nearly 15,000 people say they have been wrongly ordered to pay back universal credit payments, as the government attempts to claw back £500m in pandemic benefit handouts.

- May Bulman

Many have been told to repay the money in error simply because they missed phone calls or messages from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) requesting evidence as it carries out retrospective checks, according to a charity supporting claimants.

The department has told 125,000 people that they were not eligible for the payments, with most being told they owe thousands of pounds after it suspended face-to-face identity checks at the start of the Covid crisis. The government has admitted that if an individual “does not provide evidence/fully engage in the process” they could be considered to have received an overpayment. Some have been pursued by private debt collectors. Around 14,500 people are appealing against the payback orders.

Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “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.”

The number of people on universal credit in the UK doubled in the first year of the pandemic, increasing to 6 million in January 2021. There were 5.6 million people on the benefit in May 2022. DWP figures show that universal credit fraud overpayment rates are at their highest on record, at 13 per cent (£5.3bn) in 2022, compared with 12.8 per cent (£4.9bn) in 2021, 7.6 per cent in 2020, and 6 per cent in 2019.