Allegation made to DWP, now they have taken my car and want overpayment

parvez

hi iv had a  mobility car for the past few years , someone made a allegation that i could walk for ages and a have a new house to the dwp , the dwp then followed me a few times , i do suffer from mental health problems and im diabete and hve other health issues too , the dwp had 6 hours of video footage  and took my mobiliy car away from may 2016 , in the interview room they kept  badgering me to say when my leg improved  , i said its not improved , i only go out when iv had pain killers , they kept saying 2 years  and  foolsy said 2 years , my solicitor did not turn up , someone else turned up who iv never met before , he did not know anything about my mental health , yes he let me dwn , now the dwp want 6000 overpayment , i dont know what to do

Richard_Scope

Hi @parvez and welcome to the community.

I'm sorry to read that you are going through a difficult time. Here is the link to the Ask a benefits advisor section of the community.

parvez

hi iv had my mobility car taken away  because i had a good few days  walking , someone made a allegation against me regarding my benefits

parvez

for 2 years now i dont have a car to get about

mikehughescq

You have one month to challenge the recoverability of the overpayment decision by mandatory reconsideration. Don't put too much effort into this as you want a quick decision and to move onto the appeal stage. Once you have lodged an appeal (within 1 month of your MR decision) DWP will be unable to recover a penny until the appeal has been determined, which will be many months down the line. 

Note that you can't challenge the overpayment itself. Only whether it is recoverable. If you wanted to challenge the overpayment then you would have had to do an MR and appeal on the original decision to remove benefit. Unless it was within the last 13 months then you are out of time on that. 

You make no mention of interviews under caution or fraud prosecution so I presume that's not an issue. If it is then you need a solicitor for the fraud element and a welfare rights adviser for the rest. 

Assuming no fraud then your absolute worst case scenario is deductions from your benefit at a rate which would be negotiable if you could show hardship.

Pippa_Scope

I'm so sorry to hear this @parvez. As Mike says, it's important to pursue a Mandatory Reconsideration to overturn the decision. Have a look at our guidance on DWP appeals and do let us know if we can be of any assistance.

parvez

i feel the people looking after  me have let me dwn . the case went to the tribunal were it was upheld  but my mental health team did a pip for me going back a year . both cases the DLA and PIP were done by the same committee. they upheld the DLA but  gave me the standard rate of PIP . I just dont understand ,The DWP only had 6 hours of footgage over different days , me doing a little walking , i was told by the diabete nurse to walk and by my mental health councillor to engage with people , thats what i was doing .