Almost 15,000 people in the UK say they have wrongly been ordered to pay back Universal Credit payments. Reports indicate that some of those being asked to return the money resulted from missing messages or phone calls from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), requesting evidence as part of the departments retrospective checks.
The claims come as the government attempts to retrieve the £500m it handed out in pandemic benefit pay-outs. According to a report by The Independent, 125,000 people have been informed by the DWP that they were not eligible for the payments and now owe thousands of pounds due to Covid putting a stop to face-to-face identity checks at the beginning of the pandemic.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary, 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."
