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LCWRA reviews and what they mean for you.

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scouse_audhd
scouse_audhd Community member Posts: 1 Listener

Hi, I'm Billie. I'm Autistic, aswell as having ADHD & c-PTSD.

I own/operate a claimant forum on another site (we also have some DWP staff on there as mods), which I don't want to link to, incase it breaches posting rules about 'advertising'.

I just wanted to take the time to explain about the upcoming reviews for people claiming Universal Credit, who also have LCRWA status, to put some of you at ease.

____________________

Recently, we've had a lot of posts on my forum from anxious posters who are concerned about the upcoming reviews of Universal Credit claims for people who are classed as Low Capability for Work & Work-Related Activity (LCWRA for short…

so I thought i'd come over here and offer some reassurance from what my DWP friends have been telling me…

The LCWRA group is being targeted for review, because they are the group that least interact with the DWP. They are reviewing LCWRA claims for two reasons:

  1. to make sure that everyone in this group is getting what they're entitled to. and…
  2. to check that nobody's deliberately going over the capital threshold undeclared
    they mean undeclared income and/or savings between £6,000 and £16,000, or over £16,000. the DWP just want to double check that money isn't being sneakily moved about between accounts to facilitate deliberate capital deprivation (i.e. deliberately hiding from the DWP that you have any kind of money or comparable valuable items such as stocks and shares, gold, cryptocurrency etc. that takes you over the limit - regardless of how big or small)
    _____________________

As a part of the process, the DWP are asking for ID and 4 months of bank statements to support their review of all LCWRA claimants. All they will realistically do is look at the submitted documents, then ring you up to ask a couple of questions about income and outgoings - if they even have any.

an example of what that might look like is if someone the DWP didn't personally know had randomly sent a sum of money to your bank, you'd just explain to them that a friend had sent you some money for whatever reason that was. I loan money to my best friend half the time - mainly whenever she needs an emergency lecky top up without going into emergency credit, or if she needs to get some food in from the lidl.

so if the dole asked me why I sent money to someone named "katrina krazyhouse" (not a real name, obviously) with the reference 'A Lidl Scran', then i'd just have to explain to them that I lent me mate some money to go down to the lidl and get some food in until payday so they don't starve; but mainly to save them the first hand embarrassment of going down to the food bank.
____________________

it really is as simple as i've made it out to be…

if you know you don't have any undeclared capital over the limit, that you aren't sending any money off to dodgy/untrustworthy people and that you're not shifting money between accounts to deliberately hide capital from DWP, then let me tell you this… you genuinely have nothing to worry about.

Once you've had that phone call to go through the documents, and you've explained any questions or discrepancies to the DWP, then they should give you the all clear.

hopefully this post has eased people's anxiety quite a bit. any questions, and i'll be very happy to answer them if I know the answer.

Comments

  • Albus_Scope
    Albus_Scope Posts: 5,424 Disability Gamechanger
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    Heya @scouse_audhd and welcome to the community from another neuro-spicy helper. 😁

    Thanks for sharing all that info, I'm sure it'll put peoples minds at ease. But we do prefer to keep interactions on the community and not via DM, it's a safety thing, I'm sure you understand. 😊

    Albus (he/him)

    Online Community Coordinator @ Scope

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    Opinions expressed are solely my own.
    Neurodivergent.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 56,456 Disability Gamechanger
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    I don’t think the reviews are just for those that have LCW/LCWRA. I’ve known people that don’t have those on their claim to be reviewed.

    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • birdwatcher
    birdwatcher Community member Posts: 56 Pioneering
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    The. DWP wanted 4 months bank statements from me. I don't know why. The money I've got is what they say the law states I need to live on

    But what did bug me was the fact that bank statements have printed on the envelope Private and confidential

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 56,456 Disability Gamechanger
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    Yes they are private but when claiming means tested benefits sometimes they do ask to see those statements.

    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • Meg24
    Meg24 Community member Posts: 173 Pioneering
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    The phrase "DWP Friends" is not going to be well received by many people who have had to deal with them over the years.

    A wolf in a freshly laundered sheepskin coat, is still a wolf...

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