The Department for Work and Pensions has issued an urgent notice to anyone who claims Universal Credit - saying there is a chance they could miss vital phone calls. The DWP has this afternoon updated its advice for people getting that benefit amid fears people might ignore potentially important messages.
The DWP has acted to warn people that calls coming through from the department will be ‘unknown’ - and normally follow a message in a person’s online account. It said in the update: “Our phone systems mean calls from us may display as 0800 numbers, or an unknown number. If you get a call from an unknown number following our message in your online account please pick up, as it’s likely to be DWP. We will ensure that you know the call is genuine.
“There are scams preying on people, so do not share information if you’re not sure the call is from DWP. If you are in any doubt, you could ask the caller to post a specific form of words into your journal so you can be sure it’s us.”
The main way a Universal Credit scam works is someone offering to apply for a Universal Credit Advance Payment on your behalf and taking some of the money as a fee. They’ll often tempt you by suggesting this is free money from the government.
A Universal Credit Advance Payment can be up to a full month’s Universal Credit payment. Scammers take a large chunk for their services – 40% or more.
Universal Credit is a benefit which can be claimed by people both with and without jobs. It was brought in to replace a number of benefits - Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and Working Tax Credit. There is a general transfer still going on so some people may still be on the old benefits.
For more information on Universal Credit click here.
