Advice needed about Universal credit review and £6,000 limit

avo2626

I am wondering if anyone can assist me with this. I had a message recently asking for 4 months of bank statements and the photo ID's. It's a joint claim, me and my partner. The UC is paid into my bank account. I am a carer for my partner and we have children with special needs who get child DLA. She receives her PIP into her own account. My bank statements are sent to me every 3 months so it will be for example, March - June, June - September, like that which is what i have submitted to UC. The end balance on both of these statements shows the balance as above 6,000 however that is the balance at the time the date on the statement ends. This balance does not remain the same through the rest of the month the statement doesn't cover, for instance the statement only goes as far as the 6th but my UC payment date is at the end of the month so as i spend the money the balance obviously goes down and is never above 6.000 by the time the next UC payment comes in.

I do not know how the 6.000 figure is decided and what is counted as far as going above it. I receive DLA for my children and have received cost of living payments and carers grants etc in the past which have bumped my bank balance up to where it occasionally goes above 6.000. I also try to save up money from these payments to look after the needs of my disabled children, for instance if one of them breaks their bed or needs a new specialist pushchair, i need the 200-300 to hand to purchase this. I cannot just recklessly spend all their DLA just to lower the bank balance and keep it below 6.000 at all times. I have to account for their conditions and emergency purchases.

This is confusing us and causing us a lot of stress and worry because occasionally the balance due to the child DLA and past cost of living payments etc will push it over 6.000 but this is not "savings" it is simply my bank balance at the time the statements are cut off from and we are worried they are going to penalise us by seeing what the "end balance" is on the statements.

Can someone explain what is counted as savings. Is it the money in the balance on the end of statement or is it an actual savings account?

Also i have sold quite a few items on ebay over the years. will we be punished for this? It is just selling old clothes etc, I do not have an ebay business account and i am not a business seller. 

Thank you

andrewmp

It's based on his much is left on the last day of your assessment period, I believe. You can also deduct any cost of living payments presuming your balance hasn't dropped below the amount of those since you received them. 

elsien

If it’s money you are keeping towards the cost of bigger purchases or equipment, then yes technically it is savings because  you are saving it until it is needed.   Regardless of what type of account you are keeping it in. 

If you want to separate out the DLA from day-to-day spending you could put that in a different account. You would still need to show it to the DWP, but if you were concerned about spending the children’s DLA on other things that is one way round it. 

peteuk

avo2626 said:

Can someone explain what is counted as savings. Is it the money in the balance on the end of statement or is it an actual savings account?

Also i have sold quite a few items on ebay over the years. will we be punished for this? It is just selling old clothes etc, I do not have an ebay business account and i am not a business seller. 

Thank you

Firstly stop seeing it as savings.  UC looks at capital - that is money in any bank account and property ef second home.  But they dont just look at the end figure.

Any payments into your account (Wage, UC, PIP) is disregarded as capital until the next assessment period.  For example 

UC assessment 02 Oct - 01 Nov
Wage - £1000 31 Oct and UC £1000 07 Oct.  This is what you are expected to live on. So 01 Nov your bank balance shows £6000 UC will disregard £2000 - if you have any money left from this £2000 by 01 Dec this is then classed as capital 

If you have access to online banking you can print a monthly statement to PDF and save it as an electronic file. (Rather than print and scan) 

COL payments are disregarded for life if you can prove you in theory still have them - also note I’m not sure if the life time scale continues for those received under TC. I am sure someone far more knowledgable will correct this. 

Spoonie_Turtle

The simple way to know what's capital at the end of your assessment period is to
total up what's in your accounts between you (as it's a joint claim),
total up the payments of income you've both received during that assessment period (benefits, any wages),
then minus income from the total. 

Also as above COL payments are disregarded - the legislation simply says 'no account' is to be taken of them for determining entitlement to benefits, i.e. it is as if they don't exist.  I'm not sure about any other things such a carer's grant, you'd have to find that out yourself if you know exactly what it's called.

What counts is the circumstances at the end of your UC assessment period.  On your statements it should say something like 'for the period Y October - X November 2024'.  Good suggestion above to see if you can get an online bank 'statement' to better fit those periods to more clearly show the situation at the end of your APs.

HillStreetBlues

avo2626 said:

Also i have sold quite a few items on ebay over the years. will we be punished for this? It is just selling old clothes etc, I do not have an ebay business account and i am not a business seller. 

