Deductions of £29.60 + £5 from JSA

Perhaps someone can advise me regarding these punitive direct deductions.

My client ,a single person aged 43 in receipt of JSA, is having weekly deductions of £29.60 for a fraudulent IS O/P and also has an additional £5 being deducted for a fine. This leaves them with less than £40 a week to live on. The bedroom tax is £17 a week and rent arrears repayments are £7 a week. The rent arrears stand at over £3000. I called Debt Management in Mitcheldean and was informed that the IS deduction could only be considered for reduction if the client had a health condition which meant it incurred extra costs, if there was a risk of utilities being cut off or if there was a threat of eviction and then the client would have to provide proof of any or all of the above and then the admin team would ‘consider’ the request for a reduction.  The DWP officer was extremely inflexible and kept saying its legislation and so they cannot do anything about this. I have advised my client to seek intervention from the local MP as the situation is untenable.

I wondered whether anyone else has come across this response and whether you were able to reduce the direct deductions using any other methods.

thanks for your consideration.

3 points come to mind:

If I am reading it right, and assuming this is income-based JSA not c-JSA, then CPAG p1181-2 says that where there is a fraudulent overpayment, the TOTAL deductions (excluding certain payments such as ongoing fuel costs) can not exceed £29.60.
The ref is to reg 5ZA of the Social Security (Overpayments and Recovery) 1988 regs, which was apparently inserted by this SI when the max rate went from 5 x 5% to 8 x 5%:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/499/pdfs/uksi_20150499_en.pdf

The DWP’s discretion to depart from the maximum rate is not fettered by legislation, see this thread, and the guidance Daphne attached in post #18:
http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/7657

It may be worth referring for debt advice, for the rent arrears at least.

(edit: 4thly .. any grounds for a DHP?)