I’m not claiming my universal credit entitlement: I’d rather spare myself the confusion, frustration and wasted hours
- This article is part of the heat or eat diaries: a series from the frontline of Britain’s cost of living emergency
At the beginning of March, I received a phone call from a compliance officer at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). They informed me that I had been paid carer’s allowance for 27 weeks in error, and I now owed almost £2,000. It was so much money, I didn’t even panic – I just thought, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Until recently I got carer’s allowance while I was raising my children, two of whom have autism. I no longer get that, but it is still being deducted from my monthly universal credit payments. “So I don’t owe you the money, it’s universal credit who owe you the money?” I asked. “Kind of,” said the man on the phone. Even though these are all government departments who could talk to each other and sort it out, I’ve been told I have to go to the universal credit people and claim it back, then pay it back to the DWP.
As told to Emine Saner. Sophie is in her 40s and lives in the north of England. Her name has been changed
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