Universal credit savings and capital ive messed up
WWhen I first claimed uc I didn't have any savings I got paid used my money didn't actually realise up until the other day I was supposed to add my unspent cash as it's capital I didn't know any of this I just knew if I had a savings account to make sure it never reached 6k I've made a massive error I didn't know I don't go on my journal as I had work commitments turned off I just carried on not thinking what would happen I have my review Friday and I know there going to ask wht I didn't declare my savings account this is going to be so bad as if they look back at my spending I know I'm in trouble ive never had 6k in my bank account but I didn't know you had to declare your unspent money I've only just found out even with my lwrca backpay and pip backpay in 2022 it only came to 2500 which again I dint think I needed to declare how wrong am I I've had all the col payments and cwp but I know I'm going to owe thousands to them I don't want to go to prison I'm so scared now I didn't realise any of this that the honest truth I've got bad mental health and ive had horrible stuff happen to me over the years so I just didn't think at all I'm so stupid but I was 19 when I made my claim sept2021 ive never been reviewed this will be the first time I'm so worried I know they will bring it up I'm hearing loads of people have gone through similar thing my mental health isn't the best right now seriously can't sleep feel ill constantly please does anyone know what will happen I'm so worried now after all the posts I put on its worse than I thought any advise or help please 😭😭😭😭
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Hi Sophie, I know you are feeling really anxious about this as I have seen you post the same question many times over the last few weeks, and that is completely understandable you are worried.
Your savings have always been below £6,000, so your UC payments were correct. I honestly do not know why you think you owe thousands of pounds, because you do not. You were fully entitled to everything you received.
Many people misunderstand the rules, especially around the £6,000 threshold. I have seen many members post saying they did not know they were supposed to declare the amount in their bank accounts each month if it was under £6000. You are certainly not alone in this, and nobody who made this genuine mistake has ever been taken to court or made to pay back thousands. The only people who have had to repay money are those whose savings went above the £6,000 limit.
You can explain that you misunderstood the rules and that you will make sure to keep things updated going forward. An honest mistake, where no overpayment has been made, is not a crime.
Based on what you have said, your savings have always been within the allowed limit, which means you have remained eligible for UC. If your figures are accurate, there has been no breach of the entitlement rules, and your payments were correct.
You were never dishonest. You were simply unclear about the reporting requirements, which many people find confusing. You can explain this at your review on Friday, and it should be resolved without any issue.
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But I was told that unspent benefits get classed as savings so your meant to add these up evey month there was times when I had 700 in my account as i didn't spend all my benefits in that month I didn't know any of this I've not slept with stressing the reason I think it could be a lot is apparently your meant to add all the backpay on col payments it's horrible I've never felt so rubbish in July 2022 i was awarded lwrca backpay on my bank statements my money in my bank was at 2736 this included 2072 + 457 back pay from lwrca and pip , but again i just thought that was all i had got so far and it built up so by oct 2022 i had 4066 inbmy bank apparently i was wrong i should of been adding unspent benefits too I'm so confused I then decided to open a savings account I still didn't realise any of this unspent benefits money has to be declared in Oct 22 I opened my savings account as my balance was at 4600, I put 3600 in to my savings which left on the 31st of Oct 160 in my bank and 3600 in my new savings account but again still not aware I should of been adding unspent benefits in my journal this is why I think I could owe thousands of pounds it wasn't something I was doing I didn't realise I was doing anything wrong so me thinking it was still under 6k looking at my bank balance and new savings account i didnt declare it I know I'm stupid I genuinely didnt know people may think I did but I didn't and it wasn't my intention to lie so whenever I checked my bank account I would make sure I didn't have more than I should I've been checking the last few weeks and I would add what was left in my bank and my savings together to make sure it wasn't 6k and it was never 6k I was doing this ever month thinking I was doing this correct but I wasn't cos I never declared what was left over I didn't know honestly this is why I think I'm going to be in a lot of trouble i dont understand uc at all and ive well and truly messed up I just don't know what to do I don't have all this money that has to be apparently added cos it's unspent I just know I have whatever money is in my main bank account and my savings account that's all ive had all the col cwp pip col but I don't evennknow how all that works I just couldn't spend all my benefits everymonth due to not going out bad mental health ibdidnt have bills or debts I'm 22 now and I've always lived at home I pay board that's it everything else was clothes food etc I'm really scared now as dwp will proper calculate all the money and I will have to pay everything back which again I think it will be really high thousands I don't know what to do now I have my review Friday
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I completely understand how unsettling this must feel, but please know that based on everything you've shared, your UC payments have been correct. Your savings and unspent benefits have always remained below £6,000, and you followed the guidance as you understood it, reporting only if your balance exceeded the £6000 threshold, which it never did.
