'A significant change has happened to your Universal Credit account, which will affect your payment'

tgpips

Hi all, new here, hope everyone is gentle!

I got a random notification email from Universal Credit at 8.42am on Boxing Day, stating the following:

A significant change has happened to your Universal Credit account, which will affect your payment.

You should check your account urgently to review the change.

From,

Universal Credit

It was genuine as when I logged into my account, there was a 'to do' item - review account details.

It seems it's a kind of review update just to confirm my details are up to date, but not sure? Just strange how the email stated a 'significant change has happened' to my account, when I hadn't changed anything myself to prompt it.

Hope anyone can advise, just a bit worried why I suddenly get this on Boxing Day, when nothing obvious has suggested why it did so.

Thank you

Mrsn

Can’t answer for the significant change part but I know when I update childcare costs each month it says my claim has changed which then wording of the email can make it seem a lot worse than it actually is.

It was most likely triggered by the outstanding item on your to do list

huckster

It is just telling you, that if you do not complete the review account details to-do by the date required, that the claim would be closed and no further payment issued.

The "review account details" is a significant change to the claim status, given that if no action is taken by you, the claim would be closed.

The claim was most likely originally started around new year period and it is just a yearly check that the details are up to date.

Bum2018

I just received this today too. Seemed weird since most communication is by text message for me. Logged in via the usual way and had a to do to confirm details are correct. Only thing I have done is put myself on the electoral roll a month or two back? My payment is due on the 4th and the statement has updated today showing the full amount I am due.

Bum2018

huckster wrote: »

It is just telling you, that if you do not complete the review account details to-do by the date required, that the claim would be closed and no further payment issued.

The "review account details" is a significant change to the claim status, given that if no action is taken by you, the claim would be closed.

The claim was most likely originally started around new year period and it is just a yearly check that the details are up to date.

Yeh,this sounds about right. Must have been about a year I've been on benefits unfortunatley. They should word the email a bit different IMO.

NedS

These are annual verification reviews. They are not triggered by anything you have done or necessarily any change that has happened. People often forget to report change of circumstances so this is the method DWP use to get you to confirm your details are still correct. On old legacy benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance they used to send out annual verification letters by post which had to be signed and returned. Now it's all done in your online Universal Credit account.

If you do not complete the todo on time, the account will be suspended and you will need to call the Service Centre to get the suspension lifted so payments may resume.