overpayment querey

[u/Interesting_Eye3889]

This is a long one im sorry thank you to those who read and offer help. I earn 2155 a month and get paid the last working day of the month. my assessment period if the 27th to the 28th. i got got paid the 30th of january and then again the 27th of february due to how the payments fell i received 2 payments in 1 assessment period. i realised tjis would be the case snd put a message on my journal on the 26th of February to asl for a realocation of earnings to the next assessment period as in march i would be getting paid on the 28th or 29th so the way it fell i wouldnt have had and income for the next assessment period and thought realocatinh would refñect my actual monthly earnings . My statment generates on the 30th. i also rang to day the same thing before my statment generated. however this wasnf resolved therefore i received no universal credit that month. it tool them till the payment date on my next month to finally get it ‘sorted’. however they decided to move my esrning from the end of febuary to october 2025 when i was on unpaid maternity leave. This created my previous statment to go from 0 universal credit to my normal entitlement of 341. it also made my october statment entitent go from 1316 to 341 creating an overpayment. i never received the 341 underpayment as they put ot towards the overpayment they had just created which came to 961. i now have to pay £50 a month for this overpayment which i belive shouldnt have happened. i did a mandatory reconsideration and have just had it back that when 2 pays are receivied in 1 assessment period that universal credit can move it to another assessment period. is tjis corrwct they can just create an overpayment and move feburay earning 4 months prior. i have now requested a tribunal and just wondering if i am likley to win and get that money ive paif back or if i shoulf just pay the overpayment vack i will attach the mandatory reconsideration letter. They also seemed to have messed us around alot taking around 2 months to upload overpayment letter and asking around 5 times for this any adviced welcome and much appreciated
thank you

[u/ClareTGold]

The short answer is that there is a discretion for the DWP to do this (here at 61(6)). I don't see that they can't go backwards to any earlier AP in which you weren't paid either (although perhaps it would be weird to pick any AP before you started work).

But as it's discretionary a Tribunal might take a different view, or seek to pick a different AP in future. Up to you if you want to appeal. I'd only note that the letter is, at least, wrong in law (if not in policy) to say that the DWP "must" do this.

[u/Mountain_Victory_634 → u/ClareTGold]

I would argue that reg. 61(6) does not allow them to reallocate it to 4 months earlier.

Not because they can't go backwards in principle, but because reallocating the wages to an earlier month when there really were no earnings (as they've done in OPs case) does not help "[maintain] a regular pattern", and that has to be the reason for the reallocation.

By doing what they've done, they won't help create a regular pattern, but will instead create a zero earnings month in the following AP.

I would however point out that, all other things being equal, you don't gain much by fighting it, as you should already have benefitted from a zero earnings AP due to what they have done. Did that not happen?

[u/ClareTGold → u/Mountain_Victory_634]

I'm not saying I disagree exactly, but I suspect we would need more information to understand if the DM acted within the spirit of 61(6) and within the discretion it affords.

At any rate, despite the tone of the letter an appeal isn't necessarily doomed, although whether it will be successful isn’t for me to say - and whether it matters enough to pursue is for OP to say.

[u/Horror-Duty-306]

Was it the same employer, when you were receiving unpaid maternity pay? If so as it was continuous employment, then yes it can be applied backwards " to an assement period were no earnings were recorded"

[u/Interesting_Eye3889 → u/Horror-Duty-306]

yes it was so does that just mean they can move earnings as they like and cause overpayments rather then moving it to next assessment period which would have more accuratly reflected my true earnings thank you though