Reporting savings

Biblioklept

Long story short; I haven’t updated my savings to UC for ages and they haven’t asked, will I get in trouble?? 

I know it’s a good problem to have but it still worries me. They’ve gone down drastically since I reported to UC but I’ve not updated them to tell them I have less, mostly because my brain just switches off when I try and do anything practical and it’s a lot of fuss of getting screenshots and stuff and uploading and getting someone to reply on journal at all without calling them!! 

But my savings are now around £7000 so with the CoL payments that are meant to be disregarded I shouldn’t be getting deductions but they’re taking over £150 a month for savings so I really should update them

Will I get in trouble for not updating them sooner?? 

Albus_Scope

People forget @Biblioklept, it's ok.
It's worth reporting them asap just to be safe and explain the situation and you forgot.  They may want to deduct a bit from future UC payments though, depending on their calculations.  You may be ok seeing as some payments are disregarded. 

Maybe now would be a good time to go shopping for gardening bits and bobs?

OverlyAnxious

Are you sure £150 a month is correct?  That would be nearly £10k drop at £1 per £250 per week. 

I would expect you to have to justify that sort of drop in capital. 

woodbine

Its £4.35 per £250 or part of for UC or £17.40 per £1000.

@Biblioklept just update them via your journal as you are reporting a reduction in savings it will be fine.

poppy123456

You won't get into trouble for not reporting a drop in capital but of course, you'll be receiving less UC than you're entitled to by not reporting. 

Biblioklept

Thanks all I'm going to try and do it this week, I always worried about getting in trouble and it spirals  

OverlyAnxious said:

Are you sure £150 a month is correct?  That would be nearly £10k drop at £1 per £250 per week. 

I would expect you to have to justify that sort of drop in capital. 

Yeah I think it's correct, I was paid a bit over £22k which closed my claim. I reclaimed a couple of months later when I had £15,000 as I didn't want to mess up my LCWRA or have to have a reassessment so wanted to reclaim ASAP. They only asked me to prove what I had in my account and didn't question where it was spent.
It's now at £7000 so I know they are deducting more than they should be, I just can't bring myself to update, them which I know is crazy!!! Although at least I'm not on housing benefit or ESA because updating them would be impossible for me and they'd be hassling for bank statements every month even if no change!!!! Paying money I shouldn't be I always consider a bit of an "ADHD or autism tax", it's like not being able to cancel subscriptions to stuff etc and many other things that cost me more or I pay for because I can't get myself organised or contact people. 
I really do need to sit down and work out my finances properly one day, but like everything in my life it's a "one day" which never seems to come (I'm laughing but I'm actually quite embarrassed by it!! Can't keep beating myself up for everything though! )

OverlyAnxious

Biblioklept said:

OverlyAnxious said:

Are you sure £150 a month is correct?  That would be nearly £10k drop at £1 per £250 per week. 

I would expect you to have to justify that sort of drop in capital. 

Yeah I think it's correct, I was paid a bit over £22k which closed my claim. I reclaimed a couple of months later when I had £15,000 as I didn't want to mess up my LCWRA or have to have a reassessment so wanted to reclaim ASAP. They only asked me to prove what I had in my account and didn't question where it was spent.
It's now at £7000 so I know they are deducting more than they should be, I just can't bring myself to update, them which I know is crazy!!! Although at least I'm not on housing benefit or ESA because updating them would be impossible for me and they'd be hassling for bank statements every month even if no change!!!! Paying money I shouldn't be I always consider a bit of an "ADHD or autism tax", it's like not being able to cancel subscriptions to stuff etc and many other things that cost me more or I pay for because I can't get myself organised or contact people. 
I really do need to sit down and work out my finances properly one day, but like everything in my life it's a "one day" which never seems to come (I'm laughing but I'm actually quite embarrassed by it!! Can't keep beating myself up for everything though! )

That does work out as 'nearly' £10k then, so my maths wasn't far out. 

Very interesting that you weren't asked to justify that level of spend at the reclaim.  I'd expect them to need justification there to make sure the claimant hadn't purposely spent the money in order to claim again.

I'm on ESA & HB and never sent bank statements since the start of the claim nearly a decade ago.  I'm also in the situation where I don't want to give them any reason to start requesting frequent statements though so it's totally understandable.  I've been recommended to switch to UC to make updating savings easier (using the journal instead of post) but I've seen so many bad experiences with UC that I really don't want to take the risk of switching over until I'm forced to.

Biblioklept

What worries you most about UC @OverlyAnxious? I've had a few bumps but I still waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy prefer it to legacy benefits!!! 

OverlyAnxious

Biblioklept said:

What worries you most about UC @OverlyAnxious? I've had a few bumps but I still waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy prefer it to legacy benefits!!! 

It is one of your bumps that worried me, but I've seen others with similar problems as well.  Claimants being forced to the Job Centre or forced to use telephones/video calls etc.  And losing their income if they can't manage it...

I was forced to the Job Centre for a full ESA assessment back in 2018 due to a GP who wouldn't sign off the repeat forms unless I visited the surgery - which was completely impossible for me by that point, partly due to the previous experience I'd had with him!

I'd never be able to get to the Job Centre again now, so don't really want to risk that sort of mess again until I'm forced to do so.

I'm also struggling even with online contact now.  It can be a week or more between checking emails, and some I never can read or reply to.  If those were UC emails for the journal then I could end up in trouble without even realising.

Out of interest, what is it you prefer about UC?

Biblioklept

@OverlyAnxious The main bonus for me is being able to do it all online! I had to argue for some things (commitment meeting being one) and was lucky that I could verify my ID online, I think most people have to go in at least once, although I've had friends who were able to have someone take their ID in for them so long as they put a note giving permission on journal, but overall, despite the issues I've had, it's just been sooooo much easier!

I'm rubbish at checking emails or messages or responding to things, but I can't remember the last time I got a message from UC about anything. I used to obsessively log on in case anything was missed but don't bother any more. I don't have any work commitments (neither would you) so the only thing I have to do is report changes, so if there are none I don't need to log on. 

Plus when they do put up a message, I get a text and an email telling me so unlike the worry with ESA about missing letters etc I can always access and check and get notified!!

And the obvious of not having to call anyone!!! Whereas only real way to do ESA and housing is to call 

Jimm_Scope

I have the exact same issue @Biblioklept. In fact... there's a few things I need to go update...