Claimant Reviews

charlie72

Does anyone know what prompts the DWP to review claimants awards for U.C ? I only ever did one when I first applied for it years ago, but I read spmewhere they can ask to review your claim anytime, apparently to make sure your on the right amount of money, and ask to see your tenancy agreement, bank statements, and any other monies cominf in.

I thought they only did it if they suspected you weren't declaring earnings, people living with you, or just weren't entitled to it anymore? I did google to see how many they reviewed between 2023-2024 and it was only 0.09%, so I wondered if they did it if they just suspected you of something and it was a more polite way of snooping on you without accusing people of fraud.

Ranald

This is completely a random check, they are only interested in catching out the small number of fraudsters.

If I was being cynical, I would say this is all an attempt to head off an appease the UKippers, or whatever name they go by these days!

Kimi87

As far as I know they are random.

The standard initial request is ID & four months of bank statements, although they can ask for other things

https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit-reviews

If you google "Universal Credit Targeted Case Review" there is information out there.

anisty

The chances of you getting one of these checks - even though they're still calling them 'targeted' case reviews are high just now.

DWP has moved 600 new staff into Polaris House in Swindon and now have 6000 staff employed to recoup £6.4 billion back by 2027-28.

It's a massive operation.

anisty

Ps - it is possible that my son's claim (for which i am the appointee) was selected as he has an ISA - hmrc sends details of isas to DWP automatically.

In our case, what was in the isa had increased since i declared its value due to the addition of interest. I had not been vigilent in checking.

So - maybe that, maybe random. Who knows. I think they are working their way through all claims opened during lockdown. But my son's wasn't a lockdown claim.

Kimi87

My claim wasn't opened during lockdown either and I've been through a check.

anisty

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/976203#Comment_976203

Yes - i think anyone can be called upon. But they certainly seem to have recruited a lot of staff specifically dedicated to the task. And, in the case of Swindon, even moved into a new building! (Not built specially for them but they have acquired extra space for 600 staff to work solely on these reviews.)

With 6000 staff altogether allocated for the sole purpose of finding over 6 billion quid within 2 years, i guess they are hard at work going through as many as they possibly can.

Jimm_Alumni

Hi @charlie72, over the past year there has been a significant uptick in the checks being done at random.

Of course the % of people checked when compared to all UC claimants will be small, but that is still a large enough number of people that you will see many people popping up here to ask about it!

FeistyPigeon

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/128826/claimant-reviews

Hi Charlie, I was told they're systematically working their way through everyone on universal credit, ostensibly as many signed on during covid, when jobcenters were shut, and some of these are fraudulent accounts. That's one reason they scrutinise your ID + scourer your bank accounts.

Another is to catch you out if you're secretly working and claiming at the same time, which I doubt many are doing.

But hey ho it makes good politics, they can stand up in Parliament and say how they're cracking down on fraud. I suspect it's a lot easier + cheaper than trying to take some of the wealthy in tax avoidance scams to court.