DWP does not want to pay backdated LCWRA after Tribunal ordered them to pay

Minona

Hi, 
I have a problem and I would like to ask for an advice. 
DWP owns me over 11k. I had Tribunal where the Judge backdated my LCWRA back to 2021. I am having a problem to recover this money. I called DWP but the staff refuses to even talk about it. I was advised to write this problem into UC Journal, I did but of course nobody is responding to it. 
Although I received my first monthly LCWRA payment last month - this means the DWP and UC are fully aware of what the Tribunal ordered them to do, but everyone is quiet about the back payment they own me. I am aware they could be fined for the late payment, but how to get the money when DWP ignores the Tribunal?
Where should I go? Is there any legal advice available? Thank you very much in advance. 

Albus_Scope

Hi @Minona and welcome the community. 

Congratulations on the tribunal result, I'm glad it weighed in your favour.
With regard to the radio silence over the back pay, that's not something I've heard of before, usually they'll pay the money in separately to your LCWRA payments and it can take a while for them to crunch the numbers.  I'd suggest contacting your MP about this, they can often get the ball rolling quite quickly. 

Minona

Thank you Albus for your answer. Is there any other option you would recommend apart from going to MP? Would you know as per the law, how long does DWP have after the Tribunal to pay out the money they own? Many thanks in advance.

Albus_Scope

Unfortunately we are not legally trained @Minona but the DWP usually pays any backpay anywhere from a month to two months after the award is given, it can sometimes take a while! 
 The DWP do have a right of appeal but this is very rarely ever used by DWP as they would have to prove that there was an error in the law when the tribunal made its decision.   

Minona

Albus - I forgot to mention as per DWP staff ignoring my questions. When I ask: "When will I receive the back dated payment ?", DWP staff answers: "Is there anything else I can help you with?" 
I cannot get any information and/or answer from either UC or DWP. I cannot believe they are allowed to do this. It looks like they are pretty confident that they are above the Law. 

Albus_Scope

Personally, it sounds like the people you've asked don't actually have an answer for you, so are playing dumb.  The people you speak to on the phone are usually at a call center and aren't fully trained in things.  So it's very much luck of the draw if you get through to a helpful person or not. 
Though if you're speaking to someone from your local job centre or via your journal, I'd have thought they should be able to at least say "sorry, we don't know yet." 

Bashford61

As it is a formidable sum I wonder if a collection agency is the way to go ?  they turn up and start removing their computers someone may start to do their job correctly . 

Minona

Albus - what alarms is exactly DWP behavior you described. No answer in Journal, complete ignorance and I am aware as you described that staff may not be able to get the information so I asked then if I could speak to someone else, but of course the answer was no. It is all rather strange, I do not mind to wait but to be ignored and for DWP not to respond at all makes me wonder what measures I will have to take to  recover the money. So far DWP acts like a criminal. They committed criminal offence by lying to Tribunal, by their staff abusing me from very start I got ill and now they ignore Tribunal decision. 

Minona

Bashford61  I would love to see that  . Having said that I am not sure if this would help to some of their staff, since when I speak to them I am wondering what kind of education they actually finished. 

poppy123456

When was the decision made by the Tribunal? It's not unusual for it take up to several weeks to pay what is owed, even after a decision made by DWP it can take this long,

I'm not aware of DWP being fined for taking a while to pay what is owed. 

Bashford61

Minona said:

Bashford61  I would love to see that  . Having said that I am not sure if this would help to some of their staff, since when I speak to them I am wondering what kind of education they actually finished. 

I think that too about half   those I deal with on the Phone

Minona

Poppy123456, Thank you for your advice. It was many weeks ago - 6. I am aware it can take weeks. But why is DWP  not responding to me? They could say: "I do not know." Instead there is silence.
Yes, they can be fined for late payment. I am trying to find the legislation. 

poppy123456

The problem you and many other people have is that when found to have LCWRA you have no work coach so messages can go unanswered for quite sometime. 

Try putting a message onto your journal under the payment section, if you haven't already. 

If you still get no joy then I'd advise you to contact your local MP and they will contact them on your behalf, this usually gets them shifted.https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/

honestjon

Minona said:

Thank you Albus for your answer. Is there any other option you would recommend apart from going to MP? Would you know as per the law, how long does DWP have after the Tribunal to pay out the money they own? Many thanks in advance.

I think Albus answer is a good suggestion.
If your mp complains to the dwp it is not ignored so that is what I would try.
If your mp asks a question there will not be silence 

Minona

Poppy123456 Thank you. I did write message under Payment section in Journal. But no answer. Before I will go to MP, I will go back to HMCTS as I believe they need to be aware that DWP is not adhering to the Tribunal Decision and I think I will seek legal advise also. If I go to MP, it will take months before any success and DWP will come out without any consequences at all. I am wondering though if any people here have the same and/or similar experience like me and what the outcome of it was. 

Albus_Scope

I had to contact my MP about my PIP taking forever. I received a reply from my MP the following day, then magically got a call from the DWP the day after that. Things can happen very quickly with an MP on your side.  

Minona

Albus - Thank you. You are lucky! If other ways fail, I will end up going to MP too. I do not know how many more people are affected by DWP in the same way and have the same problem. But I want to believe that there must exist a way how to get DWP to follow the law. For instance if I would lie to Tribunal or Court, I would be prosecuted for it. They are not. If I would own so much money to someone, what would happen? 

Albus_Scope

It does seem very one sided @Minona I agree.  You can put in an official complaint if you wanted to escalate it? 

Minona

Albus do you mean an official complaint to DWP? 
So far I raised the complaint only about  the nurse who did my assessment and she supposed to be investigated - at least that is what I was told in writing from the company she works for. 
If DWP get away with this, they will carry on treating more people like they do me. I must say they made a hell out of my life since I got ill in 2021. If MP tells DWP to pay me the money, they will have to I guess.  But what happens to DWP ? Nothing. They will carry one doing this to others. Without any consequences at all of course. 

Albus_Scope

I'd suggest starting with a complaint to the DWP. Sometimes that can give them a little kick into answering your questions.  It'll also leave a paper trail showing another person who was unhappy with how the DWP treat people. It all adds up! 

poppy123456

I don't think you need legal advice here. Just contact your local MP and its job done. They usually respond quite quickly based on my own experience and several other members in the past. 

Details on how to make a complaint for UC here. https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/how_to_complain_about_universal_credit