Fraud victims facing salary deductions

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We've been hearing from listeners who’ve been contacted by Department for Work and Pensions demanding repayment of Universal Credit advances that the DWP says they’ve received. The trouble is, they’ve never even applied for Universal Credit, let alone had an advance. The DWP are also contacting these fraud victims employers to deduct the money owed from their salary before investigations are completed.

Two dozen people are facing the threat of redundancy because the small business they work for is being forced to shut down because it can’t get insurance. How is this possible and why isn’t the insurance market working like it should? Solicitor Merlin Batchelor talks us through his problem and Felicity talks to Martin McTague from the Federation of Small Businesses which is calling for the insurance industry and policy makers to investigate what’s going on.

Savers at the UK’s government backed bank, National Savings and Investments, are struggling to withdraw their funds after the firm slashed its interest rate to next to nothing. Jill Waters, NS&I’s retail director joins us to explain what’s going on.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Reporter: Dan Whitworth Producers: Ben Carter and Darin Graham Editor: Emma Rippon

Transcript

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0:00.0	In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers.
0:08.0	But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA
0:12.0	was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife.
0:18.0	Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family?
0:21.3	When lies are still being told to this day, who do you believe?
0:25.1	I wouldn't even know where to start.
0:26.7	And I'm with the IRA.
0:28.5	Steakknife.
0:29.7	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:33.5	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:37.2	Hello and welcome to this Moneybox podcast.
0:39.8	Today on Moneybox, we'll hear how a thriving, viable company that employs 20 people may go out of business because it can't get the insurance it needs to operate.
0:48.3	We'll get the latest from NS&I after a number of listeners got in touch to say they haven't been able to withdraw their money from the state-owned bank.
0:55.3	Plus, we'll hear how one listener lost £34,000 to fraudsters,
1:00.1	and why her bank decided to reimburse her when Moneybox got involved.
1:03.8	But first, what would you do if the DWP said you had to pay back a benefit that you'd never received or even claimed?
1:11.3	Moneybox has been hearing from listeners who've been contacted by the Department for Work and Pensions,
1:16.0	demanding repayment of universal credit advances that the DWP says they've received.
1:21.2	The trouble is they've never even applied for universal credit, let alone had an advance.
1:26.0	Joe is one of them.
1:26.8	They sent me a letter to tell me that I owed an outstanding amount of universal credit, let alone had an advance. Joe is one of them. They sent me a letter to tell me that
1:29.0	I owed an outstanding amount of universal credit advance, which was nearly 1.5K. And having never claimed
	...

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