Reporting capital changes

TheCleaningFairy

Hi, I was hoping someone was able to clear something up for me. Obviously reporting changes to savings accounts when they happen is easy. What about your current account, it obviously fluctuates. Should you report the balance just before your next statement?

Thank you 

TheCleaningFairy

UC, carers allowance child benefit and my child's dla. 

TheCleaningFairy

woodbine said:

All the money in all your accounts is capital however benefits income only counts during the payment period, so what benefits are you getting ?

UC, carers allowance child benefit and my child's dla. 

OverlyAnxious

This is slightly more complicated than it should be.  Basically you need to add up all of the money in all of your accounts on the last day of the UC payment period.  Then remove the latest benefit payments from that total, as they are still counted as income, not capital, until the next payment period starts.  Once the next payment period starts, any excess income that you haven't spent then becomes capital.

It's also worth noting that all cost of living payments are currently disregarded indefinitely.  So they can also be removed from the overall total.

Assuming you have over £6k in savings already, it is only worth reporting the changes if your capital fluctuates enough to move into the next £250 bracket.  As there is a deduction of £4.35 per month for every £250 you have over £6k.  If your savings are below £6k total, they don't need to be reported.

TheCleaningFairy

OverlyAnxious said:

This is slightly more complicated than it should be.  Basically you need to add up all of the money in all of your accounts on the last day of the UC payment period.  Then remove the latest benefit payments from that total, as they are still counted as income, not capital, until the next payment period starts.  Once the next payment period starts, any excess income that you haven't spent then becomes capital.

It's also worth noting that all cost of living payments are currently disregarded indefinitely.  So they can also be removed from the overall total.

Assuming you have over £6k in savings already, it is only worth reporting the changes if your capital fluctuates enough to move into the next £250 bracket.  As there is a deduction of £4.35 per month for every £250 you have over £6k.  If your savings are below £6k total, they don't need to be reported.

Ah that is more complicated than it needs to be, so I think I've done it wrong then, I've basically declared the current account figure as it stood on the last day of the UC payment period without the deductions for latest benefit payments. 

Also I'm confused about my child's Dla, that's not for me but it seems to be included as my capital if not spent fully every month. Should I put DLA into a separate account? 

OverlyAnxious

TheCleaningFairy said:

Ah that is more complicated than it needs to be, so I think I've done it wrong then, I've basically declared the current account figure as it stood on the last day of the UC payment period without the deductions for latest benefit payments. 

Also I'm confused about my child's Dla, that's not for me but it seems to be included as my capital if not spent fully every month. Should I put DLA into a separate account? 

Yes, it does sound like you've over declared this time.

I don't have any experience with child DLA myself unfortunately.  Hopefully Poppy will see this as she'll probably be best to advise on that one.  I think it may be best to open a savings account in your child's name and put any excess child DLA in there.  But please do wait for further advice on that one.

poppy123456

TheCleaningFairy said:

OverlyAnxious said:

This is slightly more complicated than it should be.  Basically you need to add up all of the money in all of your accounts on the last day of the UC payment period.  Then remove the latest benefit payments from that total, as they are still counted as income, not capital, until the next payment period starts.  Once the next payment period starts, any excess income that you haven't spent then becomes capital.

It's also worth noting that all cost of living payments are currently disregarded indefinitely.  So they can also be removed from the overall total.

Assuming you have over £6k in savings already, it is only worth reporting the changes if your capital fluctuates enough to move into the next £250 bracket.  As there is a deduction of £4.35 per month for every £250 you have over £6k.  If your savings are below £6k total, they don't need to be reported.

Ah that is more complicated than it needs to be, so I think I've done it wrong then, I've basically declared the current account figure as it stood on the last day of the UC payment period without the deductions for latest benefit payments. 

Also I'm confused about my child's Dla, that's not for me but it seems to be included as my capital if not spent fully every month. Should I put DLA into a separate account? 

If the Childs DLA payments are paid into a bank account in your name then they are counted towards the capital limit. Unspent DLA/PIP payments are counted as capital at the end of the following assessment period in which they are paid for. So for example... 

