benefit overpayment / deductions from wages

A question about : benefit overpayment / deductions from wages

I don't know where to begin. I recently received a letter from dwp quoting that they have contacted my employer about deductions from my wages. 15% of my weekly pay. So i called them the day I received the letter to find why.
They said I owed nearly Ј9000 in over payments in 2 yrs And I had to pay it back otherwise I will be taken to court for benifit fraud.
I was on employment support allowance After been signed off sick and unfit for work because of mental heath issues. I was sectioned twice in the space of a few months in and out of hospital. I had to see a councillor everyweek After having a lot of personal problems in my life. I gradually got better and got a job doing asbestos removals. I was finally back on my feet. After having a rough time.
I contacted department of work and pensions to cancel my employment support allowance when I started work As any person would do. I even phoned up numerous times to make sure it was cancelled to stop me from getting into any trouble further on.

2yrs yrs down the line they carried on paying me my employment support allowance. And I had no idea that I was being payed From them. I don't get bank statement through the post as everything is online these days. I never really need to see how much I spend.
I have a very well payed job so money was never a issue until now.

I really need some advice as I don't know what to to. I'm under alot of pressure because no one likes to be told they owe nearly Ј9000 in overpayment through no fault of there own.

I've set up a direct debit as I don't want to get in trouble for fraud For the time being I'm paying Ј10 a week To them as agreed. But they still have taken 15% of my wages every week. So I've worked out its nearly Ј280 a month.. I'm baffled on how they can do this to someone. The whole system is completely messed up.

Can anyone advise me what actions to take.

Best answers:

• i can see that you've had problems and won't want to hear this, but ....
  you have to take some responsibility for this over payment. responsible adults should be checking their bank accounts ... the fact that you have an online account makes this even easier.
  if you are in a 'well paid job' then surely the overpaid ESA is still sitting in your account?
  if not, then you really should be checking your account as you are spending more than you are earning!
• Don't you have to supply 'fit notes' regularly to be entitled to ESA ?
• Im baffled too about how someone can be paid for that amount of time and not ever check their balance.
  Why oh why is it always someone elses fault.
  Take responsibility for what you have allowed to happen
• This is going to be like a sticking plaster, the faster you can fix the better
  Given that you have a well paid job, is the ESA still sitting in your account unspent? if so just pay it all back or at least a large lump sum of it
  Pay the Ј280 from your wages...still going to take around 3 years but at least they are not charging you interest
  Ј10 per week is going to take you over 17 years to pay it back, I doubt that will be an acceptable solution
  I guess the issue is that you will now be Ј600ish a month down.
  The Ј280 repayment and the fact that you will not get the Ј300ish ESA
  Maybe look at a budget (the SOA on the debt free board would help) and try an be more in control of your money
• Your lucky all they are doing is recouping the money and not looking to to prosecute you for fraud..As well as an extra Ј9000 in your bank you would of received letters informing you of the new ESA rate usually sent towards the end of January, so you would of been aware just from the letters, there would also of been tax implications.
• Thanks nannytone, you've explained it very clearly
• What I don't understand about people who claim they never checked their bank balance for years and didn't know the money was in is if that is the case, why didn't the money just accumulated in the account? Surely you knew how much you were paid, and if you counted your outgoings to match your income, but unbeknown to you, you had more coming in each month, then your account would have the extra Ј9,000?
  I just don't believe for a second that someone would not check their bank balance in all this time. Even if all they never checked their bank balance, ESA payments would not have been made on the same day as work payments, and therefore at least on some occasions, they should have wondered why one week the balance was X but somehow a week later it has become X+ESA amount, even though they didn't expect any further payment.
  In any case, how does that change the fact that you spent money that you were not entitled to and therefore that it is only right that you should be paying it back?
• Have you been interviewed by the fraud team at all?
  Prosecution is not prevented by paying it back so I think you have the wrong impression about the 2 years or face prosecution