Just short of 15,000 people claim that they have wrongly been ordered to pay back Universal Credit payments. This comes as the government attempts to retrieve the £500m it handed out in pandemic benefit payouts.
Some of those are being asked to return the money handed out to them because they missed messages or phone calls from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), requesting evidence as part of the retrospective checks it carries out, reports The Independent. 125,000 people have been informed by the DWP that they were not eligible for the payments, so they now owe thousands of pounds due to Covid putting a stopper on face-to-face identity checks at the beginning of the pandemic.
In the eyes of the government, if an individual 'does not provide evidence/fully engage in the process', then they could be deemed to be the recipient of an overpayment. Around 14,500 are appealing against the payback orders after some were pursued by debt collectors.
