Universal Credit review

lop

UC have asked me to provide 4 months worth of bank statements plus photo of me holding my passport. I live alone and no one to take my photo of me holding passport. I have long term mental illness and I don't have friends or family to take photo of me. I printed 17 pages of bank statements and took photos of them but UC doesn't accept JPEG format only PDF which I don't have on my smartphone. I couldn't sleep all night with anxiety. Now I left 4 messages on my UC journal saying how dare they frighten me and threaten to cut off my benefit in 2 weeks time if they are asking me for the impossible, and that I want to make an official complaint. I am, as you can tell, beyond upset. I'm angry and feeling mentally unbalanced as a result. Please someone help me. I feel so alone.

Kimmy87

I also live alone and have been through one of these checks (they are doing a lot of them), what I did- after scratching my head for a while, is prop my phone up, change to front camera, put a timer on and took the passport selfie that way.

For the jpegs you can use an app which will convert the files to pdf.

lop

Thanks I tried the app to convert jpeg to pdf but it was useless waste of time and energy and failed. Plus my phone camera can't be changed to front or have timer function.

It's hopeless and I will just give up. This is the last straw

Kimmy87

UC need this information otherwise your payment might be reduced or stopped.

Do you have online or app banking? You should be able to download pdf statements.

I'd suggest you seek help from a welfare rights organisation, they can assist you in providing UC with what they need

https://advicelocal.uk/find-an-adviser

lop

Dear Kimmy, I had the worst panic attack I've experienced in years over this business. I nearly completely lost it this morning, but eventually got through to a patient good person from UC dwp helpline who succeeded in getting me to get those those bank statements uploaded in correct pdf format. My mood has lifted. I'll try and grab a human being out there to take the passport shot next. I'm glad I've learnt to do it now. Couldn't have managed without the help. Nearly gave up.

Kimmy87

I'm so glad you were able to get help, and I hope you are feeling better 😊

Rachel_Scope

Hi @lop and welcome to the community. I'm sorry this is causing you so much stress. I'm so glad that you managed to speak to someone on the helpline who helped you with the bank statements.

Have you managed to relax this afternoon?

lop

Thank you for asking, very kind of you. Took me a while but just now I've got out of a warm bath and feeling much relieved. I'll have an early night tonight.

Rachel_Scope

I'm really happy to hear that. A warm bath and an early night sounds ideal, enjoy 😊