Reporting capital

As long as you've told them the backpay was received less than 12 months ago then they will deduct that. There shouldn't be any debate about that one.

Also if you've told them about the COL payments, they should deduct those as well, although they might need to be reminded about it, it's not done automatically.

I did ask earlier whether you had over £6000, as it really doesn't matter if not. But if you've got nearly £16,000 then it does matter and unfortunately you will have to make sure they're getting everything right.

I'm really not expecting them to deduct the latest payments, but it sounds like you're not relying on that anyway. As long as the backpay and COLs are deducted that should be enough in this case.

Thank you for the update.

Yes that is normal practice when the capital review has been triggered by a change in savings. Payments are suspended until the capital can be verified.

Hopefully it won't take them too long to make a decision now.

Hi,

Good to hear the review team have confirmed your capital is under the limit now.

You could push them to deduct the Cost of Living payments as well, assuming your accounts never dropped below the COL amounts since receiving those.

I am in a very similar situation myself, as are a few other members on here. However it's very difficult to discuss as it often ends up with some getting upset that we get more than we can use. (Not that I'd wish my existence on anyone, I'd rather have the ability than the money!) I'm also in unsuitable accommodation and would spend more if I could move to a more suitable property but it's just not possible with the private rental market as it is now.

You're absolutely right that if you lose UC then you'll lose LCWRA and have to start a brand new claim when the savings drop below the threshold again. That will almost certainly be after April now, meaning that you're likely to end up with a much lower UC income when the changes to LCWRA amounts come in. There is a potential workaround for this, although I haven't seen anyone do it in the real world yet.

The workaround is applying for New Style ESA. You will be refused payments if you haven't worked within the last 2 years, however you may be given the class 1 NI credits instead. This is known as a 'credits-only' claim. The important part about this is that it's not means tested, so it keeps the LCWRA status open even if you lose UC. In theory this should mean that you get automatic LCWRA when starting a new UC claim, but as I say, this is only a theory at the moment, I haven't seen anyone do it so far. (Also worth noting NS ESA can't be claimed as well as Carers Allowance, I'm unsure whether you're getting Carers Allowance or just Carers Element).

Regarding private pensions, yes you absolutely can pay into one while on UC, as long as it's coming out of your UC income each month. I wouldn't recommend moving savings into one as that can be seen as Deprivation of Capital. There is a limit on pension contributions each year for tax reasons. At the moment that limit is £2880 per year for someone without earnings. That works out as a maximum of £240 a month, though of course you can choose a lower amount without any problems.

Aside from that, having a child may mean you can spend a bit more money on things to improve their quality of life as well as your own. I don't have children myself.

No, you don't need to tell UC about it. And you can't have it paid directly from UC either.

When you get paid UC, that payment counts as income for the first month.

After that it counts as savings instead.

So I would recommend paying into the private pension directly from the bank account that UC gets paid into, and doing it shortly after getting a UC payment. That way it is definitely coming out of income, not savings. Hopefully that makes sense.