Found out i been missing ton money

Dragonwolfsprite

im claiming UC from this weekend i got it extended due to problems with housing giving me 3 lots of wrong rent information (which is still not sorted officially but finally got an email to breakdown what is rent and what is service charge but doesnt say WHAT categories etc)

I managed to ring them today with citizen advice to ask how progress is as migration to UC starts next friday - the man on phone seemed very moody and depressed overall and muttered a lot but he must of seen some my letter as he mentioned how it was on my file about my mum used to have carer allowance but died may 2018 and then muttered something again none of us could understand but then said "hmm. payment not released. ok so you migrate when again first week of may?.. right i will send a message to try and see if they can release the payment for you before then so you can then put it in your UC claim about disregarded capital but obviously i cant promise if they will and cant see any information about any amounts just that its on hold as not released but says they looked at your reconsideration over a month ago so not sure why you not been contacted"

so i guess that's a positive? - citizen advice said i "should" get 100% of backpay all the way to may 2018

Girl_No1

It definitely sounds positive. 🤞

I think they check with DWP Debt Management before releasing back-dated funds to make sure you're not repaying any previous overpayments etc.

If you are paying back an overpayment i.e. you are in debt to DWP, I'm sure they reduce the back-dated funds by whatever you owe them.

Dragonwolfsprite

to provide update.

finally as of first week of June I got a phone call that my mandatory reconsideration is now going to be looked at. they said no time frame due to it will likely be over £2000 (well defo should be as citizen advice say over 20k minimum due to 7 years missing pay) and said multiple departments need to be checked over. fair enough, as long its being looked at id rather they checked the amount 200 times as I don't want mistake to cost me having to pay back (or being underpaid still)

But i have a question. I know if it's over 5k it's disregarded capital for length of claim (so uc as im now on it from may)

say I DO get 20k off backpay..

If i use 5k for debt payments and home improvements and put 15k away Is savings.. how does it work out?

can I earn back another 5k (will my disregarded capital always be allows to be 20k?) or if I spend it will it just naturally go down overtime? eg if I spend 5k of it. then 15k in future will only be disregarded.

just asking cause if I put it into a savings account to prepare for a holiday for me and my carers as I owe them big time for their help (and it's money I should of had to pay them in first place) I could earn some interest in mean time. I don't want to get in trouble of course.

I know you can have 6k capital before decutions and 16k max.

I just don't want my uc messed up - how do they work it out? (as due to the changed with pip possible from November 2026 I would want to try keep a good few thousand just in case as I know 100% I will end up homeless if I get pip cut off and lcwra - I can't live on just over £400 month after housing costs covered.

Just want make sure I don't make mistakes or they think I'm doing something suspicious when I'm not 😂

chiarieds

Hi @Dragonwolfsprite - using your example, then if you receive £20k SDP backpay & then spend £5k, then only £15k would be disregarded. Then perhaps if you spend another £2k. the amount disregarded would become £13k, & so on.

You can spend this backpay on anything you like so long the amount you receive is over £5k, which it will be. If it happens that you end up using all of your backpay, then there would be nothing left to disregard. So, it's disregarded until it has eroded completely.

Hope this helps, & thank you for keeping on updating us all.

Dragonwolfsprite

thanks that helps!

I did suspect it would do some kind of erosion etc. so thought I'd just double check as its a first for me so wasn't sure on the rules around it all.

which is fair enough really. saying that it prob wont last me as long as I think anyway as I need new carpets new sofas and redecorate (and pay someone to do it) 😂

a small chunk of it will be saved for emergencies I think as I got myself into 5k of debt over years using credit cards and loans which I should be able to close down once I'm debt free. that's why was asking as I assume any interest will need to be withdrawn and spent monthly etc?

chiarieds

You can do what you want with any interest for part of your SDP backpay that you put by into any account; there's no need to withdraw any interest.

Any interest that accrues won't be added to your disregarded amount to increase this, it just helps your capital to increase without being linked to the SDP disregard in any way.