Dwp didnt take my pip back dated money

clarefar

Hi everyone so after 27 weeks (first time ive ever tried to claim pip) i have finally been awarded pip standard rate which im happy with i cant deal with the stress of doing a MR.
Dwp say i owe them 12000 in tax credits (not true but i cant prove it as from over 10 yrs ago) but pip paid my back pay into my bank so dwp didnt take it, thought this might give a little hope to people who owe dwp and are waiting to hear from pip and their back payments and for those claiming for the first time, its stressful but not every pip story is bad news. Good luck

janer1967

Great news glad they didn't stop the back pay 

I'm no money expert but i thought any debt that hasn't been attempted to be recovered after 6 years has to be written off but I may be wrong 

clarefar

I wish dwp says i owe 12,695 and i pay out of my uc each month, i actually received a letter a few weeks ago saying they will keep taking payments. I have no choice but to pay it as i cant prove i dont owe it.

calcotti

janer1967 said: I'm no money expert but i thought any debt that hasn't been attempted to be recovered after 6 years has to be written off but I may be wrong 

The six year limit prevents court action but the debts do not die and in the case of benefits any past debt can be recovered from ongoing benefits or wages.
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/fact-sheet-library/statute-barred-debts-ew-/

janer1967

@calcotti thanks for that appreciate the info 

@clarefar sorry didn't realise you already had payment plan in place 

calcotti

clarefar said:

I wish dwp says i owe 12,695 and i pay out of my uc each month, i actually received a letter a few weeks ago saying they will keep taking payments. I have no choice but to pay it as i cant prove i dont owe it.

As it is Tax Credits DWP have no information about how the debt arose. They are simply recovering money as directed by HMRC who administer Tax Credits. There has been a huge push to recover these old debts and many claimants are struggling as a consequence and often have no knowledge of how the debt arose. In many cases it will have been a failure to return the end of year renewal pack that triggered the treatment of the previous year of Tax Credit payments as an overpayment.

As at December 2020 10% of UC claimants were having deductions from their awards to pay back Tax Credits.

clarefar

Thank you for all the information its very helpfull.

Cher_Alumni

@clarefar Thanks for the update and I'm glad to hear the money was transferred to your bank. 

The statistic quoted by @calcotti is eye-opening stuff and it's incredibly disheartening to think how many must be struggling as a result of withheld underpayments    I found Mike's link v informative so do try to give that a read when you have time.  

calcotti

Cher_Scope said:

The statistic quoted by @calcotti is eye-opening stuff and it's incredibly disheartening to think how many must be struggling as a result of withheld underpayments 

10% is down from a high of 18% but I think that reflects the huge increase in the number of UC claimants rather than a reduction in the number of claimants affected.