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Outside income separate from ESA. HELP!!!

dmkuk81

Hi everyone. I have a bit of a complicated situation and I don't know what to make of it. I'm so worried and I'm losing sleep over it.

It's to do with outside income of ESA and my rent. I live with my brother and the tenancy is in my name (he's not on the tenancy agreement, long story after my parents died) so the rent is fully my responsibility and If it doesn't get paid, the buck stops with me and the council come after me!! Me and my brother pay half the rent each month. I pay the full rent to the council using my bank card and my brother gives me his half of the rent in cash. I then put his half of the cash into my bank account. I've never even thought for one second until it literally just popped into my head a few days ago (I have no idea why), but I thought, I know I'm innocently putting my brothers half of his rent into my bank account every month and I'm not trying to be sneaky and keep the cash at home under my mattress or whatever and I'm putting it into my bank account... Every year we get that letter (normally in January) to send in our latest bank statements to show what money we have in our bank account and I even put a little note in with it explaining the lump sum of 200-300 etc is my brothers half of that particular months rent and they've never said anything to me so... I'm just wondering if it's classed as outside income? It's my responsibility to pay the rent and I've done it innocently enough for years. Maybe I'm worried because it's that time of the year when we have to send our latest bank statements to the dwp and that's probably why the thought popped into my head. Sorry for the long story.

Thank you.

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dmkuk81

Thanks for the reply. I've been on ESA for years and every January I normally get asked for a latest bank statement and i simply take it to my local job centre and hand it over and let them photo copy etc and then I won't hear from them until the following January. I have under 6000 in savings. I understand what you are saying and I know you're not suggesting fraud lol but I want to stay on the straight and narrow cos if I ever get taken off my benefits for trying to be sneaky, I'm (Removed by moderator, profanity), so I'm on my best behaviour.

janer1967

Hi and welcome

I don't know how they could say it is income as you pay it into your bank as cash there would be no reference to it being earnings

If it has been ok before there shouldn't be a problem

Do you keep a rent book for your brothers payments to you maybe that would be a good record to keep

Ross_Alumni

Hello @dmkuk81

Welcome to the community, how are you today?

I have to say I've never heard of the DWP requesting bank statements from ESA claimants either, but I suppose it may be something they do with people at random?

Either way, if you've included that note and been honest about it in the past then it should hopefully be fine. If they've not raised it as a concern so far then I imagine it must be okay.

I have moved your discussion to our Employment and Support Allowance category.

OverlyAnxious

I've been on ESA for 5 years now and never been asked for bank statements since the initial assessment.

In fact, I was just slightly over the £6k when I started, so have been losing a pound a week ever since despite my savings dropping, as I simply couldn't be bothered with the hassle of telling them it had dropped!

As others have said, if it's been going on for years and not queried then it's probably fine.

MarkM88

The DWP have a compliance team that often requests information such as bank statements if something is flagged up, but this isn’t something they would ask you to do on a regular basis. Not sure why you get asked for them annually.

dmkuk81

I think I know why. When my parents passed away, I received some money and I didn't declare it. I didn't know I had to and I wasn't trying to be sneaky, I had literally just signed up to ESA and then about 6 months later I received some inheritance when my mum and dad died. I didn't realise I had to declare it because I'm not the sharpest tool in the box lol and I didn't realise how ESA worked with what you can and can't have. I had an interview with the compliance team at my local job centre and I was found not guilty of benefit fraud and they took no further action. I presume I have to send In a latest bank statement every year just to make sure I'm sticking to what was agreed in the interview i had

Ross_Alumni

dmkuk81 said:

I think I know why. When my parents passed away, I received some money and I didn't declare it. I didn't know I had to and I wasn't trying to be sneaky, I had literally just signed up to ESA and then about 6 months later I received some inheritance when my mum and dad died. I didn't realise I had to declare it because I'm not the sharpest tool in the box lol and I didn't realise how ESA worked with what you can and can't have. I had an interview with the compliance team at my local job centre and I was found not guilty of benefit fraud and they took no further action. I presume I have to send In a latest bank statement every year just to make sure I'm sticking to what was agreed in the interview i had

Ah right, thanks for the explanation.

MarkM88

dmkuk81 said:

I think I know why. When my parents passed away, I received some money and I didn't declare it. I didn't know I had to and I wasn't trying to be sneaky, I had literally just signed up to ESA and then about 6 months later I received some inheritance when my mum and dad died. I didn't realise I had to declare it because I'm not the sharpest tool in the box lol and I didn't realise how ESA worked with what you can and can't have. I had an interview with the compliance team at my local job centre and I was found not guilty of benefit fraud and they took no further action. I presume I have to send In a latest bank statement every year just to make sure I'm sticking to what was agreed in the interview i had

That makes a lot of sense.

dmkuk81

For some reason I can't personally comment to people now, so I'll just write to everyone here. Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll just leave a note with my latest bank statement explaining the rent situation like every other year and that way it gives me piece of mind to show them I'm being up front like I always have been. They never say anything normally, but the moment I don't notify them, sods law will tell me they'll bring it up lol. Thank you again for everyone's feedback ?

OverlyAnxious

woodbine said:

OverlyAnxious said:

I've been on ESA for 5 years now and never been asked for bank statements since the initial assessment.

In fact, I was just slightly over the £6k when I started, so have been losing a pound a week ever since despite my savings dropping, as I simply couldn't be bothered with the hassle of telling them it had dropped!

As others have said, if it's been going on for years and not queried then it's probably fine.

it would be simple to do and worth £50 a year.

That is a fair point and I don't want to take the thread off-topic but I'll give a bit more context there. I was always worried that it would trigger another assessment or they'd scrutinise the accounts and I'd have to justify where every penny had gone. Simple enough for people that can use phones I suppose but I have to do everything in writing and find that I get regularly misunderstood causing unnecessary consequences - often wishing I had just left things as they were. I have also closed and opened new bank accounts which might be seen as dodgy, though it was just to get better interest rates and smartphone apps.

The extra £50 a year wasn't worth all that potential stress and hassle to me at the time.

I will have to update my address on ESA when I move, and intend to send in bank statements at the same time, showing my current savings amounts. However, I'm worried about doing that due to the backpay that I received from PIP, SDP and HB last year. I know I get 12 months grace to use it...and it should all be used within that 12m period. But again it's the thought of being investigated and having to try and explain that, plus justify where the money has gone.

dmkuk81

Exactly! It's the thought of doing something so innocent that makes you worry that's it's a misunderstanding and it looks worse than what it actually is. I worry over the smallest things and that's exactly why I've come here and posted my post for reassurance. Anxiety rules my life.

OverlyAnxious

dmkuk81 said:

Anxiety rules my life.

Mine too.

Lisatho11987777

In my own experience of being on esa before I moved to universal credit I was asked for bank statements due to a birthday payment goung into my bank and more recently during my advocacy work my client was asked for bank statements due to her son moveing into her property