Hi all.
I’ve been having a recurring problem and it is genuinely driving me insane - there’s no recourse and every agent I speak to tells me the same thing but to no avail.
In my first month I needed the money and so asked for an advance. I would have loved to pay it all back in one go but I was told that it had to be spread between a minimum of four months, and that this would simply get taken out automatically before I even saw the benefit payment.
On the 27th June 2024 I got my first UC payment of £233. This was £311.68 minus a quarter of the advance payment, as it is to be paid back in instalments. My second payment was 27th July - same amount, then 27th August, and 27th September. After this I closed my account with everything paid back and no issues going forward.
My payments looks like they are balanced, and after speaking to at least 15 different advisors from DWP none of them have been able to point out why I’m receiving letters from debt management. All they can tell me to do is call debt management.
Unfortunately, debt management *cannot* see my journal and confirm that this is true. Furthermore, I’ve tried to ask DWP to send evidence to Debt Management so that they can clear my debt, but every time I get an agent to escalate my situation I am either met with non-respondence (which is extremely horrible given they tell you a deadline for which a case manager will respond). OR the case manager will respond, but with the most tepid non-relevant response ever. Some examples of case manager responses:
| 8 May 2026 at 8:47am | Hello X, The advance on your previous claim shows that it is repaid. Because you now have a closed claim, any debt repayments are managed by DWP debt management. |
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| 22 Jan 2025 at 2:44pm | Hi X, If you had advances on your claim which were not repaid and your claim closed, These advances would go to debt management for you to repay. If this is not the case, you will need to contact debt management in relation to any debts you owe. Regards, UC |
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| 20 Jan 2025 at 1:19pm | Hi X, You do not have any overpayments that have been issued to you on your claim. Please contact debt management on 0800 916 0647 for any further information regarding your debts/loans repayments. Regards, UC |
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There is an immense amount of frustration on my side. I‘m a civil servant myself. I don’t have time to be chasing up £77, and would be happy to pay it back if I actually owed it. I’ve literally been trying to solve this issue for 2 years, with debt management escalating the debt and contacting employers and sending other threatening letters. I’m so worried about how it will impact me and my future. At this point I feel like I just need to pay it because I literally cannot get through to anyone at all and it’s making me lose it. How can I talk to someone higher grade at DWP to get this sorted? All the people in DWP I’ve spoken to agree that Debt management shouldn’t have that debt but there’s noone that can direct me to how to wipe the debt. I honestly regret that I even took out UC and wish I never had.
I’m more than happy to provide pictures of anything anyone wants, I would love advice on what to do. My latest call escalated a response from a casemanager to something higher, but the response was as seen above.
I just don’t have time to chase £77 worth. It’s genuinely taken more money out via my flexi than it’s been worth.
TLDR; I have a closed claim, with no repayments due on UC side, but debt management have been asking for £77.92 for the past two years and neither UC (who agree I have paid everything back) nor Debt Management know what to do