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What you need to disclose in "change of circumstances"

FeistyPigeon

Hi folks, DWP have been busy under Labour, this doc came out on Nov 4th:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-money-savings-and-investments#whats-notcountedas-money-savings-and-investments

It's part of a whole series of docs they've prepared which you can find here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-detailed-information-for-claimants

Anyway, to return to the issue, what do we need to divulge as "change of circumstances"?

I'd have thought you only need to provide information if it would impact on the amount of benefit you get, so for instance, charity grants have no impact and I've been told you don't have to report them. But is this right? Given that one of our forum members is being slammed for not "declaring" savings that would have no effect on the benefit received (as the level of their savings was still under £6K), but they are now being threatened with fines.

One really significant example in the "things to disclose doc" is that of someone who earns £2k over one month and saves £500 of that, they are supposed to declare this as "change of circumstances". This is surely way too intrusive, it means every month if you earn something they can follow exactly what you spend and what you save. Very much Big Brother. Has anyone else spotted this?

And does anyone know any more? Do you have to disclose absolutely everything, whether or not it would affect your benefit? It looks a great way to catch claimants out as "committing fraud" in the review process…

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FeistyPigeon

Hi everyone,

I've just found a more comprehensive list of things you have to report in change of circumstances. This list has more detail than the current list Scope provides. Looks like you have to report absolutely everything, whether or not it would affect your benefit claim. So that would include any grants you receive for repairs, any student loans etc. Best to play safe so you don't get caught out on these reviews…but it's all extremely intrusive:

https://www.gov.uk/report-benefits-change-circumstances

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/944908#Comment_944908

Some of the things on that list I disagree with and wouldn't personally report things like capital of less than £6,000 because it's ignored.

Change in doctor/GP, change of health condition especially if it's a worsening of condition and you've already been found to have LCWRA because in this case you can't receive a higher award.

Getting married is not a change you need to report because it's living together that counts, not getting married.

Going abroad for less than 1 month if you have no commitments. (I know some will disagree with this one)

whistles

Having read this. In what way had it been changed?

Bananas

This surprises me

"What we take into account

When we assess your entitlement to Universal Credit, we take into account as ‘capital’ the value of all money, savings and investments you own, or you jointly own with someone else.

The amount of money, savings and investments you (and your partner) have can affect:

whether you’re eligible for Universal Credit
how much Universal Credit you receive

All money, savings and investments you have in the UK and abroad are taken into account, including:

cash
money in your bank account, including your main bank account
current accounts and digital-only accounts such as PayPal
savings accounts: bank, building society, credit union, Help to Save, Post Office and National Savings and Investments (NS&I) accounts
savings for children in your name
money that belongs to someone else, but is in your name
savings for essential building work (unless from a grant or loan)
savings for medical care
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs): cash, stocks and shares, Innovative Finance, Help to Buy, and Lifetime ISAs
Premium Bonds, dividends, stocks and shares
cryptoassets
property you own but do not live in yourself (apart from in certain circumstances)
property, land and savings abroad
inheritance payments
business accounts and assets for businesses that closed over 6 months ago
money in trust funds, apart from in certain circumstances
unspent benefits, for example Child Benefit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
unspent income

Especially the "unspent benefits - PIP 😲

whistles

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/944997#Comment_944997

That's always been the case with ESA IR though.

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/944997#Comment_944997

Why does that surprise you? UC is a means tested benefit and all means tested benefits are exactly the same. PIP isn't means tested but any money that is unspent at the end of the following UC assessment period after it was paid becomes capital.

Jane315STARX

So any change in circumstances means they look at everything?

Bananas

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/945018#Comment_945018

I guess its due to me being easily confused and rubbish with anything over complicated with contradictory terms and conditions. I have ASD so can only usually do simple money

Perhaps they should give all recipients goverment bank accounts, they they can spy and deny at will and stop any mistakes ??

FeistyPigeon

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/944918#Comment_944918

Good point about LCWRA Poppy. I wouldn't bother with going abroad less than one month either. The reporting of capital less than £6k seems more tricky… I'd have thought anything that would have no bearing on the amount of benefit they give you would not need to be reported. And yet… I and someone else I know are going through the UC review process now (you know, so they can catch all us fraudsters). We've both been questioned about why we haven't reported money going in that doesn't bring the total capital anywhere near £6k, black marks to us both and threats of benefit deductions (though not as yet).

Note also the list is copy / paste from the government's website, so this is what they expect you to report, and woe betide you if you don't. As Bananas said, don't know why they don't give us all government bank accounts so they can see exactly what we have every day, meals from the soup kitchen et al. They're going that way now, gov bank accounts would be the next logical step… It's unbelievable, what they expect you to divulge, grrr.

FeistyPigeon

Yep Jane, that's about it. See my answer to Poppy…

FeistyPigeon

Hi Whistles, in what way has this changed? I always thought you only needed to report things that would impact on the level of benefit you get, so eg if you were to win the lottery (wahay!!). But looks like they want to know absolutely everything, whether it would have any impact or not.

I'd like to know how low down do you go reporting cash deposits to your bank account? £50? £20? £10? Or would it be better just to keep them under your mattress and **** the reporting?