Universal Credit deductions
Find out who to contact about money taken off your Universal Credit (Gov.UK)
Why you might have deductions in your Universal Credit
You might have deductions because you owe the DWP, HMRC, or a third-party money and they have chosen to recover what you owe them by taking it from your Universal Credit. Universal Credit class these deductions as ‘debts’.
What types of ‘debts’ are there?
- advances
- Universal Credit overpayments
- tax credits and other benefit overpayments
- budgeting and crisis loan repayments
- recoverable hardship payments
- third party deductions - if you owe money for things like rent, Council Tax, electricity, gas, water or court fines
How you can ask to reduce the deductions
If you are experiencing financial difficulties, you can request that deductions are reduced - this is called asking for a ‘financial hardship decision’.
Who you need to speak to depends on what the deduction is for.
Find out who to contact about money taken off your Universal Credit (Gov.UK)
If you are unable to check online you can call the DWP Debt Management service on 0800 916 0647. They will be able to discuss your deductions with you and agree any changes to the amount being deducted.
There are some deductions that are not managed by DWP Debt Management, if this is the case they will let you know who to speak to instead.
Managing your deductions online
There is also an online service where you can manage some of your deductions yourself without having to speak to someone.
You can do this by signing up for a Repay and manage benefit money you owe account (Gov.UK)