UC Claim review - HELP

maddanj

Recarding the UC Payments Reviewis:

it usual to have a different case manager assigned during a Univesal Credit review?

I've left a journal requesting my usual Case Manager calls me as I need to clarify this info about backpayment discounted timescales and info about my claim ending when I qualify for  for my state pension in Jamuary.

They initially asked me what I want to discuss with my CM then when I said it's about historic payments and clarificaitons of backpayments. Another Review agent then left me a message to say he's my CM during the payements review. 

I feeel they are not being transparent and inhibiting me from proceeding with clarifications on my claim.

Kimmy87

They have a special team who do compliance checks, so yes it's usual to have someone different. 

poppy123456

maddanj said:

I've just heard from the review team that they can be discounted for 12 or 18 months. It's really bad that they don't put this in the award / backpayment letters.

That's shocking advice you've had there from the review team! Backdated lump sums are disregarded for 12 months only. If lump sums of more than £5,000 are from official errors then they are disregarded for the life of the claim. See link and scroll to "backdated lump sums from DWP. https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/benefits/problems-with-benefits/how-do-savings-and-lump-sum-pay-outs-affect-benefits

All Cost of living payments are also disregarded for an indefinite period.

When its a review like this is can be any Case manager that deals with it.

When you reach state pension age, if you're a single person or living with a partner that's already state pension age your UC should just close and you will receive one final UC payment. You will also need to apply for your state pension https://www.gov.uk/get-state-pension

Are you claiming for help with any rent in with your UC? If you do then you will need to claim Housing benefit for this, which can be claimed from your Local Authority.  

Do you claim a disability benefit such as either PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care, ADP daily living? If so are you living with other adults?

legendofall

Finally my UC review is done, no changes are being made to my UC, thankfully they made the right decision, my benefits are not affected. 

maddanj

@poppy123456  Thank you. That's helpful - I think. My usual Case Manager told me the back payment would not be classed as income or capital but of course, the letter doesn't show this. 
The backdated payment was way over £5k as it was 3 years worth of LCWRA due to the WCA taking 5 years.

I will check the letter from the DWP complaints officer in response to my MP who determined that when UC tried to reclaim part of my back payment (said couldn't find 9 months worth of fit notes that they and ESA recieved) and see if this holds any relevant info about the disregard period.

poppy123456

maddanj said:

@poppy123456  Thank you. That's helpful - I think. My usual Case Manager told me the back payment would not be classed as income or capital but of course, the letter doesn't show this. 
The backdated payment was way over £5k as it was 3 years worth of LCWRA due to the WCA taking 5 years.

I will check the letter from the DWP complaints officer in response to my MP who determined that when UC tried to reclaim part of my back payment (said couldn't find 9 months worth of fit notes that they and ESA recieved) and see if this holds any relevant info about the disregard period.

In your case the backdated money is disregarded for 1 year from the date you received it. 

mangofrog

I’ve recently received this message too. Just read through this thread and I had no idea that capital over £6000 affected UC benefits (I thought it was a higher number). That’s not something that’s ever been communicated tk me. I’ve had over £6000 for a while as a result of my UC benefits. I have no other income. Do UC benefits themselves count as capital?

poppy123456

mangofrog said:

I’ve recently received this message too. Just read through this thread and I had no idea that capital over £6000 affected UC benefits (I thought it was a higher number). That’s not something that’s ever been communicated tk me. I’ve had over £6000 for a while as a result of my UC benefits. I have no other income. Do UC benefits themselves count as capital?

The lower limit has always been £6,000 for working age people. For every £250 or part thereof over £6,000 there’s a £4.35/month deduction in your UC.

Savings of more than £16,000 then entitlement stops. 

Your UC payments are not treated as capital until the end of the period they are paid for. For UC what counts is what savings you have in total on the last day of each assessment period.

The cost of living payments are disregarded from your savings indefinitely. 

If you’re claiming council tax reduction then some local authorities have a maximum savings limit of £6,000 before entitlement to CTR ends. You will need to have a look on their website to see if there’s any information about savings limits. 

Jimm_Scope

Hi @mangofrog, it's often best to just be upfront. It's okay to make mistakes, it's an issue when it's purposeful. You will have to payback any overpayments, but unless you've saved over £16,000 you will still get Universal Credit.

Also, while it is gone over upon applying I'm not surprised people can forget about a single detail about an application they possibly did years ago. There's many other thresholds in our system to get confused about it over too.

mangofrog

Jimm_Scope said:

Hi @mangofrog, it's often best to just be upfront. It's okay to make mistakes, it's an issue when it's purposeful. You will have to payback any overpayments, but unless you've saved over £16,000 you will still get Universal Credit.

