MILLIONS of households receive benefits – but you can land yourself in trouble if you don’t report a change of circumstances.
You need to tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if you have experienced any one of 20 changes.
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If you don’t and it’s a genuine mistake, you can be slapped with a £50 penalty and have to pay the overpaid benefit back.
If you are found to have deliberately not reported a change in circumstances, you could be committing benefit fraud.
In this case, you could be taken to court and could end up in prison.
You may also have to pay a penalty of between £350 and £5,000 and your benefits may be reduced or stopped completely.
Therefore, it’s worth knowing the circumstances that you need to tell the DWP about. They are:
- changing your name or gender
- finding or finishing a job, or working different hours
- your income going up or down
- starting or stopping education, training or an apprenticeship
- moving house
- people moving into or out of the place you live (for example your partner, a child or lodger)
- the death of your partner or someone you live with
- having a baby
- starting or stopping caring for someone
- getting married or divorced
- starting or ending a civil partnership
- planning to go abroad for any length of time
- going into hospital, a care home or sheltered accommodation
- any changes to your medical condition or disability
- changing your doctor
- changes to your pension, savings, investments or property
- changes to other money you get (for example student loans or grants, sick pay or money you get from a charity)
- changes to the benefits you or anyone else in your house gets
- you or your partner getting back-pay (sometimes called ‘arrears’) for salary or earnings you’re owed
- changes to your immigration status, if you’re not a British citizen
How can I report a change of circumstances?
How you can report a change in circumstances varies depending on your benefit.
For example, if you are on Universal Credit, you can send a message on your journal, or speak to your work coach.
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You can contact the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644, or you can textphone to 0800 328 1344 too.
The line is open between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday.
If you want to speak to someone in Welsh, the number to call is 0800 012 1888.
The process is different if you are on Pension Credit, Disability benefits, Housing Benefit or Child Benefit.
You should check out the government’s website for more information.
For all other benefits, you can report a change in circumstances via your Jobcentre Plus.
Remember, you’ll need your National Insurance number to hand.
What happens if I don’t?
If you have not reported a change in circumstances and it was a genuine mistake, you may have to pay a £50 fine and the overpaid benefit back.
But, if you are found to have deliberately avoided telling the DWP about a change in circumstances the process is different.
You may find yourself being visited by a fraud investigation officer if you have been seen to take advantage of the benefit system.
Or, you might have to attend an interview – this is known as an “interview under caution”.
If you are found to have committed or attempted fraud, you will be told to pay back the overpaid money.
You may also be taken to court or asked to pay a penalty of between £350 and £5,000.
In some cases, your benefits may be reduced or even stopped completely. This is what’s known as a sanction.
Benefits that can be sanctioned include Universal Credit, housing benefit and jobseeker’s allowance.
Some welfare payments can’t be sanctioned though, like child benefit, state pension and disability living allowance.
How to challenge an overpayment
If the DWP tells you you’ve been overpaid a benefit and you think you haven’t, you can challenge the decision.
If the benefit is Universal Credit, you can call the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644 and ask for an explanation as to why they think you’ve been overpaid.
You can also contact the DWP and ask them to explain their decision on 0800 882 200.
You will need to offer them any information that could prove why you have not been overpaid.
If they don’t agree with what you’ve sent, you can dispute the overpayment.
You can always contact your nearest Citizens Advice branch for advice too.
If you don’t know where your nearest branch is, you can use Citizens Advice’s branch locator.
