Landlords asked to highlight to tenants how DWP may contact them
DWP asks housing associations and co-operatives to highlight that DWP number may appear as 0800 number, ‘private’ or ‘number withheld’.
As the DWP works round the clock to cope with the unprecedented volume of new applications for Universal Credit, it is asking housing associations and co-operatives to highlight some crucial information to tenants via their communications channels.
The DWP said it is working seven days a week to verify the claims that have been made, which may necessitate ringing the claimant. However, some claimants may not answer if the caller identification is either an 0800 number or if it appears as ‘private’ or ‘number withheld’. Claimants are being encouraged to maintain contact with the DWP via their online journal and, if answering a call, they should be fully satisfied that the caller is genuine.
In order to provide reassurance that the call is genuine, DWP staff will:
- contact the customer via their Universal Credit Journal advising that DWP will be calling soon
- provide the customer with the last three digits of their unique Universal Credit account code/number
- provide the customer with the last three digits/letters of their postcode.
DWP is asking claimants not to call it about their claim, as it wants to free up as much capacity to able to ring claimants if it needs to verify an application.
A spokesperson from the DWP said: “The DWP is aware of customers trying to reach them for re-assurance on their claim, but they would like to concentrate on calling you, so please only call if you are unable to use Universal Credit online.’’