“When my Universal Credit payments were stopped, I didn’t know where to turn.” 

Universal Credit is a lifeline for over 8 million people in the UK. When mistakes are made and payments are withheld, the consequences can be devastating. And we saw this first-hand when Rachel*, 51, came to us for help.  

In 2023, after two accidents that resulted in lower back and arm injuries, Rachel had to give up her job as a live-in carer. On medication and in chronic pain, she had to rely on Universal Credit (UC) to pay her bills.  

After three years of suffering, Rachel’s family urged her to visit her home country of Ghana to receive alternative treatments. 

“Just before I left the UK, I got a message from UC asking for my bank statement and passport details,” Rachel explains. “I sent them all the information they asked for before flying to Ghana.” 

On her way home, Rachel missed her flight, so she was unable to attend appointments relating to her benefits. She informed the Department of Work and Pensions about her situation. But her Universal Credit payments were stopped because she was out of the country.

It meant she couldn’t afford a new plane ticket home. “My family couldn’t help me pay for another ticket,” says Rachel.

“I was so worried about how to get home. I didn’t know where to turn, so I called South West London Law Centres. I’d heard about them through my GP’s social prescribing service. And now, I needed their help.” 

“I was struggling, but I had done nothing wrong.”

Roni Marsh, SWLLC’s Economic Justice Manager, advised Rachel to contact the British High Commission for help. They offered her a loan to buy a plane ticket, repayable within six months, and Rachel was able to return to the UK.  

Despite being back home, Rachel’s UC payments weren’t reinstated right away, and she began to struggle with debt.  

“It was just so terrible,” Rachel remembers. “I didn’t have money for food, for rent – for anything at all. It was really tough. So I got back in touch with SWLLC.” 

When Rachel got in contact, members of our Money Advice Team – including Roni Marsh, Money Adviser Andrew Boba, Economic Justice Coordinator Tom Chapman and Welfare Rights Paralegal Sneha Suresh – leapt into action.  

“Their help was amazing,” Rachel says. “They understood what I was going through and told me they would be able to help me get my UC payments started again.  

“While I waited, they helped me with food vouchers that I could use at my local supermarket. They also referred me to a food bank.  

“Those vouchers and referrals helped me with things like cooking and washing, but things were still really hard. I was so upset at having to struggle when I’d done nothing wrong. But I felt better knowing people [from SWLLC] were there to help me.” 

Although Rachel’s UC payments should have been restarted when she returned to the UK, SWLLC had to fight hard to get the benefits she was entitled to. 

“The Law Centre gave me hope that things would be OK.”

“Understandably, Rachel was extremely distressed by the situation she found herself in when her payments were halted,” says Roni Marsh.  

“They should have been reinstated when she returned to the UK, especially as she had been trapped in Ghana through no fault of her own. 

“To help the process, we contacted MP Sarah Jones, the Labour MP for Croydon West. We asked her to help push for a quick decision. It took eight months to get Rachel’s Universal Credit reinstated, but thankfully, we got the result we wanted.”

After eight months, Rachel’s Universal Credit was reinstated. She received £4,653 to cover rent arrears, plus a back payment of £6,107. The money gave her the chance to repay the debts that had built up while she was struggling for money.  

“We were happy to be able to support Rachel at such a difficult time,” says Marsh. “The result made a real difference to her quality of life.”  

Rachel was also booked in with SWLLC’s Money Advice team, so they could help her take control of her finances in the future.  

“I’m very grateful for the help I received from the Law Centre,” Rachel says. “They didn’t let me down. They gave me hope that things would be OK for me.

“If you asked me to give them a score from one to ten…? Well, I would choose ten.”  

To help people like Rachel get the economic justice they deserve, why not consider supporting our work? You can give a one-off or regular donation, leave a gift in your will or become a volunteer via our Get Involved page.

*Rechel’s name has been changed to protect her identity, and her image was generated by AI.