Transparency data

DWP Debt Management customer service standards

Updated 5 March 2024

Who we are and what we do

Debt Management is part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Our job is to recover overpaid benefits.

Contact DWP Debt Management if you need help managing your repayments. We can talk you through your options, including what you can afford to pay.

We also recover:

• outstanding Social Fund loans
• advances (payments on account), including short-term benefit advances
• Tax Credit overpayments that need to be repaid
• overpaid benefit from the estates of deceased customers through the Recovery from Estates team
• social security benefit in certain compensation cases and NHS costs in certain injury cases through the Compensation Recovery Unit

Our customer contact work is carried out in contact centres around the United Kingdom.

Our standards

Our service standards inform you about the level of service we aim to provide in our day-to-day work. They also tell you how you can give us feedback and what to do if things go wrong in your dealings with us.

DWP is committed to meeting a single set of customer standards as defined in the DWP Our customer charter.

These include:

• right treatment
• right result
• on time
• easy access

We are keen to see that our service reflects the standards that are important to you, our customer. The following statements describe how we will do this.

Right treatment

We will:

• treat you fairly and with respect
• treat all customers equally and consistently
• protect your personal information
• provide the standard of service you expect to receive from us
• explain things clearly and in terms you can understand

Right result

We will:

• give you information that is correct
• explain why too much money has been paid to you, whether you need to pay it back and if so, why, including where advanced payments need to be recovered
• explain your social fund loan position and agreed repayment rates
• correctly signpost you to other government departments where necessary.
• put things right if they go wrong

On time

We aim to:

• answer 90% of the calls we receive
• call you back within 48 hours or sooner if agreed
• call you back within 24 hours, during our operating hours if a response from our Debt Management Social Fund Recovery group is required
• respond to your written complaint and when an MP writes to us on your behalf (this includes Members of Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly Members) within 15 working days following receipt
• explain why and when you will get a full response if we cannot respond in the time stated

Easy access

We will:

• be available to take your calls from 8am to 7.30pm Monday to Friday
  Compensation Recovery Unit are available from 8am to 6pm
  Recovery from Estates are available from 8am to 6pm
  Social Fund Enquiry Line operating hours from 8am to 5pm
  
• provide our opening times and contact details when we write to you
• provide a contact name and explanation when we call you
• explain where you can obtain further help and advice
• provide a text phone service for the hard of hearing or speech impaired
• provide our letters in large print or Braille if requested
• provide a telephone service in Welsh to our customers where Welsh is their first language
• provide an interpreter service for customers where English is not their first language

What we ask of you

We ask you to:

• confirm your identity by answering security questions when you telephone us so that we can ensure your personal information is handled securely
• give us full and accurate information when we ask you for it
• tell us about any changes in your personal circumstances when they happen
• be polite and considerate when you contact us
• let us know if you need to communicate with us in a different way

When we contact you

In writing

We write to you in English. However, if Welsh is your first language you can choose to deal with us in English or Welsh.

Our letters will be typed and in clear, plain language. They will be accurate and helpful.

By phone

If we need to telephone you we will:

• explain who we are, and why we are calling
• check your details so that we know we are talking to the right person
• call you back at an agreed time, if you ask us to

If we need to visit you

We will not normally need to visit you because we can usually deal with your case in writing or by phone. If it is necessary to see you, we will arrange for a DWP representative to call. We will give you a date and time for the visit and will let you know what information we will need, or documents we may need to see.

Before the visit, please tell us if you have any specific needs, for example, a sign language or other language interpreter, or if you prefer a visiting officer of the same gender as you.

The visiting officer will show you their identification card and give you their name. If they are going to be delayed they will let you know.

Giving you advice and information

Through a representative

If you want us to give information to someone who is helping or representing you (in writing or over the phone), we need you to give us your authority.

What to do if things go wrong

If you think the overpayment decision is wrong

If you need more information, please ask the benefit office that notified you how they made the decision. If you think the decision is wrong, ask for it to be looked at again, this is called a mandatory reconsideration.

The letter telling you about outcome of the reconsideration will tell you if you can then appeal.

If you still think the decision is wrong, in most cases you will be able to appeal to an independent tribunal.

Please contact the benefit office that notified you about the overpayment within one month of the date of the letter giving you the decision. In some circumstances a late appeal may be accepted but the absolute deadline for this would be within 13 months of the date of the decision letter.

If you think the outstanding Social Fund loan amount is wrong

If you need more information, please contact the Social Fund Enquiry Line for information regarding the loan amount paid or the outstanding loan balance. Should the Social Fund Enquiry Line be unable to answer your query, your call will be passed to a member of the DM team or they will ask us to call you back.

