The Department of Work and Pensions has been accused of trying to recover a Universal Credit overpayment by lying and keeping legal advice secret.
Benefits and Work, a welfare rights website, claims that the DWP 'deliberately lied' to a claimant in order to recover an overpayment of over £8,000 which, it says, was entirely due to the DWP’s own mistakes. A High Court decided this month that the mother, who had two disabled children, did not have to repay Universal Credit money paid to her in error, and campaigners at Benefits and Work claim 'many tens of thousands' of people have been 'hoodwinked' in the same way.
In a decision made on February 7, the High Court ruled that the DWP "unlawfully" tried to recover the debt and it should not have to be repaid as it was caused by repeated mistakes by the DWP. The DWP said it is considering the judgment, although a spokesperson cast doubt on Benefits and Work's claims of how many may be affected.
