Claim Review asked for with housing costs. Help...

forthaven

Hi,

This is difficult for me to discuss but I need support.

I have been asked for the dreaded 4 months bank statements. However, there are 2 issues quite difficult to discuss… Ill try.

I have a gambling issue. however, this is not without its controls. On any account, I have put on spending limits (usually £20 per day). however, I think this has actually created more of a habit than it solves, as if I lose, I tend to go back on the next day. What is obvious is there are a lot of small transactions to multiple gambling sites, this all adds up over time. One of my monthly statements is 33 pages long!

The reason for some of this, is my rent was increased by 24% in February. It made me desperate. I have not been managing well, and keep trying to get work, but I cant even seem to get an interview. I am 49 and worked as a web developer.

The second issue is that there are small payments for website maintanance coming in. In any given assessment period, it is well below the £400 limit where it would affect my claim amounts (I get LCWRA as well due to a physical disability). These are really not anything more than "digital rent"- and my statement does show payments TO the hosting company, but not all of what was sent, as this includes basic admin for a year. I am really concerned about this issue. I need these sites to remain live as they form my portfolio to show any potential employer, and I did declare self employment at one point in 2024, so its sort of a hangover from that actually. I will try and tell them this. But if anyone has any advice, please let me know.

I am autistic, and have multiple mental health conditions (Complex PTSD, acute depression, mixed anxiety). This is making me unwell.

I am not of a mind to try to conceal anything.

There were also sales of a couple of items I sold via Gumtree locally.

I do not have savings at all.

I am really frightened of what they will think of me as well. Obviously, a lot of transactions to gambling companies looks terrible. I am considering applying gamstop again (i did it once before).

Really struggling. I have sumitted my housing documents but I am looking carefully at my statements before I send them.

Thanks.

Mary_Scope

Hi @forthaven

Universal Credit reviews can be very stressful and daunting so it understandable why you're feeling so overwhelmed at the moment.

The length of your bank statements won't matter as they see thousands of statements of all different lengths and are strictly checking for unreported capital or hidden income, not judging your personal character or mental health struggles. I hope this eases your mind a bit😊.

The gambling transactions and volume of them won't affect your claim unless your total savings are more £6,000 and applying back to GamStop sounds like a great step to protect yourself and get some support.

For the website payments, you can add a note on your journal explaining that these small amounts cover the website hosting fees to keep your portfolio live while you look for work, rather than an active business. Selling things on Gumtree is also completely fine to do too and won't be classed as income😊.

forthaven

Thanks for this.

Also please tell your developers there is an X-overflow issue on this page (on all screen sizes). They will know what it means.

J