Part of Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:30 pm on 11 March 2025.
Andrew Western
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
2:30,
11 March 2025
The challenge is that, by that time, we will have made repeated and sustained attempts to contact the person to ask them to engage with us to agree an affordable repayment plan, to assess their ability to agree that plan and to encourage them to pay back what has already been established as a recoverable debt. The requirement is part of a power of last resort. I am not convinced that we would be able to secure engagement from such a person, as the power applies in relation to someone we have repeatedly tried to contact. Without it, I fail to see how we could both have a conversation with someone whom we have not previously been able to contact and assure ourselves that we would not be putting somebody in a particularly challenging financial position.