{"id":256761,"date":"2025-11-11T12:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T12:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/256761\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T12:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T12:22:10","slug":"dwp-benefit-claimants-could-be-charged-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/256761\/","title":{"rendered":"DWP benefit claimants could be charged \u00a350"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many people are unaware of these DWP rulesLinda Howard Money and Consumer Writer and Kate Lally<\/a> SEO writer<\/p>\n

03:42, 11 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

\"WorriedDWP may stop benefit payments in some cases(Image: Westend61 via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Millions of people who claim benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) may not realise they must make certain changes to their circumstances known. If such changes are not reported, benefit payments could be reduced, or even stop altogether.<\/p>\n

Should you fail to notify the appropriate DWP department “straight away”, your benefit claim could be suspended or terminated, and you could be hit with an extra fee. Guidance on GOV.UK explains: “If you do not report a change or a mistake, you might be paid too much. If you are, you might have to pay some of the money back. You might also have to pay a \u00a350 penalty.”<\/p>\n

It also warns: “If you deliberately do not report changes, you’re committing benefit fraud.”<\/p>\n

Changes you need to report to DWP<\/p>\n

According to the official guidance, and as reported by the Daily Record<\/a>, changes to be reported can include:<\/p>\n

changing your name or genderthe death of your partner or someone you live withstarting or stopping education, training or an apprenticeshipchanges to your pension, savings, investments or propertyfinding or finishing a job, or working different hoursyour income going up or downchanges to other money you get (for example student loans or grants, sick pay or money you get from a charity)any changes to your medical condition or disabilitychanging your doctorstarting or ending a civil partnershipyou or your partner getting back-pay (sometimes called \u2018arrears\u2019) for salary or earnings you\u2019re owedgetting married or divorcedhaving a babychanges to the benefits you or anyone else in your house getsstarting or stopping caring for someoneplanning to go abroad for any length of timemoving housepeople moving into or out of the place you live (for example your partner, a child or lodger)going into hospital, a care home or sheltered accommodation<\/p>\n

It adds: “If you claim Child Benefit you also need to report changes to your child’s circumstances.”<\/p>\n

How to report a change to DWP<\/p>\n

Generally, you should contact the relevant department responsible for managing and paying your benefit. It’s also worth noting that if you receive more than one benefit, you need to inform each department separately about the change.<\/p>\n

Universal Credit – Report changes using your Universal Credit online account if you have one or contact the Universal Credit helplineHousing Benefit – Report a change to your local councilAttendance Allowance – Call the Attendance Allowance helplineCarer\u2019s Allowance – Report a change online or call the Carer\u2019s Allowance UnitDisability benefits – Call the Disability Service Centre to report changes if you get Disability Living Allowance (DLA), or Personal Independence Payment (PIP)Pension Credit – Call the Pension Service helpline or report changes by postChild Benefit – Report changes using the Child Benefit online service or call or write to the Child Benefit OfficeAll other benefits – Report changes by calling Jobcentre Plus, you will need to have your National Insurance number when you call<\/p>\n

Full details with direct links to each department can be found on GOV.UK here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many people are unaware of these DWP rulesLinda Howard Money and Consumer Writer and Kate Lally SEO writer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[106635,4029,84,4180,3522,2219,4176,4174,4175,2220,2221,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-256761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-benefit-cheats","9":"tag-benefits","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-child-benefit","12":"tag-daily-record","13":"tag-department-for-work-and-pensions","14":"tag-finance","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-personalfinance","17":"tag-public-services","18":"tag-state-pension","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}