Found out i been missing ton money

Dragonwolfsprite · April 25

im claiming UC from this weekend i got it extended due to problems with housing giving me 3 lots of wrong rent information (which is still not sorted officially but finally got an email to breakdown what is rent and what is service charge but doesnt say WHAT categories etc)

I managed to ring them today with citizen advice to ask how progress is as migration to UC starts next friday - the man on phone seemed very moody and depressed overall and muttered a lot but he must of seen some my letter as he mentioned how it was on my file about my mum used to have carer allowance but died may 2018 and then muttered something again none of us could understand but then said "hmm. payment not released. ok so you migrate when again first week of may?.. right i will send a message to try and see if they can release the payment for you before then so you can then put it in your UC claim about disregarded capital but obviously i cant promise if they will and cant see any information about any amounts just that its on hold as not released but says they looked at your reconsideration over a month ago so not sure why you not been contacted"

so i guess that's a positive? - citizen advice said i "should" get 100% of backpay all the way to may 2018

Girl_No1 · April 25

It definitely sounds positive. 🤞

I think they check with DWP Debt Management before releasing back-dated funds to make sure you're not repaying any previous overpayments etc.

If you are paying back an overpayment i.e. you are in debt to DWP, I'm sure they reduce the back-dated funds by whatever you owe them.

Dragonwolfsprite · June 12

to provide update.

finally as of first week of June I got a phone call that my mandatory reconsideration is now going to be looked at. they said no time frame due to it will likely be over £2000 (well defo should be as citizen advice say over 20k minimum due to 7 years missing pay) and said multiple departments need to be checked over. fair enough, as long its being looked at id rather they checked the amount 200 times as I don't want mistake to cost me having to pay back (or being underpaid still)

But i have a question. I know if it's over 5k it's disregarded capital for length of claim (so uc as im now on it from may)

say I DO get 20k off backpay..

If i use 5k for debt payments and home improvements and put 15k away Is savings.. how does it work out?

can I earn back another 5k (will my disregarded capital always be allows to be 20k?) or if I spend it will it just naturally go down overtime? eg if I spend 5k of it. then 15k in future will only be disregarded.

just asking cause if I put it into a savings account to prepare for a holiday for me and my carers as I owe them big time for their help (and it's money I should of had to pay them in first place) I could earn some interest in mean time. I don't want to get in trouble of course.

I know you can have 6k capital before decutions and 16k max.

I just don't want my uc messed up - how do they work it out? (as due to the changed with pip possible from November 2026 I would want to try keep a good few thousand just in case as I know 100% I will end up homeless if I get pip cut off and lcwra - I can't live on just over £400 month after housing costs covered.

Just want make sure I don't make mistakes or they think I'm doing something suspicious when I'm not 😂

chiarieds · June 12

Hi @Dragonwolfsprite - using your example, then if you receive £20k SDP backpay & then spend £5k, then only £15k would be disregarded. Then perhaps if you spend another £2k. the amount disregarded would become £13k, & so on.

You can spend this backpay on anything you like so long the amount you receive is over £5k, which it will be. If it happens that you end up using all of your backpay, then there would be nothing left to disregard. So, it's disregarded until it has eroded completely.

Hope this helps, & thank you for keeping on updating us all.

Dragonwolfsprite · June 12

thanks that helps!

I did suspect it would do some kind of erosion etc. so thought I'd just double check as its a first for me so wasn't sure on the rules around it all.

which is fair enough really. saying that it prob wont last me as long as I think anyway as I need new carpets new sofas and redecorate (and pay someone to do it) 😂

a small chunk of it will be saved for emergencies I think as I got myself into 5k of debt over years using credit cards and loans which I should be able to close down once I'm debt free. that's why was asking as I assume any interest will need to be withdrawn and spent monthly etc?

chiarieds · June 12

You can do what you want with any interest for part of your SDP backpay that you put by into any account; there's no need to withdraw any interest.

Any interest that accrues won't be added to your disregarded amount to increase this, it just helps your capital to increase without being linked to the SDP disregard in any way.

Dragonwolfsprite · June 15

ah thanks for your help!

Some good news. got call Friday they have confirmed my amount and I'm due just over £24k this week.

made a journal on UC to let them know how much is expected and it's backpay arrears from esa and it's under disregarded capital.

Hopefully won't be long till I get letter in door.

didn't expect it until Christmas time to he honest. but getting it just few days before my birthday 😂

Either way already have a plan to use some to paying debts. maybe also to redecorate couple rooms and get new sofas and pay anyone I owe and put the rest away.

As ill be debt free ill.be saving £300 month in repayments so i can finally afford a cleaner to help when I'm not feeling well enough and pay my overnight carers for their time.

(at least… until the possible pip cuts and the uc cuts from next year)

Rosie_Scope · June 15

That's brilliant @Dragonwolfsprite, congratulations! Sounds like it'll make a real difference, so I'm really pleased it's all coming through for you. What a fantastic birthday present too! ☺️

Santosha12 · June 15

Congratulations @dragonwolfsprite ! It's nice to hear some good news and that it will help take a lot of pressure off you. Take care and enjoy your birthday when it comes!

chiarieds · June 15

Great news @Dragonwolfsprite - thank you for letting us all know 😊

Dragonwolfsprite · June 18

no prob. hopefully brings other people hope as i seen couple posts and I know people in my friend circle in exact same boat.

