JSA - Bank Statements?!

TELLIT01

duckobsession wrote: »

Ok, so what do they do with the bank statement? Are they going to go through it with a fine tooth comb, pick it apart and interrogate me? I transfered £1000 in (emptied my ISA account) are they then going to want to see that account statement too, and so on?!

For the record, I've signed in many times over the years and I've NEVER had this.

Also, it's a royal pain in the !!! because my bank do not have a branch in my town.

Are they going to go through it with a fine tooth comb? Potentially, yes.

Are they going to want to see your ISA statement? Yes.

If they have requested bank statements they want to see details of ALL accounts. Your current account will show a transfer in from another account and if you don't provide information about that other account it will set alarm bells ringing. It will also delay your claim because they won't be able to progress with it until you provide the additional statements.

The reason for the interest by DWP is that the taper on benefits starts from £6k, and it's not unknown for people to deliberately reduce their capital to below that point in order to maximise the amount they will get in benefits.

It would make more sense for bank statements to be requested for all claimants but there simply aren't enough staff to check everything. Those with capital over about £5.5k are considered to be the highest risk and therefore the ones most closely scrutinised.

Just as an example, a colleague of mine was doing such a check on one claimant's current account statement and spotted transfers to/from 5 other accounts which hadn't even been declared. The capital in those other accounts actually meant the person wasn't entitled to benefit. My colleague's action prevented what could have been a fairly major fraudulent claim.

You are, of course, absolutely free not to comply with the request for information, although that will result in your claim being disallowed.

TELLIT01

xapprenticex wrote: »

For the record, they request bank staments from EVERYONE who claims

Categorically wrong. Bank statements are not requested for all claims. They will/should be requested from anybody declaring over about £5.5k in capital.

kimplus8

I think if you want to claim JSA then yes you have to show them proof that your not cheating the system. I am entitled to some state help and I have to show bank statements. It's part of claiming benefits and as they say- beggars can't be choosers

Stevie_Palimo

duckobsession wrote: »

I've been asked to produce a bank statement in order to start my new claim for JSA. Apparently this is because I have over £5000. £5679 to be precise.

I'll be honest, I do find this plain intrusive...there's a lot of things on my statement that are personally embarrassing such as the bedroom purchases that me and my partner make....I shall say no more!

Would a ministatement be acceptable, or is there anything else I can do here?

I do not think it is intrusive at all and would as stated by others hope that my taxes are used to help people that really need money, This does not imply you are a fraud but merely that having things looked at will hopefully stop some fraudsters getting free money that they should not.

At the end of the day you want benefits so providing what has been requested should not be an issue here if you have a genuine claim for it, People that wish to evade the requests would throw a level of doubt up.

elsien

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Categorically wrong. Bank statements are not requested for all claims. They will/should be requested from anybody declaring over about £5.5k in capital.

No, I had lots more than that and bank statements weren't requested.

Malthusian

Most people with "bedroom purchases" on their bank statements would find the thought of a benefits officer combing through them either a) exciting b) amusing c) they wouldn't care tuppence.

If you find it embarrassing then maybe you could consider ordering bedroom purchases from a shop with a generic name like Ann Summers as opposed to StrapOnsRUs.com. Most sex shops deliberately use a trading name which doesn't give any hint as to the nature of the purchase when it shows up on the bank or credit card statement.

TELLIT01

elsien wrote: »

No, I had lots more than that and bank statements weren't requested.

That's why I included 'should' in my previous comment . I should further qualify the comment by saying bank statements won't be required for a Contributions based claim.

vegasvisitor

I'm totally confused by this until reading the last comment. So, for contribution based claims people aren't asked this? Reason I ask is that I thought everyone was entitled to claim 6 months JSA regardless of how much money they had in the bank, and I didn't think they checked for deprivation of capital. Perhaps this isn't just a JSA claim, or at least one that's been running over 6 months now?

TELLIT01

lesley74 wrote: »

I'm totally confused by this until reading the last comment. So, for contribution based claims people aren't asked this? Reason I ask is that I thought everyone was entitled to claim 6 months JSA regardless of how much money they had in the bank, and I didn't think they checked for deprivation of capital.

An individual can claim Contributions based JSA if they have paid and/or been credited with sufficient National Insurance contributions in the qualifying years. For a Contributions based claim there are only a few items which will be taken into account. The main one is any pension income over £50 per week, which is taken off the JSA payment £ for pound. Therefore anybody receiving a pension of over approximately £123 per week will not receive payment from JSA, but will receive NI credits. The calculation is different for ESA, but I'm unsure of how it is treated for Universal Credit.

xapprenticex

Malthusian wrote: »

Most people with "bedroom purchases" on their bank statements would find the thought of a benefits officer combing through them either a) exciting b) amusing c) they wouldn't care tuppence.

If you find it embarrassing then maybe you could consider ordering bedroom purchases from a shop with a generic name like Ann Summers as opposed to StrapOnsRUs.com. Most sex shops deliberately use a trading name which doesn't give any hint as to the nature of the purchase when it shows up on the bank or credit card statement.

Ohh man, this reminds me, i accidentally called a phone sex line on my work phone today, got a few numbers wrong by typing in 646 instead of 464 or something like that. Wasn't expecting that music.