Universal Credit Bank Reviews: Frequently Asked Questions

Rosie_Scope

We've seen lots of posts about Universal Credit reviews lately, so we hope this post will help answer some common questions.

What is a Universal Credit review?

A Universal Credit review is usually to check that you are receiving the correct amount in your payments.

These reviews look mostly at your bank accounts and are different to Work Capability Assessment reviews. However, they may ask for details or evidence of your health condition to check you are receiving the correct payments.

You might find out your claim is being reviewed by receiving a text, a message on your journal, or by phone call. They will often ask to see some ID and bank statements to make sure you are keeping within the rules for capital.

Why am I having a review? Have I done something wrong?

These reviews are normal and lots of members have experienced them lately, so it's not just you! Being chosen for a review does not mean you have done anything wrong, or that you are suspected of fraud.

What counts as capital?

You must tell Universal Credit if your capital goes above £6000 so they can adjust your payments. If your capital is above £16000 your Universal Credit will stop. There is a list of what is and isn't counted as capital on the government's website:

Universal Credit: money, savings and investments - GOV.UK

What is deprivation of capital?

Deprivation of capital means hiding or spending money to keep yourself below the set limits. You can use your Universal Credit to buy anything you need, but there are some things to be careful about. Three examples of deprivation of capital might be:

• Buying lots of expensive items to keep your savings low
• Sending large sums of money to other accounts, or giving money away
• Passing the deeds of a property you have inherited to another person to avoid declaring it

If Universal Credit believe you are doing this deliberately, they may ask you to pay back some of your money. If you can explain your spending and you haven't been lowering your capital on purpose, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

What happens during a review?

Universal Credit may ask you to provide your bank statements and some ID. You will often need to provide four months of bank statements, but sometimes they will ask for more. They will tell you which documents you need to provide and whether there's anything else you need to do.

They will often follow up with a phone interview to discuss your statements. They will want to know about all your money, so be sure to tell them about all your accounts when they ask. This might include things like PayPal, Monzo, and other online money services.

In your phone interview, they will ask you some questions about some of your transactions. This is not to call you out for your spending, but to check for any evidence of fraud or deprivation of capital.

It can feel stressful to be asked about things like this, so remember to breathe! Take your time and answer the questions as well as you can.

They might ask you for more evidence about your money and will tell you if you need to send them anything else.

You'll usually receive a message once your review is complete.

Will they criticise me for how I spend my money?

They might ask questions about certain purchases or payments to clarify what they are, but they shouldn't criticise you for the things you buy. It can feel intimidating to be asked about your spending. However, as long as you're not lowering your savings deliberately, you can use your Universal Credit payments for anything you need. That includes treats and nice things too!

What happens next?

If everything is correct, your Universal Credit payments will stay the same. You'll usually receive a message to say your review has been completed.

If they find any problems with your claim your payments might change, or you might have to pay back some of your money. They will tell you the reasons why and let you know what the next steps are.

If you disagree with the result of your review, you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration. This means they will look at your case again to see if there's anything that is incorrect.

If you have any more questions, please don't be afraid to ask or create your own discussion.

Roughton1961

my uc has gone to a decision maker as without knowing have gone above the 16.ooo for 2yrs as I have been saving some of my pip to buy a car so I can get around as I am disabled .also thought I could do this as my savings are from pip.if they stop my uc and housing I will be homeless

Kimmy87

If your UC & Housing is stopped, you won't be homeless you can use those savings to keep a roof over your head.

Once your money drops below £16k again you can re claim, although some UC will be deducted until the savings go below £6k.

Only PIP backpay is excluded from calculating your savings and that exemption is time limited (one year).

Monthly PIP payments are classed as income for the first month, then anything unspent becomes savings after that time.

Bananas

Quote Rosie Scope - "They are not to review your health status, just your capital and ID details." End Quote

May I ask if you have an official link to that statement ?

I recently had my "Universal Credit review" and my health conditions were questioned as well as the financial and ID stuff

Rosie_Scope

Hi @Bananas, Thanks for your feedback, that was my mistake. I've altered the post so hopefully it's more clear for those who are asked about their health conditions 😊

anisty

Just a reassuring post from my UC experience today!

I am the appointee for my adult son's pip and UC. Just before Christmas (about 2 weeks before) there was a message in the uc journal asking for an upload of my son with his ID photo and also 4 months' statements of all his accounts.

The ID i did right away but i had to contact the building society to get statements there as they are not online accounts. I genuinely had no idea of the exact amount held in those accounts. I knew, when i last checked, it was around 12k and this had already been declared to uc and the deduction made.

However, my son's current account was sitting with a high balance at the time of the request - over the past 4 months it has never dipped below £1800 and has been up to 3k.

This is because my son never spends any money and lives at home lol.

Anyway - when the building soc statements arrived 3 days later, to my surprise and slight anxiety, i found that interest had been added and they now contained just over 13k!!

I realised, together with his current account balance, this exceeded the 16k limit.

I put a note in his journal to explain and got a reply to say update his change of circs right away. So I put in the exact figures of what he has in his accounts in the report savings section.

About 3hrs later, i had a phone call. With no warning in the journal but she did provide security infomation and i was in no doubt it was the person i had been communicating with in the journal.

Honestly, she could not have been nicer! The claim has to close of course but she wasn't at all snippy with me about not keeping on top of the capital amount.

She actually said she had really hoped she could find a way of keeping the claim open as she could see my son just is not spending enough. I explained, due to some bad family circumstances last year, we just have not been able to devote as much focus towards my son's needs and she really did sound genuinely sympathtic.

So there will be an amount to pay back but not too much as we were only about £500 over for 2 months.

And she did stress we could claim again once he spends more money.

That part i didn't understand as i guess they will take at least 3 months' payments back - £1800- which will put him back under the 16k right away.

However, i think we will have a good while away from UC. It is just too stressful lol! My son's Grandma gave him a large lump sum when he turned 18yrs and that's how he has so much in savings.

At least we should be able to clear the overpayment from his savings right away.

For anyone else in a similar situation, or just worried about these checks - it looks like they simply want to find any overpayments in a friendly way. It was not threatening at all. There were no questions asked about transactions on the bank account in our case. I think once she heard i totally understood the claim had to close, she didn't need to proceed further.

Although - that might be not quite the last of it as the overpayment has yet to be calculated so his claim is still open at the time of writing . . . .

Will let you know if anyone snippy calls!!

poppy123456

@anisty lovely to see you posting, I hope you and your family are all well.

Glad to hear that your experience was a positive one. Please be aware that when your son reclaims UC he will need to report his health condition, provide fit notes and go through the work capability assessment again. This is because his UC claim closed due to capital over £16,000.

It's a shame you didn't realise his capital went over the maximum amount, had you realised it was close to the limit he could have claimed New Style ESA for NI credits only and this would have kept his entitlement to LCWRA and he wouldn't have needed to go through the WCA assessment again.