JSA Overpayment/savings?

GazMoz

Really worried here so any help appreciated.

I received a letter this morning from DWP informing me that I had been overpaid JSA due to money in savings accounts. I claimed on and off (in between temp jobs) for 18 months. I was paid £69.10 a week, as I estimated I had around £7,000 in savings.

My biggest worry is that I had £5,000 in my current account, and on 21 Nov 2017 I transferred £4,000 of that into a Natwest ISA. This extra £4,000 meant my savings went up to around £11,500. I now know that I should have told JSA/DWP immediatelyabout this change - even though I closed my closed my claim that week as I started a new job, so I was only claiming for two days whilst the extra £4,000 savings was in my ISA.

So, does anyone know where this leaves me? I have been asked to provide details of all my bank account/ISA statements from the last two years. I claimed income based JSA, so does how much moeny I had in my current account impact on how much I should have been paid? The £4,000 which I transferred into the ISA had been accumulated from JSA/temp work/christmas/birthday money, and at the time I started claiming in 2015, I only had around £1,000 in my current account.

I am worried as, the £4,000 that I trnaferred into the ISA makes my savings £11,500 and from my calculations would mean I owe DWP £1,800 in back payment! However, I didn't have that much in my savings during my whole claim? And does anyone know for definite if your current account balance affects JSA? I always thought only savings affected JSA?

Any advice appreciated as I feel like I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown here!

GazMoz

Penitent wrote: »

If the money had accumulated in your current account, it was savings and should have been declared as such. The type of account is irrelevant (a lot of people actually choose to use current accounts for their savings as that's where the best interest rates have been for the last few years).

So, if I receive £400 a month and only spend £200, then the remaining £200 has now become part of my savings, even if it's still in my current account.

Oh no, worst caase scenario then. So, by my calculations, I owe them between £1,500-£1,800.

BorisThomson

An overpayment over £700 can attract a penalty of up to 50%, so expect another £750+ on top of that.

It's got to be better than prosecution though.

GazMoz

BorisThomson wrote: »

An overpayment over £700 can attract a penalty of up to 50%, so expect another £750+ on top of that.

It's got to be better than prosecution though.

Oh no, now I'm really worried. Is prosecution likely? when you say 'can attract', does that mean there is a possibility it might not be? If, say, I pay it all back in a lump sum? Also, what happens if I ever need to claim JSA again?

GazMoz

OK, having googled overpayments of similar amounts to mine I have found posts on civil penalties and possibly even prison sentences...

Ames

Penitent wrote: »

I don't know anything about repayment calculations and whether any fees are added, so I can't help there, just trying to explain that savings aren't only considered savings if they're in a savings account.

Your payments should have been reduced by £1 for every £250 you had in savings, so you'd lose £1 a week every time your savings went up another notch.

On the plus side, you have £11,500 you can use to pay it back.

It's only reduced by £1 floor every £250 or part thereof above £6000.

It stops completely above £16000.

So if all the OPs capital is £11500 then they'll still be entitled to some JSA. If they have more in the current account then that will be counted too.

GazMoz

I have also read that an overpayment of more than £2,000 (which, including the penalty I fear mine will now be) means a court summons. Is that definite? I honestly cannot believe the mess I've caused myself here.

TELLIT01

GazMoz wrote: »

I received a letter this morning from DWP informing me that I had been overpaid JSA due to money in savings accounts. I claimed on and off (in between temp jobs) for 18 months. I was paid £69.10 a week, as I estimated I had around £7,000 in savings.

My biggest worry is that I had £5,000 in my current account, and on 21 Nov 2017 I transferred £4,000 of that into a Natwest ISA. This extra £4,000 meant my savings went up to around £11,500. I now know that I should have told JSA/DWP immediatelyabout this change - even though I closed my closed my claim that week as I started a new job, so I was only claiming for two days whilst the extra £4,000 savings was in my ISA.

So, does anyone know where this leaves me? I have been asked to provide details of all my bank account/ISA statements from the last two years. I claimed income based JSA, so does how much moeny I had in my current account impact on how much I should have been paid? The £4,000 which I transferred into the ISA had been accumulated from JSA/temp work/christmas/birthday money, and at the time I started claiming in 2015, I only had around £1,000 in my current account.

I am worried as, the £4,000 that I trnaferred into the ISA makes my savings £11,500 and from my calculations would mean I owe DWP £1,800 in back payment! However, I didn't have that much in my savings during my whole claim? And does anyone know for definite if your current account balance affects JSA? I always thought only savings affected JSA?

Any advice appreciated as I feel like I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown here!

Something here doesn't make sense. Simply transferring money between accounts doesn't increase the amount of savings you have. Are you actually saying that you hadn't previously declared the £4k you moved into the ISA? If that is the case, it's not simply a case of multiplying the amount of weekly overpayment by the number of weeks of overpayment.
At best there can be a 'fine' for want of a better description of up to 50% of the overpayment, and at worst it could end up in court for fraud.

GazMoz

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Something here doesn't make sense. Simply transferring money between accounts doesn't increase the amount of savings you have. Are you actually saying that you hadn't previously declared the £4k you moved into the ISA? If that is the case, it's not simply a case of multiplying the amount of weekly overpayment by the number of weeks of overpayment.
At best there can be a 'fine' for want of a better description of up to 50% of the overpayment, and at worst it could end up in court for fraud.

I transferred some of the money from my current account into an ISA. I genuinely had no idea that the money in my current account counted towards my overall savings (which is why I never declared it).

The more I read online the worse it seems. I am now sat here worrying that I'm going to prison.

marliepanda

GazMoz wrote: »

I transferred some of the money from my current account into an ISA. I genuinely had no idea that the money in my current account counted towards my overall savings (which is why I never declared it).

The more I read online the worse it seems. I am now sat here worrying that I'm going to prison.

You won’t go to prison but you have been pretty daft. Did you think of you had £20k sat in your current account it’s okay because it’s not in an account named ‘savings’

You’ll have a hefty overpayment and maybe/probably a fine, but you have the money to repay it so, it’ll be fine.

GazMoz

marliepanda wrote: »

You won’t go to prison but you have been pretty daft. Did you think of you had £20k sat in your current account it’s okay because it’s not in an account named ‘savings’

You’ll have a hefty overpayment and maybe/probably a fine, but you have the money to repay it so, it’ll be fine.

I hope you're right. I'm literally shaking as I type.