For example, when you opened your savings account in October 2022 and transferred £3,600, your total savings stayed well below the £6,000 limit. You weren’t aware that unspent benefits needed to be reported, but even if you had included the remaining unspent benefits, your savings were still within UC rules, and you wouldn’t have had any deductions from your UC, even if you had declared them. The issue here is simply that you didn’t know about the reporting requirement for unspent benefits.
It’s easy to get caught up in the complexity of these rules, and it’s completely understandable that you didn’t realise this. From everything you've explained, it's clear that you had no intention of doing anything wrong.
At your review on Friday, just be honest about your misunderstanding and explain that you didn’t know unspent benefits had to be declared. The DWP isn’t looking to persecute anyone for an honest mistake. The most likely outcome is that they’ll simply update your records and offer guidance moving forward on how to report unspent benefits.
You're doing the right thing by addressing this now, and it will get sorted. Anyone can see this was an innocent mistake, and you won’t be the first or the last person to go through this. When you go for your review on Friday, they may be able to explain this better to you and reassure you that you are not going to be taken to court or fined for not reporting unspent benefits.
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No ive never declared my unspent benefits this is why I'm scared now i only ever had money in my main account nothing else u didn't know I had to declare ive only just found this out when I opened my savings by bank account was at 4066 but again I didn't know about unspent benefits so ive never added anything in my journal I never really went on my journal as I had no work searches I just got paid my benefits and spent what I needed so it is the accumulated unspent that I dont understand this is were im going to get the massive overpayment from this I wasn't aware I didn't understand all this im so confused this has upset and scared me now as there going to ask about my new savings account and I know its going to be thousands of unspent since jan 2022 to now I dont know what to do I dont want to go to prison and someone said they will probably suspended my money till they work out how much I owe my mental health is really getting affected I dont know what they lady is going to say its just a review of 4 months bank statements I wish I'd never had this money im really not in a good place right now
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So, Sophie, just to make sure I understand correctly, are you saying you have over £6,000 in the account where your benefits are paid, and you thought that money didn't count as savings? Is that why are you so worried?
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I will try explain without getting confused
I have 1 bank account were I get my benefits paid in, ive looked back from jan 2022 and on the 31st of every month it will show me the balance i have left so one month it may be 700 left the next month 500 it started building up when I got my lwrca backpay 2072 and my pip backpay 457 then there were the col payments in Oct 2022 I had 4066 in my bank account I then opened a savings account at this point I didn't think i was over 6k i put 3600 in my savings then at the end of October I had 160 in my bank account if that makes sense my problem is ive never added unspent income together ever month is i didn't even raalise I had to this is my downfall u was just underage impression that if my new savings account ended up with 6k I then needed to declare this in my journal so what im saying is I never added my unspent benefits at all im so stupid but I honestly didn't even know about any of this until the last 2 weeks stressed out so bad I know looking at my last 4 months bank statements they are going to ask why my savings weren't declared I honestly didn't think I had to unless it went over 6k ,its the unspent undeclared money that I didn't put in my journal that im now really worried about that's why I think it could be thousands I've heard of people not declaring savings at all im not hiding anything I just didn't realise so sorry for the long post I just want to curl up in a ball and cry im so scared about friday now x
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For example in jan 2022 I had 257 left in my bank on the 31st then in feb I had 700 left in my bank on the 31st should I be adding these up every month or not I dont understand any of this its really worried me now people were just telling me to see what I had left on the end of my ap then that's the total for the month then the next month it starts a fresh but other people have said this isn't correct at all x
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Hello Sophie, thank you for updating. I understand what you’re trying to explain now.
Your savings are based on how much is in your bank account at the end of each month. You don’t add together each month’s balance. So, if you had £257 at the end of January, you would report that amount. Then, if your balance at the end of February was £700, you would simply report £700. Each month is looked at on its own.
If you had been updating your journal each month, you would have entered £257 for January and then £700 for February, not a combined total of £257 and £700. It’s the balance at the end of each assessment period that matters, not what remains from previous months.
