Your benefit payments will be reduced until you’ve paid back the money.

All the reasons claimants may have to pay back benefits to the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) before a scheduled disability benefits cull has been revealed. If you’re getting benefits and you owe cash, your benefit payments will be reduced until you’ve paid back the money.

You can use the online DWP service to check how much you owe, check when you will have repaid the money and get help and support to make repayments. Claimants can also p ay using Direct Debit, debit card, cheques or cash.

Contact DWP to set up monthly repayments by Direct Debit, make a payment using a debit card or request a paying-in slip for cheque or cash payments. Contact DWP Debt Management if you need help managing your repayments.

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They can talk you through your options, including what you can afford to pay. There are a number of reasons the DWP can order people to pay back money.

You made an error

If you “made an error on a benefits form,” it means you provided incorrect information on a form used to apply for or update government benefits, like Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which could potentially result in receiving an incorrect benefit amount or having your claim denied altogether.

Inform them about the mistake you made on your application and provide the correct information. Depending on the benefit and the specific error, you might need to fill out a dedicated “correction” or “amendment” form to rectify the information.

You’ve been paid too much

You might have been contacted by your benefit office because you’ve been paid too much. An overpayment can happen for many reasons, for example because:

• the benefit office made a mistake
• you didn’t know you had to tell the benefit office about a change of circumstances that meant you were entitled to less benefit or should stop getting a benefit

If you’ve received an overpayment of benefit it doesn’t always mean that you’ll be suspected or be guilty of benefit fraud if you were unaware of what you were doing. However, the benefit office might take action to recover the overpayment.

You failed to tell them your circumstances changed

You’ll need to tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about changes to your work, money or family life. These are called ‘changes of circumstances’. Changes can affect how much Universal Credit you get and what work-related activities you need to do in exchange for your Universal Credit payment.

Once you know about a change that might affect your Universal Credit, tell the DWP as soon as you can. The change might increase your payment and you might miss out on extra money if you tell the DWP late – especially if you wait until after the end of the assessment period.

You should still tell the DWP if you think the change might reduce your payment – you won’t save money by reporting it later. If you tell the DWP late or you don’t report a change, you could get paid too much. This is called an overpayment.

You failed to notify a change

The DWP says you must report any changes that could affect your Child Benefit to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). If you have an online account, tell the DWP in the ‘Report a change’ section. You can also call the Universal Credit helpline, but this is likely to take longer as you might have to wait for someone to answer. If you don’t have an online account, you should call the helpline.

You gave incorrect information

If you’re suspected of benefit fraud, you’ll be contacted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Defence Business Services or your local authority if you’re suspected of fraud.

Your benefit may be stopped while you’re investigated. You’ll get a letter telling you about this if it happens.

You may be visited by Fraud Investigation Officers (FIOs) or asked to attend an interview to talk about your claim – this is called an ‘interview under caution’.

FIOs will gather facts about your case and decide whether to take further action.

Late payments

Late awards or delays with the system can also lead to overpayments at times. If a benefit is paid late and isn’t taken into account with some other payments, it could mean you are overpaid, but you will need to pay the excess back.

If you have been given too much money from support such as Maternity Payment or Winter Fuel Payment and it is your fault you will have to repay the money. However, if it is the DWP mistake, then they can’t reclaim it.

Advance payments

When you make a new claim for Universal Credit you will normally receive your first payment 7 days after the end of your first assessment period. You will then be paid monthly on the same date, unless your payment date falls on a weekend or Bank Holiday.

You can apply for an advance payment of your Universal Credit if you are in financial hardship while you wait for your first payment, for example, if you can’t afford to pay your rent or buy food.

You will need to pay back your advance a bit at a time from your future Universal Credit payments, or by other means if you no longer get Universal Credit, for example, from your wages or other benefit you may be getting.

If you are already receiving Universal Credit you may also be able to get a Budgeting Advance to help pay for emergency household costs, for example, buying a new cooker or for help getting a job or staying in work.

Hardship payments

If you suffer financial hardship because of a sanction you may be entitled to a hardship payment depending on your circumstances. Financial hardship payments are only available to cover basic essential needs and must be paid back from future payments of Universal Credit, other benefits or via Debt Management.

Someone dies

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) can recover benefit overpayments from a person’s estate. The DWP says: “You’ll be asked to provide information to help work out if anything needs to be repaid. You may need bank statements, building society passbooks or other information about the dead person’s assets.

“If there has been an overpayment the DWP will write to you asking for the money back from the estate. They will tell you how any overpayment has been worked out and explain why it happened. They will also tell you how to pay.”