I've gone over £16K savings, didn't know I needed to be under, is this considered fraud?

Frank69

I’ve been receiving universal credit for some time and just realised I’ve gon over the £16k savings

My review came up in February and I was suprised that I needed to be under 16k

When I first made my claim I wasn’t

Now I worried that this is considered fraud

So stressed

Any help or advice please

Frank69

sorry I was under 16k when I first made claim

Kimi87

£16k has always been the hard limit (unless migrating from Tax Credits with over £16k, where there is a exemption for one year).

Under £6k, no deduction.

£6-15999k: Deduction of 4.35 for every £250 or part thereof.

£16000+ no entitlement to UC.

Did you receive any Cost of Living Payments? These are disregarded indefinitely as long as your capital didn't drop below the amount received. So your applicable capital might be under £16k.

Frank69

hi there

Yes I did receive some payments

Kimi87

When I had my review I added a Journal note stating that while on paper my bank accounts were over £6k, with the CoL disregard I was under.

During the telephone interview the agent confirmed my understanding of the disregard, and asked me to upload individual statement pages showing my payments.

After I did this I had a Journal message stating she'd done the calculation and I was under £6k.

Frank69

I’ve sent statements which will show me over £16k for last 3 years

I’d not let them know this and was continuing to get benefit

I’m really worried now as to what will happen

Frank69

Frank69

I’m very worried that I will be accused of fraud

Passerby

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1019633#Comment_1019633

Did they ask you for 3 years bank statements? They normally ask only for 4 months.

Frank69

yes atm only 4 months statements

But one of these shows that I m over the £16k by quite a bit now

Looking back after realising this is wrong it first happened in 2022 when I wasn’t really checking

Frank69

I’ve now discovered in my journal I never declared any savings

Don’t know why

At the start I was just below £16k

But gradually my savings grew above this

I ignored this and received payments when I wasn’t working

As I said my savings show £0.00 savings declared

Now im really worried about a conviction

Who can adviceplease

Timbo_Guitar

Hi Frank, this happened to me too. Simply be honest and say you didn't mean to be dishonest. It is to my knowledge a civil and not a criminal matter which means it's less serious. They will very probably take the money off of you that they say was overpaid however they should do this in installments. I'm not a particular fan of this government or the DWP but they should act within the law over this. I would suggest you contact the CAB over this and get some advice. Don't worry unduly, you are not the first and you won't be the last.

Frank69

it’s just the fact that I opened my claim without ticking the box to declare savings so it says £0.00 in savings

Also I’ve gone well above the £16k mark now anyway

They will no this now as I’ve sent statements showing I’ve have over £20k is savings

This will be looked at as a serious fraud

Timbo_Guitar

Be honest with them. They'll find out anyway. Say you made a mistake right at the start. I had over 10k and got called in. I got some heat but all they did was take what was overpaid whilst I had more in savings than I should. I would suggest you pray about this but you may not be a Christian. As I said, you made a mistake. Apologise to them and then ask them to show mercy. Speak to CAB too. They should be able to help you.

chiarieds

Hi @Frank69 - as @Timbo_Guitar has said you'll not be the first to make an honest mistake as you simply didn't know at the time. There will be no conviction, but you will have to repay any overpayments as mentioned.

Better to get this sorted now rather than later, but don't worry, it can be done.