UC review and "savings"

Whatshallido

I got the dreaded message a while back that i would be getting reviewed. I live at home with my parents still and my father is my appointee. I don't have an active social life so spending money outside doesn't happen for me so i am not visiting eateries etc. The only thing i spend my money on is Amazon, some subscriptions, clothes and a phone bill.

They wanted 4 months of statements first and i gave them, then they wanted 12 months which just arrived before Xmas. I just went over 9k from UC alone basically because small money that went in was from my birthday, Xmas and people giving me money back when i got things from Amazon for them. I've been hearing about deductions if you go over 6, but they really expect you to splurge it all instantly? I have spending anxiety after seeing my family home being lost when i was younger in 07 and anything that can go wrong in my house does. It's usually something very expensive as well. If i had been told about this nonsense from the start i would have spent it immediately, but sadly i cannot see into the future.

woodbine

hi @Whatshallido and a warm welcome to scope, for savings over £6,000 UC is reduced by £4.35 a month for every £250 or £17.40 per £1000 so if you have savings of £9,000 you can expect a reduction of £52.20 per month, if your savings reduce you should report this monthly on your journal, same if they increase.

Whatshallido

woodbine said:

hi @Whatshallido and a warm welcome to scope, for savings over £6,000 UC is reduced by £4.35 a month for every £250 or £17.40 per £1000 so if you have savings of £9,000 you can expect a reduction of £52.20 per month, if your savings reduce you should report this monthly on your journal, same if they increase.

Thank you for the welcome and the reply. So in November or December i hit that number (just over 9), which means i will just get deducted for eons then? Because i only get my money from UC basically. I have enough to survive on but i will assume that's why they want to see my statements from 12 months ago? To see when i hit the 6k mark?

poppy123456

I'm not sure what you mean by "deductions for eons"

UC entitlement is based on your circumstances on the last day of each assessment period. If you have more than £6,000 at that time then you should report the changes or your father should, if he's your appointee for UC as that's his responsibility.

How much you will owe will depend on how long you were over the lower limit for. Yes, that's very likely why they've asked for 12 months statements.

AtlasShoulders

Whatshallido said:

woodbine said:

hi @Whatshallido and a warm welcome to scope, for savings over £6,000 UC is reduced by £4.35 a month for every £250 or £17.40 per £1000 so if you have savings of £9,000 you can expect a reduction of £52.20 per month, if your savings reduce you should report this monthly on your journal, same if they increase.

Thank you for the welcome and the reply. So in November or December i hit that number (just over 9), which means i will just get deducted for eons then? Because i only get my money from UC basically. I have enough to survive on but i will assume that's why they want to see my statements from 12 months ago? To see when i hit the 6k mark?

Did you report to them at the time when your savings went over £6K? If not, they may be investigating it as a potential case of benefit fraud. 

Whatshallido

AtlasShoulders said:

Whatshallido said:

woodbine said:

hi @Whatshallido and a warm welcome to scope, for savings over £6,000 UC is reduced by £4.35 a month for every £250 or £17.40 per £1000 so if you have savings of £9,000 you can expect a reduction of £52.20 per month, if your savings reduce you should report this monthly on your journal, same if they increase.

Thank you for the welcome and the reply. So in November or December i hit that number (just over 9), which means i will just get deducted for eons then? Because i only get my money from UC basically. I have enough to survive on but i will assume that's why they want to see my statements from 12 months ago? To see when i hit the 6k mark?

Did you report to them at the time when your savings went over £6K? If not, they may be investigating it as a potential case of benefit fraud. 

No, because i had ZERO idea about any of this at all. I have been spending the money i get, but i don't have a car, a social life or anything that helps me spend a tonne of money. I just buy things from Amazon, some subscriptions, clothes, phone bill and that's it. No one EVER told me either about this, it's only now i have learned about that money being classed as savings.

poppy123456

As your dad is your appointee then it's his responsibility to know this and to report all changes. The worst that can happen is that you'll have an overpayment and a small fine for not reporting changes.

Whatshallido

poppy123456 said:

As your dad is your appointee then it's his responsibility to know this and to report all changes. The worst that can happen is that you'll have an overpayment and a small fine for not reporting changes.

I've been told elsewhere it will probably be a deduction of £52.50 or something every month which is fine by me. Even if they asked for about 3k back or something i'd give it back immediately of course.

Whatshallido

AtlasShoulders said:

Whatshallido said:

woodbine said:

hi @Whatshallido and a warm welcome to scope, for savings over £6,000 UC is reduced by £4.35 a month for every £250 or £17.40 per £1000 so if you have savings of £9,000 you can expect a reduction of £52.20 per month, if your savings reduce you should report this monthly on your journal, same if they increase.

Thank you for the welcome and the reply. So in November or December i hit that number (just over 9), which means i will just get deducted for eons then? Because i only get my money from UC basically. I have enough to survive on but i will assume that's why they want to see my statements from 12 months ago? To see when i hit the 6k mark?

Did you report to them at the time when your savings went over £6K? If not, they may be investigating it as a potential case of benefit fraud. 

No, because i had ZERO idea about any of this at all. I have been spending the money i get, but i don't have a car, a social life or anything that helps me spend a tonne of money. I just buy things from Amazon, some subscriptions, clothes, phone bill and that's it. No one EVER told me either about this, it's only now i have learned about that money being classed as savings.

OverlyAnxious

Whatshallido said:
...i don't have a car, a social life or anything that helps me spend a tonne of money. I just buy things from Amazon, some subscriptions, clothes, phone bill and that's it. No one EVER told me either about this, it's only now i have learned about that money being classed as savings.

If you're still not able to use all of the income you get from UC each time, that will keep adding to your savings at the end of each payment period.  Each time it goes over another £250 threshold at the end of the payment period (not including the current payment within the last 4 weeks) your Dad should inform them of that savings increase which will, in turn, add a larger deduction each time.  Unless you are likely to have a large outgoing any time soon, this will be an ongoing issue for the foreseeable future.

Sadly this situation is one that seems to be misunderstood by many on here, let alone in the outside world. 

woodbine

Whatshallido said:

poppy123456 said:

As your dad is your appointee then it's his responsibility to know this and to report all changes. The worst that can happen is that you'll have an overpayment and a small fine for not reporting changes.

I've been told elsewhere it will probably be a deduction of £52.50 or something every month which is fine by me. Even if they asked for about 3k back or something i'd give it back immediately of course.

Even if you had £9000 in savings every month for 10 months the over-payment would only be around £500

poppy123456

It's also worth mentioning that all the cost of living payments are disregarded from savings indefinitely so if you received any of those they won't be included in your total savings.

Whatshallido

I'll be going to the CAB soon as i said on my PIP post. I'll feel a lot better and i'll get the information to my face, then it will be better for me. Even if they deducted the 52 pounds a month or even asked for a lump sum back I'd do it as i said. When everything is solved i will make a post about it and thanks for the replies