Sussex couple ‘forced to pay back Universal Credit advance they did not want nor receive’

Robert and Diane Young said their benefits were cut after being moved to Universal Credit last year.

But now, they only get £38 a month because of the repayments – pushing them to the brink of homelessness, they said.

Robert, 59, from Riverside, Littlehampton, said: “It is destroying us.

“They are discrediting me and making me feel as though I am a criminal.”

Robert worked for 20 years as an electrical, buildings and maintenance manager at Ford Prison before retiring due to ill health.

He said a court ruled he could be entitled to the maximum raft of benefits payments.