If your UC assessment period is 15th to 14th of every month and the DLA/PIP payment was paid on 10th of that month then it will not be treated as capital until the end of the following month. 

What counts for UC is what you have on the last day of each assessment period, not the first day of the AP. 

OverlyAnxious

letitbe said:

yes this is def more confusing than I thought too . 

I thought on last day of UC payment period you add everything up in accounts and declare it all - I had no idea that you take off last payment . Does this apply for pip too ? ( different payment period , so I’m confused ) 

So if UC period is 10th - 9th ( payment on 16th ) you would add up all money in accounts on 9th and deduct last months UC payment and declare that figure ? 

Sorry I’m being bit dim but need it explained simply . 

Yes, the same basic principle applies to PIP as well.  It's not counted as savings until after the current payment period ends, if it hasn't all been spent by then.

Yes, that sounds correct, add up all money in accounts on 9th, then deduct the latest UC payment and the latest PIP payment, and declare that figure.

poppy123456

@letitbe if you received all of the cost of living payments in the first year then that would have been £650 if you were claiming UC. As well as £150 if you were claiming PIP. 

For the 2nd year the payments were £900 for UC and another £150 for PIP. Making that a total of £1,850 so you would take that off.

Your PIP money that was owed is disregarded for 1 year so take that off too. 

You only need to report capital if it’s more than £6,000. If you’re late reporting it then it means you will have an overpayment of UC.

66Mustang

Sorry to confuse things with another question but does the £1,850 basically apply forever, so presuming I don't spend any of it (i.e. my capital doesn't drop under £1,850) I have that extra £1,850 allowance for life? As that effectively puts the capital limit at £7,850, assuming you don't touch the last £1,850 of your money?

poppy123456

66Mustang said:

Sorry to confuse things with another question but does the £1,850 basically apply forever, so presuming I don't spend any of it (i.e. my capital doesn't drop under £1,850) I have that extra £1,850 allowance for life? As that effectively puts the capital limit at £7,850, assuming you don't touch the last £1,850 of your money?

Yes you are spot on! 

poppy123456

letitbe said:

66Mustang said:

Sorry to confuse things with another question but does the £1,850 basically apply forever, so presuming I don't spend any of it (i.e. my capital doesn't drop under £1,850) I have that extra £1,850 allowance for life? As that effectively puts the capital limit at £7,850, assuming you don't touch the last £1,850 of your money?

Bit confused by the last part of this . 

If you had £7850 in your account ( £6000 savings and  £1850 CoL payments ) then bought a car for £7k ( leaving £850 in account) then suddenly you won £7000 on lottery ( taking you back to £7850 ) . 

Wouldn’t this then just be the same as at start ? Or does it mean that only £850 would be regarded as CoL payment? 

Sorry if I’m being dim 

No because you spent all but £850 of those CoL payments. Therefore only £850 would now be disregarded. 

letitbe said:

So to have CoL payment allowamce  always you should never go below what the total CoL payments were in bank account ? 

For them to be disregarded yes, as explained above. 

TheCleaningFairy

Should I let UC know in my journal that I've over declared in error?

Also would I deduct carers allowance when reporting my capital?

Thank you

poppy123456

TheCleaningFairy said:

Should I let UC know in my journal that I've over declared in error?

Also would I deduct carers allowance when reporting my capital?

Thank you

If you reported that you have more than £6,000 then yes you can tell them that it was an error. They may ask for bank statements.

Although carers allowance isn’t means tested for capital. Any money not spent from it at the end of the following UC assessment period is treated as capital. Same applies for disability benefits such as PIP/DLA/ADP. 

OverlyAnxious

letitbe said:

Sorry Poppy just 1 more question . 

As the CoL payments are disregarded. 

If I potentially had  between £6000 - £7550 ( £1550 of which  UC CoL ) would I still need to tell UC when I go over the £6000 or over the £7550 ? 

Remember the COLs should be completely disregarded from the final total.  That £1550 should be treated as if it doesn't exist at all.

You only need to tell UC when that final total goes above £6k, after having deducted the COL amount (£1550 in this case) from it.