DWP Debt Management Letter - UC Advance - Scam? (2024)

calcotti Posts: 15,696

10 May 2021 at 6:41PM edited 10 May 2021 at 6:46PM

Long thread herehttps://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6217773/victim-of-benefit-fraud/p1

Unfortunately DWP Debt Management are usually incredibly hard to deal with but I hope you can at least get them to suspend any action pending further investigation. If not you may want to involve your MP.

Alice_Holt Posts: 5,842

10 May 2021 at 7:54PM

huckster Posts: 4,769

10 May 2021 at 9:06PM

Report it as a fraud and get a crime reference number to provide to DWP Debt Management.

Consider sending a Data Protection subject access request to DWP to obtain more information.

Suggest getting a copy of your credit record, just in case your indentity has been used for other financial applications.

Clouds88 Posts: 386

10 May 2021 at 10:04PM

11 May 2021 at 5:31PM

Cheers team. Any suggestions on other things to do besides what I've already done below?
I've not got hours to spend on hold to the DWP and UC folks during 9-5 (or 8-6) working days so email has been my focus thus far. I've:

• emailed my MP, the SoS for the DWP, the BBC and the Guardian. I cc'd my MP into all but the BBC one (I forgot).
• fudged the 'report benefit fraud' form to get my case across.
• raised a complaint through HMRC
• reported the case to action fraud (as I was directed to by my local online Police website)
• checked my credit report is all fine (it is)
• raised a SAR with the DWP to check the details used for the UC advance request (partly to show which bits are fraudulent, and partly to check what details were stolen)

Alice_Holt Posts: 5,842

11 May 2021 at 7:07PM

One additional action could be to request a mandatory reconsideration (MR) of the UC decision to recover the fraudulent advance.
Some details on the MR process:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/problems-with-your-payment/challenging-a-universal-credit-decision-mandatory-consideration/
And the form:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF

I'm not entirely sure that there is an appealable decision in your case (or that you have a UC claim), but launching an MR is certainly another way of getting your situation considered within the DWP by a decision maker.

This (with the help of a local advice charity), may be worth considering if no sensible action is forthcoming from the DWP:
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review/judicial-review-pre-action-letters/fraud-uc-claimed-fraudulently-3rd-party
(but the template would need adapting to your circ*mstances re recovery of advance rather than reinstatement of benefits).

12 May 2021 at 9:30AM

Alice_Holt said:

One additional action could be to request a mandatory reconsideration (MR) of the UC decision to recover the fraudulent advance.
Some details on the MR process:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/problems-with-your-payment/challenging-a-universal-credit-decision-mandatory-consideration/
And the form:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF

I'm not entirely sure that there is an appealable decision in your case (or that you have a UC claim), but launching an MR is certainly another way of getting your situation considered within the DWP by a decision maker.

This (with the help of a local advice charity), may be worth considering if no sensible action is forthcoming from the DWP:
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review/judicial-review-pre-action-letters/fraud-uc-claimed-fraudulently-3rd-party
(but the template would need adapting to your circ*mstances re recovery of advance rather than reinstatement of benefits).

I'm not sure the OP would be able to request / action anything in respect of the fraudulent UC claim as they would need to be able to pass security first, which clearly shouldn't be possible if they know nothing about the claim. If the debt has been passed to Debt Management, that would suggest the fraudulent claim is now closed. At that point I very much doubt the OP will get anything sensible out of UC and they will need to deal with Debt Management. The OP will need to convince Debt Management that fraud has occurred, to suspend recovery of the debt and to investigate the fraud. Having their MP involved will presumably help expedite the process.

Alice_Holt Posts: 5,842

12 May 2021 at 8:21PM

NedS said:

Alice_Holt said:

One additional action could be to request a mandatory reconsideration (MR) of the UC decision to recover the fraudulent advance.
Some details on the MR process:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/problems-with-your-payment/challenging-a-universal-credit-decision-mandatory-consideration/
And the form:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF

I'm not entirely sure that there is an appealable decision in your case (or that you have a UC claim), but launching an MR is certainly another way of getting your situation considered within the DWP by a decision maker.

This (with the help of a local advice charity), may be worth considering if no sensible action is forthcoming from the DWP:
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review/judicial-review-pre-action-letters/fraud-uc-claimed-fraudulently-3rd-party
(but the template would need adapting to your circ*mstances re recovery of advance rather than reinstatement of benefits).

I'm not sure the OP would be able to request / action anything in respect of the fraudulent UC claim as they would need to be able to pass security first, which clearly shouldn't be possible if they know nothing about the claim. If the debt has been passed to Debt Management, that would suggest the fraudulent claim is now closed. At that point I very much doubt the OP will get anything sensible out of UC and they will need to deal with Debt Management...

Yes, I'm unsure.
However, as a MR can be requested in writing by using the MR form (this wouldn't involve passing security on the phone), I do think it would be worth a try. UC must have a record of the original claim on their system.
UC should then reply in writing with a MR notice.

The difficulty in dealing with Debt Management is that they are likely to refer the OP back to UC.

If the OP's MP office picks up his case, the OP can copy them in with the resultant DWP correspondence / responses.
The more documentation the OP has from DWP the more chance of the MP's office getting someone in the DWP (Dispute Resolution ?) to address it, should Debt Management and UC only take the OP round in circles.

Robbie64 Posts: 1,929

13 May 2021 at 1:21PM

An article about UC and fraud has been published at the BBC website. It includes fraud involving Universal Credit advances

calcotti Posts: 15,696

13 May 2021 at 1:45PM

Robbie64 said:

An article about UC and fraud has been published at the BBC website. It includes fraud involving Universal Credit advances

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57091551

Quote "We also have robust plans in place to recover fraudulent claims and drive fraud and error down to the lowest feasible level."
What are also needed are robust procedures to distinguish between fraudsters and fraud victims.