Other member's who are familiar with the benefits system and have given advice in similar situations have said that LCWRA and PIP back payments are disregarded for 12 months. Cost of living payments are not counted at all. In fact, DWP cost of living payments are completely ignored as capital indefinitely, they won’t affect your benefits now or in the future.
Please try not to worry. You never went over the £6,000 savings limit, so you were entitled to everything you received. Going forward, just check how much is in your account at the end of each month and update your journal if needed, even small amounts should be included.
I hope this helps put your mind at ease. Try not to stress about your review on Friday. You won’t be in trouble, just explain that you’ve only recently realised you were supposed to include any leftover benefit money in your savings each month. It was an honest mistake, and an honest mistake is not fraud.
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So basically if I was adding what I had at the end of the assessment period the 250 on the 31st then the nxt month 700 on the 31st would that start building up to 950 in my journal and so on, my heads hurting or ir it basically 250 end of sept then the next month I had 700 so I don't add these together sorry not the best at maths and understanding this just been asleep for last few hours proper drained x
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Don’t worry about the money you had in your account in past months. Just focus on the money left at the end of your last assessment period (e.g., April or May).
So, if, for example, you had £300 at the end of April, that’s what you report. Then, when May ends, (or whenever your assessment period is for) you check how much is left at the end of that period and report that, alongside the money you’ve already declared as savings.
After each assessment period ends, just update your journal with whatever is left in your bank account on the last day of that assessment period. No need to add up anything from previous months, just report the current balance left at the end of each month.
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So my ap is 1st to 31st on the 7th I get paid 727 uc so on the 31st of January i had 146 left in my bank and i have 3k in savings account for that ap so i add them together and that my total for that ap so 3146 then Feb 31st I have 250 left and 3100 in savings I add them together and that my total for mo ap in February am I getting this correct now xx
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If you have two accounts, UC will ask you to report each account separately (current and savings). You don’t add the balances together when reporting. Just report the balance in each account at the end of the assessment period.
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Ah I only have 1 bank account what i get my benefits in and obviously a savings account the only thing I think I have done wrong is not declare what was left in my bank account at the end of my ap which again I didn't know I needed to so when I have my review Friday when my ap ends at the end of may on the 31st my last day I just declare what's in my bank balance and add my savings account to make the total amount for that ap am I getting this correct
I know I may get in trouble for not doing this from the start but I honestly didnt know I'm so stupid xx
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Does the journal have an option to do this so I would put what I had left unspent in my savings and I report my actual savings account separately as long as the 2 amounts don't come to over 6k for that month it's OK am I getting this right xx
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Sophie, I’ll be honest, I don’t claim UC myself, but I’ve been supporting a friend who’s been claiming for about a year. I just phoned her and asked about this, and she confirmed that there’s an option on the journal to report another account after the main one. It says "Add another account." after the main account. She told me to mention that she was actually surprised, as she had all her second bank account details ready, but they didn’t ask for them, just the last four digits of the account. This is for her savings account. The main account, where her UC payments are paid into, has her full bank details registered.
At the end of the month, she reports the amounts held in both accounts, main and savings. Hopefully, another member might see this post and have more detailed info on adding extra bank accounts, but if not, I’d recommend asking the person doing your review on Friday. I’m sure it will be less stressful than you’re thinking!
My friend had to go to Jobcentre Plus with her ID last year for a little chat, and she asked me to go with her for support as she was really worried. Honestly, the staff member who looked at her claim couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. She even admitted that the system is definitely not the most user-friendly! Please try not to worry, I’m sure you’ll be absolutely fine and the reviewer will be kind and understanding.
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It's just been so stressful I have suffered bad depression intrusive thoughts for years I'm only 22 and it's been so draining since I had my review message it's just too much so has your friend been through the same does she understand it all I don't have a clue at all I just don't want to get done for not knowing I fully didn't understand I had no work commitments so no work coach I'm not very good at maths so it was stressing me out with this unspent benefits I can seebonbmy bank statements what I have left now as I downloaded them all so it's basically whatever is left on the 31st of that month I put it inbmy journal then if there's another part for adding savings I add that which would give a total for that ap then you start a fresh ever month I think I'm understanding now I've asked people and they've basically said the same it's just these groups on Facebook I was in tears other day telling me I'm going to go to prison getting done for fraud there were so nasty I had a breakdown why are people like this when all you want is advise x
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