UC accidentally went over allowance limit due to lax bookkeeping but have pending costs - options?

OrangeAzul10

Hi,

     I've been claiming UC for a few months. Due to poor bookkeeping (my fault, forgot about premium bonds), I was a few thousand above the £16k threshold. However just before I signed up for UC I had an MOT and was told that my current car would likely need a bunch more work to pass its next test. So I've been playing to buy a new (read: used) car for a while. I really need a new one.

Is there a way to tell them that this was a 'pending cost' or similar, and should be accounted for? Because if I'd spent £5k on a car a few months ago I would have been below the threshold. But now they may effectively take a couple of k from me, and then I'll have to buy the car anyway. So it seems a bit silly that the amount I receive may depend on when I buy a car. Do I have any options? I'm about 2k over, so it's not like I need to buy a Ferrari to get under it. So obviously I *should* have bought my car before I did my UC claim and then I'd presumably be fine but now it feels like I might get punished because I didn't game the system?

What should I do?

HillStreetBlues

First of all there is no such thing as " I should have spend"  it only matters what capital you have, When you do buy the car  only then will your capital reduce.
How much capital have you been declaring? as you should have told them any capital over £6k

Newcad

OrangeAzul10 said:

 I was a few thousand above the £16k threshold. However .....

 But now they may effectively take a couple of k from me, ....

What should I do?

If you had above £16k then you were not entitled to any UC at all.

They will want all the UC that you were paid after first going over £16k back.

If you had over £16k before you claimed they will want all the UC that you have been paid back.

They may also prosecute for benefit fraud. They are very keen on cracking down on benefit fraud.

What should you do?

Pay back what you were not entitled to claim and hope that they don't prosecute.

You will need to convince them that it was a genuine error and not you trying to hide things from them.

Then if you do need to buy a car and that takes your savings under £16k you can claim UC again once that has happened.But any ongoing UC will be reduced to pay back what you now owe.

poppy12345

If you had between £6,000 and £16,000 when you first claimed UC did you report this to them? If you didn't then why not? There's a deduction of £4.35/month for every £250 or part thereof over that amount. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Newcad said:

OrangeAzul10 said:

 I was a few thousand above the £16k threshold. However .....

 But now they may effectively take a couple of k from me, ....

What should I do?

If you had above £16k then you were not entitled to any UC at all.

They will want all the UC that you were paid after first going over £16k back.

If you had over £16k before you claimed they will want all the UC that you have been paid back.

They may also prosecute for benefit fraud. They are very keen on cracking down on benefit fraud.

What should you do?

Pay back what you were not entitled to claim and hope that they don't prosecute.

You will need to convince them that it was a genuine error and not you trying to hide things from them.

Then if you do need to buy a car and that takes your savings under £16k you can claim UC again once that has happened.But any ongoing UC will be reduced to pay back what you now owe.

Might also be possible if they repay the overpayment as a lump sum straight away, depending on how much it is.

Edit: sorry about the formatting, don't know why it decided to scrunch it all up.

Danien

No, you've left it too long, should have been before you claimed. 

Do they know your amount of capital you have? Or have you not told them yet?

You may well have an interview under caution in your future and a possible prosecution. Whether or not they go forward with prosecution depends on many factors but includes how much you've been overpaid and whether you came forward yourself or they found out without you telling them.

You shouldn't, in my opinion, be worrying about whether or not you should have or should now buy a car, but on mitigating the possible criminal implications of what has happened. If you come forward they are likely to accept you accidentally forgot about the premium bonds and be reasonable.

I speak as someone who has represented multiple clients in interviews under caution and through criminal proceedings for benefit fraud.