UC and if you go over 16k?

blackstar

HillStreetBlues said:

blackstar said:

peteuk said:

COL payments are only disregarded if you can show you still have it eg your savings didn’t dip below the amount paid.

Yes I have a folder of like 300 pages of bank statements showing our savings did not dip below the full col payments. 

However my question is the one of £500 also considered a COL payment hence indefinitely disregarded as capital  or if not considered a COL payment  is there legs to state that is is indefinitely disregarded as capital? I think spoonie looked into it but wasnt 100% sure..

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-one-off-500-payment-for-working-households-receiving-tax-credits

I agree with Spoonie, nothing I have found  states it's disregarded so needs to be included as declared capital.

Yes it does appear that there is no legislation that states its indefinitely disregarded. The best I have seen is what spoonie found which perhaps appears that it is not disregarded. Although spoonie did say if anyone else knows of anything she will eagerly await. 
I don't want to disregard unless I have undisputed legislation in black and white saying that it is. 
Even with COL I keep a regular check to make sure they have not decided to end it's indefinitely disregarded status. 

blackstar

Well we made the capital declaration and deducted all disregarded capital from the amount we declared. I was expecting to be asked to come in with statements etc especially since paying off some debt and now being below 16k ending our capital transitional protection which was in place until Oct 2025. But so far haven't heard anything. We have made a note in journal what the deductions from disregarded capital were (wage/benefits/COL) just incase. 

peteuk

blackstar said:

Well we made the capital declaration and deducted all disregarded capital from the amount we declared. I was expecting to be asked to come in with statements etc especially since paying off some debt and now being below 16k ending our capital transitional protection which was in place until Oct 2025. But so far haven't heard anything. We have made a note in journal what the deductions from disregarded capital were (wage/benefits/COL) just incase. 

Not sure why, youve paid the debt off prior to Oct 2025, you had protection until then so why not pay it in Sept and then keep your UC.   I suppose pay it May or Sept youll keep the claim but loose the interest £16K would earn in 4 months.  

jadex

peteuk said:

blackstar said:

Well we made the capital declaration and deducted all disregarded capital from the amount we declared. I was expecting to be asked to come in with statements etc especially since paying off some debt and now being below 16k ending our capital transitional protection which was in place until Oct 2025. But so far haven't heard anything. We have made a note in journal what the deductions from disregarded capital were (wage/benefits/COL) just incase. 

Not sure why, youve paid the debt off prior to Oct 2025, you had protection until then so why not pay it in Sept and then keep your UC.   I suppose pay it May or Sept youll keep the claim but loose the interest £16K would earn in 4 months.  

But for every £250 less savings you are getting £4.35 more per month. That is equivalent to over 20% annual interest.
There really is no point in keeping savings whilst on UC. Sort of "keep-no-savings" trap... (£6k for a couple/family is really no meaningful savings, IMHO)

Grumpy_chap

blackstar said:

Even with COL I keep a regular check to make sure they have not decided to end it's indefinitely disregarded status. 

I think that is wise to keep note of the rules with regard to CoL and disregard. 

For practical reasons, that will have to be changed at some point otherwise there could be people in 10 or 20 years that are still trying to evidence the CoL permanence for disregard.  It will become ever more difficult for both claimants and DMs as time progresses.

Maybe the political way to resolve would be - eventually - the thresholds £6k and £16k will be revised and, whenever that revision occurs, the new rate is "all-inclusive" and does not matter whether the value held is from CoL or any other source.  Only my speculation.

blackstar

Thanks all. A couple of questions please.

1) What is the best link to keep checking the COL are still indefinitely disregarded?

2) Grumpy I dont quite understand your speculation about what potentially might hapoen in the future with regard to the 6k - 16k? Do you mean they will allow anything up to 6k to be disregarded for example? 
Surley the 6k - 16k threshold has to be increased as the cost of living since those figures were introduced has increased 10 times and 6k now is nothing compared to what is was when those 6k - 16k figures were introduced. 

3) today we got our payment statement and it still has our old over 16k capital/savings amount and the usual £174 taken off our UC award. Even though we reported on May 20th 2025 we went down to far below 16k and also reported on the 28th May the last day of our AP what savings/capital we had (minus the disregarded capital ofcoirse as the same on May 20th). 
They do have the correct amount of our savings under the savijgs/investments but still used the old over 16k figure for this AP even though our savings went below 16k on May 20th (our AP is 29th - 28th) ? Is this normal? And our capital amount will be adjusted on the next AP? 
Should I write a note in the journal? 

HillStreetBlues

1) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/38 & https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/7

The date will change if any amendments  the 2022 one shows 28/06/22)
3) Your statement should match up, if  for example if it states We have taken off £174 because you have......... £8k  then the statement in wrong and should be reported as such.

blackstar

HillStreetBlues said:

1) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/38 & https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/7

The date will change if any amendments  the 2022 one shows 28/06/22)
3) Your statement should match up, if  for example if it states We have taken off £174 because you have......... £8k  then the statement in wrong and should be reported as such.

Thanks so much Hill. So helpful. 3) statement shows our capital as its was before it dropped before 16k on May 20th mis AP. Not sure what I should do.

Grumpy_chap

blackstar said:

2) Grumpy I dont quite understand your speculation about what potentially might hapoen in the future with regard to the 6k - 16k? Do you mean they will allow anything up to 6k to be disregarded for example? 
Surley the 6k - 16k threshold has to be increased as the cost of living since those figures were introduced has increased 10 times and 6k now is nothing compared to what is was when those 6k - 16k figures were introduced. 

Sorry if I was unclear, but I was trying to say exactly what you have stated.  The capital thresholds of £6k (when UC starts to get reduced) and £16k (which reduces any claim to zero) must need to be changed at some point.  I think the thresholds have been static for the best part of 20 years or thereabouts.

My speculation was around the CoL payments being disregarded "indefinitely" and the absurdness that would lead to if people are seeking (and needing to prove) that disregard in, say, another 20-years time.  So, maybe, at whatever time the £6k and £16k thresholds are reviewed, the CoL disregard would be rolled into any adjusted threshold and not additional to.

Newcad

Be careful not to confuse 'Indefinitely' with 'Infinitely'. - They may look and sound similar but mean very different things.

'Indefinitely' simply means 'For an unspecified period of time.' It could be ended tomorrow, or next month, or next year, or.....

'Infinitely' means going on forever.