Big swings in bank balance (savings and current account balance). UC treatment.

seatbeltnoob

Hello

I sent a message to work coach enquiring about this. Waiting to hear from them.

The jist of it is this. Our rent is huge and the housing support is £1550 a month.

Award is £1600 a month.

We receive univeral credit on the 18th and takes our combined bank balance to £7000. We pay the landlord £1550 rent on the 1st of the month (12 days time) and it reduces the bank balance to £5400.

Just curious what balance is used for calculating total capital?

Modal average (the most common balance).

Mean average?

Median average? (the difference beatween high and low figure)

High balance?

Low balance?

Or maybe the total balance at a set date, e.g. the last day of the assessed period?

Spoonie_Turtle

seatbeltnoob said:

Or maybe the total balance at a set date, e.g. the last day of the assessed period?

This, although unspent income from an assessment period only becomes capital in the next one. 

Will be interesting to see if your work coach knows the rules. 

calcotti

The £1,700 on the 18th is income and should be ignored for a month. If you have anything left on the following 18th that counts as capital. That means that your capital is whatever is in your accounts minus £1,700.

If the UC varies each month the figure to be ignored is your last UC payment.  

If you receive any other benefits they should also be ignored for the period they are paid for.

I hope the WC understands this and your enquiry doesn't confuse them.

seatbeltnoob

Thank you both.

I should have just asked here and put in the numbers I will wait for response from UC WC I hope they say the same and it will be straightforward to update the savings.

tifo

It surprises me that you're being paid £1,550 housing support a month on UC when most people don't get that for their whole monthly UC to be used on everything  .... just saying, you'll obviously have your own circumstances and not everyone is the same.

poppy12345

tifo said:

It surprises me that you're being paid £1,550 housing support a month on UC when most people don't get that for their whole monthly UC to be used on everything  .... just saying, you'll obviously have your own circumstances and not everyone is the same.

Why does it surprise you? As you correctly stated, not everyones circumstances are the same. Some may have a maximum UC entitlement of a couple of thousnad, depending on their circumstances and some may have a maximum entitlement of much less.

Some parts of England have very expensive rents. When i lived in the South of England about 8 years ago my rent for a 3 bed back then was £1,000 so it's quite possible that someones rent can be as high as the OP, infact some could be higher than that.

calcotti

tifo said:

It surprises me that you're being paid £1,550 housing support a month on UC ..

Full LHA tables are here.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-lha-rates-applicable-from-april-2022-to-march-2023
£1,550/month = £357.69/week. LHA for two bedroom property in inner London match and exceed this. Larger properties will obviously have equivalent LHA over a larger area (all in the south east).

seatbeltnoob

yes, lha is 1580 something. My rent is actually cheap for the area. I will have to move out much further out now because LL has to sell the house to settle a divorce,  equivlaent homes in the area I live are £1900+ (exceeding LHA by £300). Everything in London exceeds LHA by £200-300. I'm very lucky to have a house within LHA.

Just a bog standard 2 bed maisonette which used to be a council home before. LL bought it and put it on rent. Council would have charged £600 rent for it.

It's tough. I probably wouldn't qualify for UC if I had a council house with £600 rent. But the private rental markets are crazy around here. We have no hope of getting a council house. 15-16 year long wait for one.