Hi, my name is dar2101! Suspended payments due to VPN

dar2101

Hi , I'm new here , my name is Darren and this is my first post but I'm really in need of some help please...........A few weeks ago my sister who is my carer , received a call stating my claim and money was being suspended because the device she was logging in on had a Spanish ip address. My sister then , after speaking with my eldest nephew , discovered he'd changed the ip address with an express vpn so he could play a game that was banned in the UK. They were asking for pictures of me , inside outside my flat holding my passport plus one by the street name. my sister informed them I don't have a passport , she then spoke to the doctor because I suffer with extreme mental health issues and the doctor wrote a letter informing them that she had video called me inside my apartment and had (previously some time before) seen my passport , she stated this as proof it was me she spoke to on the video call on my sisters phone , the to do task was taken down yesterday and now reinstated today with a message saying about me stating I don't have a passport but the doctor states they have seen it. They have continued to suspend my money without any grounds to , except a spanish ip address , its not under investigation and im just wondering if anyone can help or advise because this is really having a detrimental affect on my mental health , I've been suicidal in the past , took 5 overdoses and got sectioned twice , I've been stable (ish) in the most recent times , I even phone the uc which I really struggled with , explained the situation and was told my case manager would look at the situation and contact me by the end of last Thursday and still NOTHING from them aside this.
As far as ive been told , they cannot legally stop your payments if you are trying to co-operate with them , which I am and if im not under investigation , which I'm not.
any help would be greatly appreciated , many thanks 

dar2101

At the start of November I was told my claim was suspended due to logging in from a Spanish ip address , although my sister is my carer and it turns out my nephew changed the IP address through a vpn to play a game that was banned. They were then asking me for pictures of me with my passport outside my address holding newspaper with the date on etc. I was unable to maintain this due to not having a passport and suffering extremely with mental health , anxiety at times being so severe. 
We made several calls to UC informing then of the details and situation to be told my case manager would look at the case and respond by the 11th December but then today they have now cancelled my claim stating that I was never entitled to uc , I am signed off indefinitely due to severe mental health issues , im on lwrca and now have to pay back an overpayment if approximately £50,000. Anyone have any advice or help please??

bg844

Another member had this similar issue in regards to a VPN, see the discussion here:
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/584033#Comment_584033

poppy123456

If it was me then I would have already contacted my local MP. https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/

dar2101

Hi Poppy , I've checked out who my local MP is and now I am going to contact them. What can they do in regards to the situation?? 
Thank you for your advice 

poppy123456

Tell them exactly what’s happened, including your UC claim now being closed. They will contact DWP on your behalf and hopefully resolve this issue for you. Make sure you don’t leave anything out. 

woodbine

It can be surprising often when an MP tells the DWP to jump their reaction is "how high?" It can certainly do no harm to get your MP involved, welfare rights might also be able to help, I would say WR as opposed to CAB

dar2101

Ok thank you so much for your advice , I definitely will try this 

dar2101

I'm going sound very stupid here but what is WR and CAB?? im guessing WR is welfare rights???

Ollyoyster

Yes and citezens advice bureau I do believe 🙂

Tori_Scope

It's not stupid at all @dar2101. Welfare rights and Citizens Advice is right, yep How are you getting on with this?

dar2101

Ohhhhhh yesssss haha now I see 😂😂😂😂😂
Well my sister rang the next day and they advised us to make a new claim @Tori_Scope , im not sure whether to do that and take it further , what do you think?? 

poppy123456

I don't think starting a new claim is your answer here because if they think you were out of the country then you could have an overpayment for that claim. Did you contact your local MP as advised?

dar2101

@poppy123456 , I haven't yet because when my sister rang they advised that to start the new claim , do you think I should hold off a new claim and contact the MP??? 

poppy123456

I don't understand why they advised you to start a new claim. Your other claim closed when it wasn't supposed to have. My advice is to still contact your MP.

dar2101

I have no idea , ill take your advice @poppy123456 , thank you 

L_Volunteer

How are you feeling about taking Poppy's advice @dar2101? We are here for you and listening to you if you would like to share more with us or any further support. 

Also, you are welcome. It is the very least you deserve, we are all here for you to support you and listen to you.

Please don't hesitate to let us know if there's anything else we can do to help. Take care for now and we will look forward to, hopefully, hearing from you again soon 

dar2101

Hi , yes im going to take the advice and contact the local MP because my claim genuinely shouldn't have been closed , I will keep people upto date with it all.
Thank you 

L_Volunteer

Hi @dar2101. Good luck taking the advice. 

I am glad you believe in following what you need. Keep pushing forwards 

Spoonbill

Personally, I think your sister should seek professional advice since presumably she's registered as responsible for your claim. An an unprofessional, however, that sounds an incredibly flimsy and - I suspect - illegal basis for going directly to suspension, so personally I'd be fairly confident that a challenge will get it sorted eventually.

Assuming your sister is able to deal with it and make sure you're able to keep going in the meantime, FWIW I'd be more concerned with you looking after yourself. If you need any pointers to crisis support, please ask and I'm sure someone here will be able to help you find something suitable.

calcotti

dar2101 said:… , they cannot legally stop your payments if you are trying to co-operate with them , which I am and if im not under investigation , which I'm not.

A benefit claim can be suspended while DWP carry out checks on whether the claim is being checked.

There have been other threads about claims being suspended because the claimant has used a VPN. Do you have any other form of photo ID you could use.

(The absurd thing is that if you don’t have a passport you clearly can’t have been in Spain!)