Benefit mistakes leave thousands seeking debt help

Mr Hylton was laid low by a serious bout of depression during the Covid pandemic.

During that time, he applied for and began receiving Universal Credit.

But the DWP later got in contact to say that in fact he was ineligible for the benefit so it had, in effect, been overpaying him and he now owed the state £13,000.

At that point, all his benefit payments stopped too.

As well as missing out on his Universal Credit payments, he also lost help with his rent and council tax meaning he fell into even more debt.

“There was no [electricity] inside the house because I just didn’t have any money,” said Mr Hylton who added that he was also forced to visit a food bank “just to get food inside the house”.

“All because of this one debt that I didn’t owe in the first place,” he said. “It has been mentally fatiguing, mentally stressful. It has been never-ending.”

Despite all this – thanks to getting help dealing with his depression – Mr Hylton has been back at work as a crane supervisor for the last 18 months.

However, it wasn’t until Money Box began investigating his case that he learned he had in fact been eligible for the benefit payments in the first place.

“Until I’ve spoken to Money Box there was no movement from the DWP,” he said. “They were adamant this was an overpayment and I was ineligible.”

Mr Hylton added: “It shouldn’t take a journalist to have to contact the DWP for them to have their house in order. It’s really shocking.”