At the beginning of March, I received a phone call from a compliance officer at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). They informed me that I had been paid carer’s allowance for 27 weeks in error, and I now owed almost £2,000. It was so much money, I didn’t even panic – I just thought, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.” Until recently I got carer’s allowance while I was raising my children, two of whom have autism. I no longer get that, but it is still being deducted from my monthly universal credit payments. “So I don’t owe you the money, it’s universal credit who owe you the money?” I asked. “Kind of,” said the man on the phone. Even though these are all government departments who could talk to each other and sort it out, I’ve been told I have to go to the universal credit people and claim it back, then pay it back to the DWP. I rang the carer’s allowance number to point out that these payments were still being taken from my universal credit, then the universal credit number to ask them why. They said that because the allowance hadn’t been stopped, only suspended, there was nothing they could do until a decision had been made on my case. They have to do a reassessment going back to August last year, when I started my part-time job at the food bank – even though I told everyone at the time that I had started work. I like to think I’m bright and capable, but you need to be some kind of superhuman genius to navigate the whole system. Imagine people who don’t speak English as their first language, or have low literacy skills trying to deal with this. We see this all the time at the food bank. I have always been extremely straight with universal credit about my situation because I never want to get into trouble. Separately from the carer’s allowance issue, I earned some extra money this month, beyond what I initially reported to universal credit. When I called to tell them, the woman said, “Have you got a UTR – a unique taxpayer reference?” I didn’t know. She said I had to get in touch with HMRC to declare my earnings, and gave me a number. I spent half an hour on hold, and finally got through to a woman who said I’d come through to the wrong department. She tried to help, but sent me to the website, which I didn’t really understand – you shouldn’t need a dictionary to get through it. I finally found the web chat, and the person I spoke to on there said I didn’t have to report earnings under £1,000 within the financial year. I wrote to universal credit to say that HMRC had sent me back to them, and that I didn’t need to declare my extra earnings. They simply said they were waiting to hear from the “technical department”, whatever that is, about it all. It took me four hours, after finishing work, to try and sort it out, but it’s only left me even more confused, and so for now I’ve given up. I don’t think I owe them any money, but I still don’t like the idea of debt hanging over me. Why can’t they all talk to each other? It’s so frustrating, it’s almost comical. I’d be feeling a lot worse if I felt trapped in this situation, but I’m about to start a full-time job at the food bank and I’m over the moon. I volunteered there for several years until I was given a part-time job last year. This will be my first full-time job: I was on a youth training scheme when I got pregnant with my eldest, and then I was a single parent to two children with autism, and I haven’t been able to work. If I’d had a job or career when I was younger, I think I’d have a lot more confidence now, but it is starting to build. I love my job, and I get good feedback. I’m in my mid-40s, and I finally feel like I’m finding my feet. When I used a benefits calculator, I could see I would still be entitled to some universal credit, but I’m not going to claim it. I’ve been grateful for the help, but I also can’t wait to cut all ties with the system. As told to Emine Saner. Sophie is in her 40s and lives in the north of England. Her name has been changed The Trussell Trust is an anti-poverty charity that campaigns to end the need for food banks. Show your support at: trusselltrust.org/guardian Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.