(so replies here have helped me feedback the advice to them too).

was hoping last message was my last in this topic anyway but..

am definitely correct thinking the whole amount should be disregarded for the whole claim of my UC as its over £5000?

also they sent 7 separate payments all same day instead one lump sum so seems they paid year by year and assume even though its under £4000 a year it all adds together?

I'm asking cause uc sent me a message saying I need to report once I have my evidence letter and that it will only be maximum of 12 months unless I ask to be reassessed on my capital as a whole under change of circumstances and if the assessor says otherwise? doesn't sound right? or is it just me not understanding the way it's worded? and assume even though had 7 payments under £4k each it will all be treated as one lump sum (nervous they will try say I have 12 months to spend it all as they were all under £5k payments)

which got me little worried I have try spend all in a year instead keep for emergencies. but also if I click change of circumstances will I lose my transitional protection?

would I contact citizen advice or someone else (and who) if they refuse to disregard it for "length of the claim"

it will get spent up of course over few years, but not in under a year without me wasting it on stuff I don't need 😂

sorry to bump the post again! I hate to feel I'm bothering people lol.

hopefully this will be my final final post unless uc do decide to be a pain. not got letter yet so got few more days at least

Dragonwolfsprite · June 24

just to update.

universal credit have stated July payment has been sanctioned and my claim under review. I now have to go to jobcentre about a week after what would normally be my payment date and bring ID and proof of my income and proof of all bank accounts and 3 months statement of each one. until then I won't get any income from UC and if I don't somehow manage to get to job centre 9:30am 14th July my uc account will be closed down.

is that normal? sanctioned just because I got backpay until i prove it in person (they woudlnt let me upload the evidence to journal)

annoyingly lot of the savings accounts with £1 I or £0.01 in don't have any statements as I didn't out money in or out for over a year.

am I to print off the statements or can just show on my phone? and how do i get statements for accounts that... don't do statements as I've not put money in or out for over 12 months (too poor to put any money in the savings accounts as i was over £3k in debt)

OverlyAnxious · June 24

Hi,

Do you mean suspended rather than sanctioned?

That does happen with some savings declarations unfortunately.

They will most likely need to see paper statements at the Job Centre so printing them off is best. Digital ones are accepted when uploading in the journal for a savings review.

Dragonwolfsprite · June 24

ah no problem.

As long its normal! got nothing at all to hide anyway! Just makes me nervous having to go in person and the threat of my claim closing. but will try print off as many statements as I can as couple of them don't have any statements at all! (due to nothing gone in or out for years due to my current £3k+ debts and unable to actually put money in savings)

Although personally I don't even mind if they go through my bank accounts on my phone in person to prove my amounts are all correctly reported.

Just hoping as after my backpay I paid off £3k of debts soon after came in my bank, but before I got letter in door.

with my backpay minus all the money I have in all my bank accounts and the debts I paid off it uc webaite said my capital was a minus figure. I wonder if that's why I must go in as they wondering why it's a minus figure?

Either way will get my friend to help me try print them off. Will they accept screenshot print off for the two accounts that don't do statements? (savings pots, shows amount and when money was added or removed on app but has no actual bank and they don't do pdf files or statements with these digital "pots")

OverlyAnxious · June 25

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1041429#Comment_1041429

If it came up as a minus figure on the journal or statement then that is likely to have triggered the review. Though it can be triggered just by a large difference in savings anyway.

For future, your backpay amount for disregard shouldn't be larger than the total amount you put on the first page. In the past I have suggested that claimants put the full amount and let the system sort it out, but if it goes into minus figures then the system is obviously not smart enough to do that.

So for example, if you've used £3k, take that £3k out of the backpay on the deductions page. Backpay should only ever go down as well. You can't add another £1k back to it next time you get paid. That £1k would be counted as non-deductible savings from that point.

Regarding bank statements, just get whatever you can. They do prefer proper statements but if you can only get a screenshot then give them that. At worst they can only ask you to contact the bank and get a proper statement. They will give you extra time to do that if they require any more paperwork.

Personally I have closed my unused accounts just to make it easier if & when I get reviewed.

Dragonwolfsprite · June 27

thanks for the advice and tips! when I was on esa they just asked over phone to list what amounts I had which was only couple times since whole claim. the latest being just before the did the backpay.

hoping once I go for the review I can put away the backpay into a savings account so then if they ask how much I've used. I say the exact amount what's i that savings account. (but then I can close down ones I don't have or use to make it more simple as long i keep track of my budgeting)

I'll prob close the unused ones after review as I don't want them to think I'm closing and hiding anything.

my main bank only does statements on 15th and my review is 14th so it doesn't show my backpack but I can request a pdf of all transactions so the weekend before I go in I'll download 15th June to date so they can see it.

Found out i been missing ton money

Comments

Categories