UC compliance, desperately worried

wargsnipe

I've got some severe mental health problems which mean I can't go out at all, can't make any calls, and extremely struggle with the most simple day to day things. I live alone and don't have any friends. I've been receiving UC and PIP for about 3 years after my support worker helped me with them when I ran out of savings. I no longer get any support help though as they said they don't offer long term support any more. I've been living on the bare minimum for many years and have been slowly paying off credit card debt since getting UC/PIP.

I had a compliance letter recently which said they wanted full bank statements and listed some accounts. I didn't recognise one so I looked it up and saw it was an investment account I opened over 20 years ago when I was able to work full time which I thought was empty and had forgotten about. I managed to get hold of the details and found it has quite a lot of money in it, taking me over the £15k max, though as I didn't know it was there it obviously hasn't been touched.

Now if I send this info I am guessing they will stop all my benefits and make me pay back everything they've paid me since I started the claim? Not only will that leave me with nothing but I won't have any money coming in and won't be able to sort out any new claim in future because I have no support help any more.

I don't know what to do, I can't sleep and I can't see a way out of this, can anyone offer some advice?

poppy123456

PIP isn't affect because it's not means tested. Your UC won't end but they may suspend it while they make a decision. As UC is means tested then providing your savings didn't ever go over £16,000 since your claim for UC started then you'll be fine. There will be a deduction of £4.35/month for every £250 or part there of over £6,000.

However, you will have an overpayment which will need to be repaid back. They may add a small fine on top of the overpayment even though you had forgotten about the savings. All you can do is tell the truth but unfortunately, all UC overpayments are recoverable.

If you're also claiming council tax reduction then you need to contact your local Authority to tell them about the savings. Some local Authorities have a maximum savings limit of £6,000 before entitlement to council tax reduction ends.

calcotti

You will have to provide the information they have requested. If you don’t they will close your UC anyway.

PIP is not means tested so that is not affected.

Once the savings are below £16,000 you can claim UC again.

Look for another advice agency
https://advicelocal.uk/

wargsnipe

I can't contact people by phone and can't go outside so it makes things a lot more difficult. I'm able to do things online b ut it's very hard to manage it.

It sounds like I will have to pay everything back but that's not the biggest worry. I won't be able to make another claim as I cannot get down to the job centre. If they take me to court because of this there's no way I can deal with it when I can't even get out of the door.

poppy123456

Savings of more than £16,000 will end entitlement to UC. If your savings are less than this then your claim won't end. It may just be suspended while they investigate.

wargsnipe

I can't see any history as it's just an investment value if I take it now, there aren't any statements, but it's over 16k now and I expect it probably was when the claim started. I don't know how much UC they have paid me but it's probably about the same amount so I can probably pay everything back but if they end the claim I can't see any way to sort out a new one in future.