To help prevent fraud, the Department for Work and Pensions will investigate over 1 million new Universal Credit claims made in the last year.

This should not affect your payments providing you have shared all the correct information with your Jobcentre advisor.

If you applied for Universal Credit in the early stages of the pandemic then the DWP may contact you for some additional information to support your claim. You may be contacted via your online journal or a call from your Jobcentre.

This might show up as a withheld number. Make sure your contact details are up to date and try to check your online journal at least once a week for new notifications.

If you’re struggling to manage your online claim for any reason – including lack of access to a computer – you should be able to change to a non-digital claim.

It’s important to respond to any calls or emails from the DWP as soon as possible. If you don’t, there’s a risk your benefit payments could be stopped or changed.

If you need help with gathering the right evidence to support your claim, call our free Adviceline on 0808 2787 806 or use our advice by email service.

For more on this story, visit the Mirror website.