Universal Credit And Welfare Reform Act Changes To Overpayment Recovery
EDM number 87 in 2012-13, proposed by Roger Godsiff on 17/05/2012.
Categorised under the topic of Benefits policy.
That this House views with great concern the recent announcement following the passage of the Welfare Reform Act into law that under the new powers, all overpayments will be deemed recoverable and that any overpayment of universal credit, jobseeker's allowance, employment and support allowance or (except in prescribed circumstances) the housing element of pension credit may be recovered, including where this was caused by official error; notes that there is currently no appeal process outlined in the Welfare Reform Act for overpayment recovery; further notes the abysmal record of this Government and previous ones in the introduction of new software programmes in handling benefits claims and the resulting chaos, stress and anxiety that these projects have caused to claimants most notably in the Child Support Agency and working tax credit systems; believes that the evidence is overwhelming that HM Revenue and Customs neither possesses the capacity under the weight of staffing cutbacks nor the expertise to successfully introduce and administer universal credit; further believes that the dramatic reduction in appeal rights confirms the overwhelming objective of the introduction of this new benefit which is to curb welfare payments at any cost; and calls on the Government to suspend immediately the introduction of universal credit pending a comprehensive review of the implications of its introduction.
This motion has been signed by a total of 23 MPs.
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