How will it affect my UC payments?

TJ77

I have posted previously about receiving a pilon payment after resigning my job to be a carer for my daughter. Thanks for previous info, but they are different as I'm not paying tax (under threshold for the year) I was lead to believe I would pay it and then get it back later. Anyway I am very worried going forward about what will happen. Can anyone help?

So I am receiving a loss of office payment (I'm told this isn't taxable so won't count as wages towards UC?) £6000 and then a lieu of notice payment £11411. These are been paid together (see photo).

My husband works, he generally gets £1508 a month, sometimes more as he is paid weekly.

I have attached a statement from UC as well, this is usually what we get on an average month.

We have 3 bank accounts between us, one is on £0, one is -£1000 (overdrawn) and the main account currently has £214 in it. 

On Friday we will get husbands wage, £377 (recurring weekly) UC payment £1874 (slightly more than usual as husband has been off sick this month with stress), then Monday we will get the £17015 pilon/out of office payment. 

I am so worried, life is incredibly stressful as the reason I am carer for our daughter is she is mentally unwell, life is hell, we are on suicide attempt number 14, horrific self harm and more. Hence husband has also been off with stress. I know I sound like I'm money grabbing , I'm not, I just want to know where I stand going forward because quite honestly it is just another worry I don't need right now.

My concerns/questions are:
*As we will have more than £16000 will the claim close? Or does this not count because £11k is actually wage (pilon)?
*If it doesn't close this month because it classes as wage, will it next month as obviously it won't all be spent?
*If it closes can I reapply in future, I.e. when money runs out or do I have to wait so long to reapply?
*As it is all on wage slip I won't have to notify UC will I? They will know anyway?
*If it doesn't close my account what will happen to my payments?
*I have payments for overpayment of tax credits and an advance taken off my award monthly, what will happen to these, how will I pay them? Will a payment scheme be automatically sorted?

Any help or advice would be really helpful, I'm not expecting you all to have a crystal ball but just anything to put my mind at rest.

Thanks

powerspowers

You will need to get your capital below £16,000 to keep your claim. You can pay your normal expenses and any debt and for things like car repairs, household items if yours are broken. Be sensible as you don’t need to lose a lot of the money. The claim will end if you have over £16k at the end of the assessment phase. 

Then whilst you’ve got savings of over £6000 but under £16000 you will get deductions of £4.35 for every £250 of savings- so around £174 a month deducted. 

I’ve assumed the wages are counted in the assessment period and there’s no strange rule about carrying them into future months. I think it’s worth getting some advice on that point or other posters may know more. I’d expect your UC payment will go down to zero in the month the lump sum is paid but back up afterwards. 

NedS

powerspowers said:

I’ve assumed the wages are counted in the assessment period and there’s no strange rule about carrying them into future months. I think it’s worth getting some advice on that point or other posters may know more. I’d expect your UC payment will go down to zero in the month the lump sum is paid but back up afterwards. 

Unfortunately there is, and it's called Surplus Earnings.

If it is to be treated as earned income, then UC will calculate the amount of earnings required to NIL the award, and any earnings left over after that amount (less a £2500 disregard) are carried forward as surplus earnings to the next assessment period, and so forth until the surplus earnings have been depleted.

Northern_Wanderer

How much are you owing for the the tax credit overpayment?

How much are you owing for the UC advance?

You can pay off debts to reduce your capital in the same assessment period as the money is recieved, this would include the £1000 overdraft, the UC advance and TC overpayment. You are also allowed to make reasonable purchases of goods and services for your circumstances. But beware of "Deprivation of Capital" rules, which is disposing of capital to get or increase UC payments.

You can request to keep your UC claim open if you lose your award and keep reporting each month for I believe 5 assessment periods.

peteuk

WTJ77 said:

I am so worried, life is incredibly stressful as the reason I am carer for our daughter is she is mentally unwell, life is hell, we are on suicide attempt number 14, horrific self harm and more. Hence husband has also been off with stress. I know I sound like I'm money grabbing , I'm not, I just want to know where I stand going forward because quite honestly it is just another worry I don't need right now.


Any help or advice would be really helpful, I'm not expecting you all to have a crystal ball but just anything to put my mind at rest.

Thanks

I’m going to say this loudly… YOU ARE NOT MONEY GRABBING! You've said it yourself. Be kind to yourself, I know its not easy given the situation your in.

You’re going through a very stressful and difficult time, and this is adding to it.  It might not seem much, but getting advice on here may take one stress away.

poppy12345

Northern_Wanderer said:

You can request to keep your UC claim open if you lose your award and keep reporting each month for I believe 5 assessment periods.

If someone has more than £16,000 in capital UC would end and can’t remain open. 

NedS

poppy12345 said:

Northern_Wanderer said:

You can request to keep your UC claim open if you lose your award and keep reporting each month for I believe 5 assessment periods.

If someone has more than £16,000 in capital UC would end and can’t remain open. 

I think @Northern_Wanderer meant if the claim was nilled due to surplus earnings, after they had paid off any debts to take capital under £16k.

powerspowers

NedS said:

powerspowers said:

I’ve assumed the wages are counted in the assessment period and there’s no strange rule about carrying them into future months. I think it’s worth getting some advice on that point or other posters may know more. I’d expect your UC payment will go down to zero in the month the lump sum is paid but back up afterwards. 

Unfortunately there is, and it's called Surplus Earnings.

If it is to be treated as earned income, then UC will calculate the amount of earnings required to NIL the award, and any earnings left over after that amount (less a £2500 disregard) are carried forward as surplus earnings to the next assessment period, and so forth until the surplus earnings have been depleted.

Thanks Ned. I wasn’t aware of that particular rule. 

OP I think getting some advice from your councils welfare rights team, citizens advice or similar might be useful. There are some funded advice workers for carers by the carers trust but everything varies by area. 

It’s such a complicated area and it’d be good to know what to expect, like you say you’ve got enough to worry about. 

All the best xx

TJ77

Thank you everyone. So I'm taking it from that, at present the claim would close. But we do have debts so probably worth paying some of those off to put it under the £16k threshold. So complicated, especially when my brain isn't firing on all cylinders. Going to see if I can book in with citizens advice or something as well to talk it through.