Also, while it is gone over upon applying I'm not surprised people can forget about a single detail about an application they possibly did years ago. There's many other thresholds in our system to get confused about it over too.

Thank you I sent a very detailed message in my journal apologising and giving lots of information as to my savings over time etc They seem to have responded okay. I’ve sent all my bank statements dating back to when I initially went over the threshold now.

mangofrog

I do have some other questions which I’ve asked twice in my journal, but the person responding hasn’t addressed then - thought maybe you all would have the answers!

- is it correct that we need to declare the total amount of capital at the end of the assessment period? (As opposed to another time)
- how do well when the end of our assessment period is?
- wrt Cost of Living payments, do we deduct the total amount of COL payments from our overall money? Ie. I’ve received £1251 in COL payments (first one was in July ‘22) - do I deduct £1251 from the overall amount in my bank account each month? Or is there a different way of doing it?

Thank you

mangofrog

*how do we tell when the end of our assessment period is

poppy123456

mangofrog said:

- is it correct that we need to declare the total amount of capital at the end of the assessment period? (As opposed to another time)
- how do well when the end of our assessment period is?
- wrt Cost of Living payments, do we deduct the total amount of COL payments from our overall money? Ie. I’ve received £1251 in COL payments (first one was in July ‘22) - do I deduct £1251 from the overall amount in my bank account each month? Or is there a different way of doing it?

Thank you

Yes, your UC entitlement is determined on the last day of each assessment period. For this reason, this when you would need to tell them if there's any changes to your capital, if it's more than £6,000. For every £250 or part thereof over that amount there's a £4.35/month deduction.

To know the dates of your assessment periods, log in to your journal and then click "home" from there look at the list and then click "payments." At the top of that page it will say something like this... on 25th December you will be paid any money you're entitled to... the amount you get is based on your circumstances from 19th November to 18th December. Therefore your last day of your assesment period in this example will be 18th December. 

All the cost of living payments are disregarded from capital indefinitely.

mangofrog

poppy123456 said:

mangofrog said:

- is it correct that we need to declare the total amount of capital at the end of the assessment period? (As opposed to another time)
- how do well when the end of our assessment period is?
- wrt Cost of Living payments, do we deduct the total amount of COL payments from our overall money? Ie. I’ve received £1251 in COL payments (first one was in July ‘22) - do I deduct £1251 from the overall amount in my bank account each month? Or is there a different way of doing it?

Thank you

Yes, your UC entitlement is determined on the last day of each assessment period. For this reason, this when you would need to tell them if there's any changes to your capital, if it's more than £6,000. For every £250 or part thereof over that amount there's a £4.35/month deduction.

To know the dates of your assessment periods, log in to your journal and then click "home" from there look at the list and then click "payments." At the top of that page it will say something like this... on 25th December you will be paid any money you're entitled to... the amount you get is based on your circumstances from 19th November to 18th December. Therefore your last day of your assesment period in this example will be 18th December. 

All the cost of living payments are disregarded from capital indefinitely.

Thank you Poppy, that’s very helpful. To clarify re the COL payments, that means that every month I need to deduct the full £1251 from COL payments from my total savings? Just really want to be sure I’m not declaring the wrong amount.

Stay

Hello Everyone please help me about my claim.I just uploaded my Statements of last 4 months.I am wondering what they are looking for?i used my balance transfer credit card which is 11k Its showing on the statement.And borrowed some money from friends and family.What i dont understand is will this efect my uc? We had some huge Out goings last 2 months Chritsmas Shopping kids broke it Tv we buy new tv i applied british citizen cost me 3k.exc..

Everything showing on the statment where i spend.Please can some one help me what do i need do.?will this 11k be prblem? Please help

mangofrog

Hey all - I have a claim review phone interview on Monday. Is there anything in particular I should prepare for?

I’ve printed out all the bank statements I sent them and highlighted any transactions I suspect they may ask about, and noted down what the transaction was. For context, I only found out recently about the £6000 cut off and had gone over it, and I’ve communicated with them about that in depth via the journal.

Are there any other notes I should prepare? What kind of questions should I expect?

Thank you

mangofrog

(That was me posting that message, not a quote of someone else, it got stuck like that somehow)

unclebob

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/786480#Comment_786480

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/786479#Comment_786479

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/786479#Comment_786479

I was over the the limit of £16,000 so I am not sure what will happen, but most of it was in my business account that i was told they take no notice of but they do.

But im not sure they can ask about any transactions because it's your money to spend on what ever you want.

Kimmy87

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/872352#Comment_872352

Unfortunately with the UC compliance checks they will ask about various transactions, I was, they want to satisfy themselves no deliberate deprivation of capital is taking place (I think).

unclebob

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/872410#Comment_872410

I simply believe that doing this is completely wrong.