Hi, my name is 0903Spaceman! How much savings are you allowed on UC?

0903Spaceman

How much savings are you allowed on UC I was told £16000 but hear people saying £6000.Also is it true U are allowed to accept money off family and friends to help with bills etc is it voluntary help

Kimmy87

Under 6,000= no deduction in payment

6000-15999 = partial deduction to payment ( —£4.35 for every £250).

Over 16000* = no entitlement to UC

*tax credit claims migrating to UC have a one year period where this doesn't apply, due to Transitional Protection.

Albus_Scope

Hey @0903Spaceman and a warm welcome to the community. 😁

Both numbers are correct. Any savings up to £5999 is fine. Your payments will be reduced by £4.35 for every £250 you have between £6,000 and £16,000. Another £4.35 is taken off for any remaining amount that is not a complete £250. And if you have £16k or over, your Universal credit will stop.

As for gifts from family and friends, that is ok, but will still count toward your savings cap.

poppy123456

Those migrating from Tax credits are only excluded from the capital rules if they had more than £16,000 in capital when they migrated to UC. It will then be disregarded for 1 year. If their capital drops below that level within the year and then goes back above it, entitlement to UC will end.

Money gifts from family/friends is not treated as earnings. It's treated as capital and will be included in the capital you may already have. They are not excluded.

0903Spaceman

I get voluntary money from family members this is not saved it’s to help me with bills and food etc as they are well off I was told by UC this is ok and doesn’t need to be declared.I don’t have savings if I didn’t get help from family I wouldn’t be able to pay mortgage heating and everything else as I’m not entitled to help with mortgage u only get help with rent so what do u mean if u get voluntary money from family it counts as savings is that only if u save it

poppy123456

Money from family members is not income, it’s treated as capital. As you don’t have any then it doesn’t affect your UC.

You can claim help with the mortgage interest but this is just a loan and needs to be repaid back if you sell your home in the future.

0903Spaceman

I have just got email to start my new job on Monday I just want to close my UC account completely as I have review by 16/11/24 for 4 months statements which isn’t a issue but I’m not best with tech stuff to send info etc to them would they just close my account down if this is what I want without doing the review in case they get suspicious but it’s legit just timing of both has came at roughly same time

OverlyAnxious

They will most likely still need to complete the check over the last 4 months even if you close the claim now. If you did have excess savings during those months, you would still be liable to pay back any overpayments.

Also are you sure that you won't be entitled to any Universal Credit when you start working again? There may still be some entitlement depending on earnings and circumstances so I wouldn't rush in to closing the claim personally.

poppy123456

I agree with overlyAnxious and you will still need to send them what they’ve asked for. If you don’t then you will very likely need to repay back all of your UC payments you received.

When you start work I’d advise you to just report a change and tell them you’re working because there may still be some entitlement to UC.