A man claims his Universal Credit payments were halted after a complete stranger accidentally used his National Insurance number when starting a new position.
Ryan-Jay Walsh says he’s been unable to work since November 2024 due to health problems. The 30 year old, from Hyde, Tameside, has been claiming Universal Credit since then, having had multiple operations.
He’s waiting for one final procedure.
He told the Manchester Evening News he typically gets his payment – roughly £1,300 – on the ninth of each month. When no pending transaction showed up by August 7, Ryan said he began to worry.
“I went on the Universal Credit portal and it said ‘your employer has quoted that you earned £3,650’,” he said. “I didn’t sleep all night. I was stressing about the bills, calling relatives. I was really upset.
“I was getting all these notifications saying ‘payment declined’, ‘payment declined’. It’s been incredibly stressful, not knowing where this money is coming from and if it’s coming back at all.”
Ryan said he phoned for assistance on Friday, August 8, and was informed he’d been logged as a worker at a business he’d never heard of.
He said that when he rang the company, managers were equally ‘quite baffled’. “They confirmed that no-one matching my name has ever worked there,” he added.
Ryan explained that the firm discovered a new worker’s National Insurance number had been entered incorrectly.
He continued: “They had a National Insurance number that was different by only one digit and it was inputted incorrectly.”
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The business, he revealed, supplied him with evidence and offered to liaise with HMRC on his behalf. Ryan stated he was informed ‘it was a waiting game and that investigating the issue could take months’.
“I said ‘no, that’s not good enough, that’s despicable’,” he remarked.
“I don’t know how they can expect someone who relies on Universal Credit to accept that. What am I supposed to do for money?”.
“I’ve got bad anxiety, so I just kept thinking the worst. It could lead to me getting evicted. I provided them with all the evidence and they just told me to wait.
“It’s had a massive impact on my mental health as well as my physical health. I’ve had sleepless nights, just stressing and chasing everybody up.”
Ryan revealed he received a message on the Universal Credit portal on Tuesday (August 12), acknowledging there had been a mistake.
“It acknowledged that I was owed money and said my employment status would be altered, and that I’ll be paid on the 14th. I’m definitely relieved, but will feel more secure once I have received the payment and paid my bills.
“I’ll have to pay late fees on those now too. But it’s a massive weight off my shoulders. Even if it is just a mistake of one digit, it should have flagged up on the system that the employee’s name didn’t match mine. It should have been noticed earlier.”
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson confirmed Ryan would receive a payment on August 14 and that the matter had been ‘swiftly resolved’ following an ‘administrative error’.
HMRC has been contacted for comment.
