Savings and money at end of assessment period UC

HillStreetBlues

kazzyb123 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

kazzyb123 said:

peteuk said:

As your partner is self employed they will have to declare their earnings, yours will automatically be sent.

Your wage and benefits received are not counted until the next assessment period.  For instance if your paid 28th of the month and your assessment period ends on 30th of each month then the monies your paid on 28th is what you are expected to live off during the next assessment period.  Your other half will receive a years start up period for their business, and after which the minimal floor will kick in. 

Im not sure about inputting your accounts every month, be aware that you will still have a reduction for every £250 or part of between £6K and £16K. Also if you drop below £16K you will loose your TP so if you then go back above it then your claim will stop. 

Thanks for the reply, I just really can’t get my head around this. Money paid in assessment period 1 becomes capital at the end of assessment period 2 is that right? So how do I work out the amount of capital so I can report the change? I cant just look at the difference in the bank at the end of assessment period 2 compared to the start of the claim because some of that is income paid in period 2 so doesn’t count as capital yet. Please help, I’m so confused.

I print my bank statements to coincide with my  UC AP (for me it's 1st on month to last day of month). For example If in those statements I have £1,700 income and have monies at the end of month of £5k  then capital will be £5,000 - £1,700 which is £3,300

Thanks, do you report it on the first day of the assessment period. Once I have the capital figure I then need to find the difference from the start of two assessment periods earlier is that right?

I've never needed to report but if I did it would be on the first day of new AP as you need the last day of previous AP to end.

kazzyb123

HillStreetBlues said:

kazzyb123 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

kazzyb123 said:

peteuk said:

As your partner is self employed they will have to declare their earnings, yours will automatically be sent.

Your wage and benefits received are not counted until the next assessment period.  For instance if your paid 28th of the month and your assessment period ends on 30th of each month then the monies your paid on 28th is what you are expected to live off during the next assessment period.  Your other half will receive a years start up period for their business, and after which the minimal floor will kick in. 

Im not sure about inputting your accounts every month, be aware that you will still have a reduction for every £250 or part of between £6K and £16K. Also if you drop below £16K you will loose your TP so if you then go back above it then your claim will stop. 

Thanks for the reply, I just really can’t get my head around this. Money paid in assessment period 1 becomes capital at the end of assessment period 2 is that right? So how do I work out the amount of capital so I can report the change? I cant just look at the difference in the bank at the end of assessment period 2 compared to the start of the claim because some of that is income paid in period 2 so doesn’t count as capital yet. Please help, I’m so confused.

I print my bank statements to coincide with my  UC AP (for me it's 1st on month to last day of month). For example If in those statements I have £1,700 income and have monies at the end of month of £5k  then capital will be £5,000 - £1,700 which is £3,300

Thanks, do you report it on the first day of the assessment period. Once I have the capital figure I then need to find the difference from the start of two assessment periods earlier is that right?

I've never needed to report but if I did it would be on the first day of new AP as you need the last day of previous AP to end.

Thanks I don’t think I need to report it either but that’s what they are asking me to do so I’ll do it anyway, 

Spoonie_Turtle

kazzyb123 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

It's the total minus all income in that assessment period (including benefit payments).

It may help to keep a note of income as you receive it over the month - obviously your husband works his SE income out on the last day, but I mean keeping a note of everything else - then at the end of the AP it should be a case of just subtracting it from the total of your bank account(s).

So for example at the end of the week I am at the end of assessment period 2.  I use the total from the end of period 2 and then take off income for period 2. I then find the difference between this figure and the figure at the start of period 1.
If it is more than £500 I need to report a change.
is everyone really doing this? I don’t mind doing it as long as I know what to do I have messaged the journal again to clarify. What a faff I can understand if it changes the claim but it won’t make any difference. 

Thanks for the reply, my Braine does not want to work today

Not quite.  It's if it crosses a multiple of £250.  The reference to £500 is completely wrong - the only thing I can think of is the person who told you that was thinking of Pension Credit, very different from UC!

So e.g. you had £12,359 at the end of the last AP.  If it goes above £12,500 or below £12,250 then you report the change.  Because the proportional deduction from UC is calculated per £250 or part thereof between £6,000 and £16,000.

Everyone with savings between £6,000 and £16,000 should be doing it every month because it affects how much UC to be paid.  Amounts up to £6,000 (or above £16,000 where TP is in play for 12 months) are irrelevant.

EDIT: just noticed your opening post says you have over £16k.  In that case you don't need to do anything because it's irrelevant!  I want to say "I can't believe you've been told to still report changes", but obviously I can and do believe it, I just find it shocking how badly you've been advised.  Utterly ridiculous.