What's "quite a few" ?

avo2626

HillStreetBlues said:

avo2626 said:

Also i have sold quite a few items on ebay over the years. will we be punished for this? It is just selling old clothes etc, I do not have an ebay business account and i am not a business seller. 

What's "quite a few" ?

A couple of items a month but not every month just when i'm clearing stuff out. So i might sell some items for a few months in a row then nothing for 4 months, then one item, then nothing for 2 months. Like that. Big gaps in between but over a year it probably amounts to around 20 items a year. But these are not high value sales which bring in hundreds of pounds a month, just small items like old kids toys, clothes and things like that. 

avo2626

Spoonie_Turtle said:

The simple way to know what's capital at the end of your assessment period is to
total up what's in your accounts between you (as it's a joint claim),
total up the payments of income you've both received during that assessment period (benefits, any wages),
then minus income from the total. 

Also as above COL payments are disregarded - the legislation simply says 'no account' is to be taken of them for determining entitlement to benefits, i.e. it is as if they don't exist.  I'm not sure about any other things such a carer's grant, you'd have to find that out yourself if you know exactly what it's called.

What counts is the circumstances at the end of your UC assessment period.  On your statements it should say something like 'for the period Y October - X November 2024'.  Good suggestion above to see if you can get an online bank 'statement' to better fit those periods to more clearly show the situation at the end of your APs.

I have checked the bank statements i have submitted to them which cover up until the start of Sept and for each end of assessment period the balance is always below £6.000 and it only jumps back above that when the UC payment enters my bank. After this begins being spent on rent, bills, etc it takes the balance back down, but it then comes back up again mid-month once i receive child DLA, and then starts going back down again as i spend the child DLA. So around the time i get my statement from UC the balance is always sitting under £6.000 and is only bumped back above it when the UC payment and/or DLA hits the bank. What was confusing me is the "end balance" on the statements as the statements finish before my expenses for the month finish so the "end balance" i thought it looks to them like i have above 6 thousand saved in the account just sitting there but as the month goes on this goes down as i spend it on food and bills and so forth.

avo2626

peteuk said:

avo2626 said:

Can someone explain what is counted as savings. Is it the money in the balance on the end of statement or is it an actual savings account?

Also i have sold quite a few items on ebay over the years. will we be punished for this? It is just selling old clothes etc, I do not have an ebay business account and i am not a business seller. 

Thank you

Firstly stop seeing it as savings.  UC looks at capital - that is money in any bank account and property ef second home.  But they dont just look at the end figure.

Any payments into your account (Wage, UC, PIP) is disregarded as capital until the next assessment period.  For example 

UC assessment 02 Oct - 01 Nov
Wage - £1000 31 Oct and UC £1000 07 Oct.  This is what you are expected to live on. So 01 Nov your bank balance shows £6000 UC will disregard £2000 - if you have any money left from this £2000 by 01 Dec this is then classed as capital 

If you have access to online banking you can print a monthly statement to PDF and save it as an electronic file. (Rather than print and scan) 

COL payments are disregarded for life if you can prove you in theory still have them - also note I’m not sure if the life time scale continues for those received under TC. I am sure someone far more knowledgable will correct this. 

Thank you, do you know the situation with back payments? I have received back payments from child DLA over the last couple of years, are these counted as capital? Basically all the balance build-up i have in my account comes from DWP payments other than the bits i have sold on ebay, all "incomings" are from DWP in some form or another. I am full time carer for my partner so i do not have a wage or any other type of income that comes in, everything incoming has been from DWP whether it's COL payments, DLA, back payments or my current UC/benefits.

poppy12345

Lump sums owed from benefits are disregarded for 1 year from the date you receive payment into your bank. 

HillStreetBlues

avo2626 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

avo2626 said:

Also i have sold quite a few items on ebay over the years. will we be punished for this? It is just selling old clothes etc, I do not have an ebay business account and i am not a business seller. 

What's "quite a few" ?

A couple of items a month but not every month just when i'm clearing stuff out. So i might sell some items for a few months in a row then nothing for 4 months, then one item, then nothing for 2 months. Like that. Big gaps in between but over a year it probably amounts to around 20 items a year. But these are not high value sales which bring in hundreds of pounds a month, just small items like old kids toys, clothes and things like that. 

Personal items are fine to sell and your selling is actually very little at approx 20 per year.  Any money you received will be part of your overall capital.