DWP requesting bank statements

tomtontom

Maximum_Saving wrote: »

Two of my friends went to see a compliance offer at the job centre. The man had a bank account with around £1000 in it. He had got married shortly before that meeting. The officer asked to see his wife's bank statements. They went together to show this paperwork.

The lady was asked at her meeting why she has more than one bank account. That she told me is because she went to a Money Course at a church. The officer added the amounts of money. It all added up to much less than £6000.

I think you could get a letter from your grandad which explains about the money. Good luck.

A letter from grandad would have no influence, there is little doubt that he would do anything to keep OP out of trouble. An indication in grandmother's will would hold weight, OP would need to ask if this exists.

Not sure what relevance your friend's story has as they had no case to answer?

Haylz.Moore

I know this thread was a little while ago, but for anyone else & for future reference. With income-based ESA you can have up to £16,000 in savings/ accounts (excl. ISAs) to still be elligable for it. I have recently opened a contribution-based claim, I have been asked to provide bank statements - but as far as I'm aware (for contribution-based that is) it is your choice whether to disclose this information or not.

Peter333

I guess the action the DWP will take depends on what the OP said on her original claim form.

If she stated she had no savings when she claimed, and it turns out she had 12 grand in there up until just before she made her claim, then she will probably be done for fraud.

Here's what it says on the website.

Your income and savings
Your income may affect your income-related or contribution-based ESA. Income can include:

you and your partner’s income
savings over £6,000
pension income
You won’t qualify for income-related ESA if you have savings over £16,000.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/eligibility


So if you have contributuon based ESA, then you can't have more than 6 grand in savings. I have to admit I am confused as to which one the OP is on, as she says

I receive ESA (contributions based with income related top up)

Not even sure what that means!

I do think the DWP will think it's very suspicious though, that she reduced her savings down to just below 6 grand, JUST as she was applying for ESA.

Sorry OP, but it doesn't look good.

Why did they ask for your bank statements anyway?

TELLIT01

The only item in the list above which would affect Contribution based benefit is pension income. Savings are not taken into account. The website is badly worded, but even that doesn't say that the maximum savings you can have is £6k for Conts based benefit. It says savings above £6k MAY affect your claim.