If you think your Compensation Recovery Unit certificate is wrong

Initial loan enquiries should always be made through the Social Fund Enquiry line who can also provide information regarding loan amounts paid or the outstanding loan balance.

Should the Social Fund Enquiry Line be unable to answer your query, your call will be passed to a member of the DM team or they will ask us to call you back.

For existing customers on Universal Credit or no longer in receipt of benefit, enquiries relating to an outstanding balance can be made through the DM Team.

If you are not happy with our customer service

We work to continuously improve our services and act on feedback and comments. If you think something has gone wrong with the service we provide or we have not met the service standards set out in this document, we want to know so that we can try and put it right.

If you contact us by telephone to discuss our level of customer service, and the advisor feels that they cannot resolve your issue, they may arrange for a Team Leader to contact you to discuss your concerns.

If you contact us by letter, we will try to contact you to discuss your concerns.

If you are still dissatisfied after talking to the Team Leader, your issue will be referred to Complaint Resolution Managers and it will be treated as an official complaint.

Our complaint procedure

Debt Management’s Complaint Resolution Managers can only deal with complaints against the level of customer service provided by Debt Management. They will not consider matters of law or government policy.

A complaint is defined as any expression of dissatisfaction about the service provided which is not resolved by operational staff as normal business.

Our complaint procedure is invoked when an objection against the level of service you have received from us is received in writing or when you notify us in a telephone conversation.

If you are not satisfied with our final response from a Complaint Resolution Manager and you feel that your complaint about our level of customer service has not been dealt with satisfactorily, you may write to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE).

ICE offers an impartial mediation and review service, which is easily accessible and entirely free, to those whose complaints remain unresolved. The ICE also looks at complaints about the customer service we provide but will not consider matters of law or government policy.

If you choose to contact the ICE, this must be done within 6 months of receiving a response to your complaint.

Contacting Debt Management

Our Debt Management sites are not open to the public, however our contact centres have been designed to provide a service that is easy to use by everybody. We encourage contact by telephone and also accept written contact.

Debt Management team

Telephone: 0800 916 0647
Textphone: 0800 916 0651
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 916 0647
Monday to Friday, 8am to 7.30pm

British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service.
Watch a video to check if you can use the service.
Go to the video relay service.
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

The video relay service uses a free plugin. You may need to change the security settings on your device to install this.
Find out about call charges

Debt Management’s advisors will be able to access records and update them from whichever of the sites your call is routed to. This allows you greater access to the services and advice we can offer.

Please note that Debt Management is not a Benefit Paying Office. If your enquiry relates to your benefit claim rather than a debt, we advise you to contact the Benefit Paying Office directly.

Debt Enforcement team

Telephone: 0800 169 0343
Textphone: 0800 916 0651
Monday to Friday, 8am to 7.30pm
Find out about call charges

Please note that Debt Enforcement is not a Benefit Paying Office. If your enquiry relates to your benefit claim rather than a debt, we advise you to contact the Benefit Paying Office directly.

Social Fund loans

If your question is about the repayment of a Social Fund loan and you are still receiving benefit other than Universal Credit, please contact the Social Fund Enquiry Line.

If you have a Social Fund loan and are now claiming Universal Credit or are no longer in receipt of any benefit, please contact the Debt Management team on Telephone: 0800 916 0647

Social Fund Enquiry Line

Telephone: 0800 169 0140
Textphone: 0800 169 0286
Welsh language: 0800 169 0240
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 169 0140

British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service.
Watch a video to check if you can use the service.
Go to the video relay service.
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm

The video relay service uses a free plugin. You may need to change the security settings on your device to install this.
Find out about call charges

Should they not be able to resolve you query, they will pass your call directly through to a member of the DM team, or ask us to call you back where they are unable to directly deal with your query.

Recovery from Estates team

If you want to discuss the recovery of overpaid benefit from the estate of a deceased customer, you should contact Debt Management’s Recoveries from Estates. Their contact details will be on letters they have sent you.

Compensation Recovery Unit

How to contact the Compensation Recovery Unit.

Textphone: 0800 916 0651
NGT text relay (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 916 0647

British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service.
Watch a video to check if you can use the service.
Go to the video relay service.
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

The video relay service uses a free plugin. You may need to change the security settings on your device to install this.
Find out about call charges.

Address

If you want to write to Debt Management, our postal address is always provided on the letters we issue.

Each of our contact centres, excluding the Compensation Recovery Unit, uses the following address:

Debt Management (C)
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 2DF

The Compensation Recovery Unit address is:

Compensation Recovery Unit
Post Handling Site B
Wolverhampton
WV99 2FR

For customers who are disputing receipt of a Social Fund Loan:

Milton Keynes SF Disputed Debt Team
Freepost Milton Keynes SF