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Universal credit review savings enquiry

sophie2002

Can anyone help me I'm so confused I've been goggling all day sbout my benefit and savings and things don't make sense one thing says you should add your payments from uc to your savings and that's the total for the month ,then another platforms says this is incorrect and unless your actual savings go over 6k it doesnt affect anything do you add your uc to your savings every month can anyone actually help me and explain what is right and wrong please so confused now I've had my call and sorting out all my stuff to send but super stressed

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[Deleted User]

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sophie2002

Screenshot_20250501_072041_Chrome.jpg

ThThis Is what's on there gov.website is this what I should be working out so if I have 3k and I get 727 at the end of my assessment period I have 148 pound left my bank so my total income savings would be 3148 ,am I doing this correct

Slonvinton

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023578#Comment_1023578

Ive also felt very unclear about this with UC. UC does not count income as capital immediately that much is clear.
For working out declarable capital it all hinges on when unspent benefit income becomes capital… is the date we have to declare savings exactly the same date as when the previous UC payment becomes capital? If that was true it would mean we only had the payment for 3 weeks before it became capital- some people argue that it doesnt become capital until the next month. I tend to think they are right but really wish it was spelt out better somewhere official- if anyone has any links I would also be very interested in this.

OverlyAnxious

Income does not matter when your savings are well under £6000. It doesn't matter whether it's £3000 or £3727 in this case. It's so far below £6000 that it isn't a problem at all. Just put the overall total in. It won't make any difference to anything, but will save you a lot of stress and worry!

With regards to the post above: Legally, income becomes capital at the end of the assessment period following the one win which it was paid. UC is only calculated in full assessment periods, which is why earnings (where applicable) and savings are both only reported on the final day of the assessment period. As has been suggested, it wouldn't be fair to give you just 3 weeks to use all of the income, particularly when your rent or bills may fall into the 'limbo' week between the end of the assessment period and the payment being made, so it becomes capital in the next assessment period, but is not declarable until the final day of that period. (Also worth noting you can't just deduct the full payment amount, as you need to take away any outgoing spend from that first, so it's not a simple calculation, and gets even more difficult if you get PIP every 4 weeks on top).

This is taken directly from the governments own website.

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

Slonvinton

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023650#Comment_1023650

Its embarrassing how confusing Im finding this.

"your income is counted as savings if it has not been spent by the end of the assessment period after the one in which it was recieved."

So say my assessment period runs from 4th to 3rd and Im paid on the 10th.
That would mean I recieve the 4th Dec- 3rd Jan assessment period payment on the 10th Jan -thats when I "recieve it", that date falls into the (4th Jan - 3rd Feb assessment period).

So I declare anything thats left from the 10th Jan payment on the 3rd March (4th Feb -3rd March assessment period)?

Is that correct?

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023669#Comment_1023669

Yes, that's absolutely correct. 🙂

sophie2002

This is what I'm confused about if I have 3k in savings and my universal credit money by the end of the assessment period has 146 left in my bank and 3k in savings do u then add the 146 to my 727 universal credit and add my 3k savings to give me a total amount which obviously is under 4k am I getting this correct I'm not the best at maths tbh so now I have 60 left in my bank 3k in savings and get paid the 727 on the 7th so I add all this together,then take away my spend for that month obviously there's col in that 3k will they know this or not when I'm reviewed so confusing

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023689#Comment_1023689

so does this mean you basically have 7 weeks ish to spend income before anything left becomes capital ?

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023719#Comment_1023719

Yes, that's right. 🙂

Timbo_Guitar

Sadly, and I don't think this is much help, the benefits and uc system is purposefully obtuse and punitive because it's the nature of things. If you or I were millionaires or royalty they'd be bending over backwards to help us avoid tax. I have just been reading through the comments and replies and although I'm fairly well educated and bright if I say so myself, I am also confused by the official rhetoric and the opaque nature of the rules. It is certainly punitive. Me and my wife found that out when she got a job.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023700#Comment_1023700

In your case, because you are well below £6000, it does not matter which figure you put down.

It is not worth the time and stress of trying to do the full calculation.

Just put down everything in your accounts on the final day of the assessment period. That way it's all over and done within 30 seconds and you haven't got to calculate anything. It will not make any difference to your payments unless you go over £6000.

They won't automatically deduct the COL payments, but again, that does not matter in your case, because you are well below £6000. There is no need to even mention the COL payments to them. Doing that will most likely mean they will then ask for bank statements going all the back to 2022 when the COLs were first paid.

I know you're struggling with this but honestly it doesn't need to be this complicated in your case because you are so far below £6000. Just put the exact figure from each account down and that will be perfectly acceptable in your case.

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023719#Comment_1023719

thank you :)

Is this the same for pip ?

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023739#Comment_1023739

Not quite. It gets more complicated for those of us on PIP due to the 4 weekly payments.

The same rule applies. So any unspent PIP income becomes capital at the end of the UC assessment period following the UC AP in which it was paid.

So with PIP it could actually be around 4-8 weeks depending on how close to the end of the UC assessment period the PIP payment was received.

letitbe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023745#Comment_1023745

how confusing is all this !
are we expected to know what was spent from UC and PIP ?
thanks for explaining it but it’s really confusing

[Deleted User]

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sophie2002

SSo I won't even mention the col payments to them just have the review and then do I basically add the 3k from my savings and put it in the box on my universal credit will the person reviewing me probably tell me to do this anyway and when I do this does it just recalculate things automatically

sophie2002

Do I add the 3k then my 727 or just the 3k x

[Deleted User]

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OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1023785#Comment_1023785

Sorry, but that isn't a particularly helpful post at all.

It absolutely does matter whether the money is capital, income or disregarded capital for many claimants.

If someone has £8000 in the bank, £1800 of that could be disregarded COL payment, £1500 of that could be UC/Housing element income waiting to be spent on rent & bills.

That means they only have £4,700 in capital. So there are no deductions for this person if declared correctly. However, if they declare the full amount of £8000, they will be deducted £35 for that month. May not sound like much, but over a year that works out as more than £400 lost through over-declaring capital. So it definitely does matter for people who are close to, or over £6000.

It's also even more critical at the top end. If that same person has £18,000 in the bank, declaring that would immediately end their UC claim, with no possibility of re-opening when savings drop, meaning they have to go through a full new claim with ID verification and another WCA all over again. If they declared it correctly, as £14,700 after disregards, they keep the claim open, and receive all of the money they're entitled to at that point.

For people well under £6000, it does not matter at all, just put down the full amount across the accounts. But for people who's total is over £6000 then that's when income and disregards really make a difference.