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Universal credit review savings over 6k, feeling very poorly over this

lottiemalins90

hi, universal credit have requested 4 months worth of bank statements and ID as a standard check. We had one last year and all was fine, we’ve always had £6000 declared as savings in a savings account which has to our knowledge always been accurate. I’ve since learnt that money left at the end of the month in your current account is also included towards your savings allowance, we genuinely didn’t know this and feel physically sick tbh about it as I’d never knowingly do anything like this. We are currently due to pay solicitors fees for our house sale so have let this build up as it’s been pushed back multiple times now. At the end of Septembers assessment period we had £4500 left, end of August £3220 left and £2679 end of July, and £775 end of June. My husband said everything we will be ok as it’s a genuine mistake and we will just have to repay but I’m absolutely terrified I’m going to end up in prison or with a massive fine. We have 2 disabled children and I also have health issues. Please someone reassure me as I just can’t cope with this (I do suffer from extreme anxiety) and feel like I’ve failed in life right now.

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Comments

Kimi87

The worst that will happen is you'll have an overpayment to repay, and potentially a £50 fine.

lottiemalins90

thank you for your reply I really appreciate it. I feel like such a fraud and will probably break down on the phone when they call. Would the overpayment be £4.35 per £250 we have gone over? thank you

lottiemalins90

thank you for your quick reply. I feel like such a fraud over this, I’ve not slept properly and will probably break down on the phone. Would the re payment be £4.35 per £250 we have gone over? Once we have the review it will be less as our solicitors fees will have been paid, both annual car insurances are due and £440 from a debt account plus a holiday balance.

Albus_Alumni

Hey there @lottiemalins90 a warm welcome to the community.

I can see you're already getting some top support, but I just wanted to pop in and say hi.

For every £250 (or part of £250) you have between £6,000 and £16,000, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will deduct £4.35 from your monthly UC payment. If this is to be paid back, they'll usually take a bit out each month, so it shouldn't be a lump sum they'll ask for.

It'll be ok, these mistakes do happen a fair bit, so please don't be too hard on yourself.

Kimi87

They will calculate the overpayment for each Assessment Period.

It doesn't matter if at your review you have less, they will do a historical calculation to see what the deduction should have been in each AP. So the deduction should have been higher in September than June.

I would keep receipts and invoices for your planned expenditure, just so you can prove (if asked) deprevation of capital doesn't apply. I'm saying this so you can cover yourself if needed, not because I think UC will accuse you of DoC ☺️

lottiemalins90

thank you both for your comments. I’m hoping they don’t stop payments for a period of time as well? Is this possible. Thank you, I did worry about that regarding DoC. Do you think things like car insurance, a debt, solicitors, house valuation and a holiday we were going to book any way would come under this? I’m especially worried about the holiday and how it may look.

lottiemalins90

I’ve had another look at our statements and our bills etc come out different to the assessment period. So our bills run for example 3rd June to 2nd of july, so looking again our current account balance after this was actually -£2.36 at the end of July and I transferred £70 in from savings account to stop us being charged. End of August it was £1946 so this was over and September £2698. Not sure if they will look at October yet or not. I’m not sure how it’s worked out.