EDIT 2: just to reassure you, the transitional protection is that savings over £16k are disregarded.  So for the purposes of UC, they don't exist.  Therefore there is no point reporting changes to something that is being ignored as if it didn't exist.
For those more knowledgeable: if OP reports savings over the £16k limit, would it risk making the system think they're ineligible and automatically (wrongly) closing their claim?

kazzyb123

Spoonie_Turtle said:

kazzyb123 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

It's the total minus all income in that assessment period (including benefit payments).

It may help to keep a note of income as you receive it over the month - obviously your husband works his SE income out on the last day, but I mean keeping a note of everything else - then at the end of the AP it should be a case of just subtracting it from the total of your bank account(s).

So for example at the end of the week I am at the end of assessment period 2.  I use the total from the end of period 2 and then take off income for period 2. I then find the difference between this figure and the figure at the start of period 1.
If it is more than £500 I need to report a change.
is everyone really doing this? I don’t mind doing it as long as I know what to do I have messaged the journal again to clarify. What a faff I can understand if it changes the claim but it won’t make any difference. 

Thanks for the reply, my Braine does not want to work today

Not quite.  It's if it crosses a multiple of £250.  The reference to £500 is completely wrong - the only thing I can think of is the person who told you that was thinking of Pension Credit, very different from UC!

So e.g. you had £12,359 at the end of the last AP.  If it goes above £12,500 or below £12,250 then you report the change.  Because the proportional deduction from UC is calculated per £250 or part thereof between £6,000 and £16,000.

Everyone with savings between £6,000 and £16,000 should be doing it every month because it affects how much UC to be paid.  Amounts up to £6,000 (or above £16,000 where TP is in play for 12 months) are irrelevant.

EDIT: just noticed your opening post says you have over £16k.  In that case you don't need to do anything because it's irrelevant!  I want to say "I can't believe you've been told to still report changes", but obviously I can and do believe it, I just find it shocking how badly you've been advised.  Utterly ridiculous.

EDIT 2: just to reassure you, the transitional protection is that savings over £16k are disregarded.  So for the purposes of UC, they don't exist.  Therefore there is no point reporting changes to something that is being ignored as if it didn't exist.
For those more knowledgeable: if OP reports savings over the £16k limit, would it risk making the system think they're ineligible and automatically (wrongly) closing their claim?

This is what I’m worried about, if I report a change will it somehow affect the transitional protection. For context we are quite a way above 16K so won’t be going anywhere near it. I have also been told I need to report a change if I move savings to a new account. I’m paranoid about putting through any changes in case it closes the claim. I did ask if moving savings would affect the claim in any way and she said she couldn’t tell until the change had been done (even though I told her what the change would be).
When I was having problems earlier in the claim I called CAB UC helpline but I don’t think I can do this now the first payment has been made.
Quite frankly I don’t believe anything they tell me because everything has been wrong so far! 

poppy12345

It will not affect your UC while your capital remains above £16,000 and I'm also quite surprised that you've been advised to report it. You do not need to report it if you move your capital to a different account because you'll still have that capital so it will make no difference. Honestly, sometimes their advice is beyond appalling.

kazzyb123

poppy12345 said:

It will not affect your UC while your capital remains above £16,000 and I'm also quite surprised that you've been advised to report it. You do not need to report it if you move your capital to a different account because you'll still have that capital so it will make no difference. Honestly, sometimes their advice is beyond appalling.

I tried the CAB UC helpline but because I had the first payment they can’t help, then I tried the UC helpline and they didn’t have a clue, I had to explain to them about savings and transitional protection from tax credits, they just thought over 16K not entitled to anything, advised me to make an appointment at the job centre even though they don’t know what to do either. I’ve asked for an appointment and will try local CAB next week.

poppy12345

kazzyb123 said:

poppy12345 said:

It will not affect your UC while your capital remains above £16,000 and I'm also quite surprised that you've been advised to report it. You do not need to report it if you move your capital to a different account because you'll still have that capital so it will make no difference. Honestly, sometimes their advice is beyond appalling.

I tried the CAB UC helpline but because I had the first payment they can’t help, then I tried the UC helpline and they didn’t have a clue, I had to explain to them about savings and transitional protection from tax credits, they just thought over 16K not entitled to anything, advised me to make an appointment at the job centre even though they don’t know what to do either. I’ve asked for an appointment and will try local CAB next week.

What advice were you wanting from them? I already advised you that moving your capital to a different account will have no affect on your UC because you will still have that capital. What makes you think it would affect your UC? 

Very shocked that Citizens Advice couldn't help you. You should not ring the UC helpline for any advice either because they are not benefits advisors, they are call centre staff.