esa to universal migration over £16000 savings

jasper54

hi
after some advice changed our esa over to universal credit 
we know we have done wrong so we kind to us i  have a rare leukemia
we are  a couple that was on esa, housing benefit, council tax benefit & p.i p
when i clicked on savings i clicked £16000 but in february we had £26000 
i bought a new car for £7500 we needed a reliable due to hospital visits
when we went for interview they wanted 3 months statements  but the balance on statement 
was £18000 she said it will be up to decision maker 
can they take into account any backpayments you have been paid
what will be outcome be   universal credit stopped, overpayment , fine
thank you

Rubyroobs

How were you getting ESA with 26k in savings or was it just contributions based ESA? And how were you getting housing benefit and council tax support with savings over 16k ? You will need to consider whether you have been overpaid on those legacy benefits too.

jasper54

It was income based esa

TELLIT01

Income based element of ESA should have stopped if you had £16k or above.  Any Contribution based entitlement would have continued.  On the face of it, it would seem you have been overpaid for a considerable period.  If that is the case then you will have to repay an excess payment.

HillStreetBlues

jasper54 said:

hi
after some advice changed our esa over to universal credit 
we know we have done wrong so we kind to us i  have a rare leukemia
we are  a couple that was on esa, housing benefit, council tax benefit & p.i p
when i clicked on savings i clicked £16000 but in february we had £26000 
i bought a new car for £7500 we needed a reliable due to hospital visits
when we went for interview they wanted 3 months statements  but the balance on statement 
was £18000 she said it will be up to decision maker 
can they take into account any backpayments you have been paid
what will be outcome be   universal credit stopped, overpayment , fine
thank you

Yes, you need to expand on this

Spoonie_Turtle

jasper54 said:

hi
after some advice changed our esa over to universal credit 
we know we have done wrong so we kind to us i  have a rare leukemia
we are  a couple that was on esa, housing benefit, council tax benefit & p.i p
when i clicked on savings i clicked £16000 but in february we had £26000 
i bought a new car for £7500 we needed a reliable due to hospital visits
when we went for interview they wanted 3 months statements  but the balance on statement 
was £18000 she said it will be up to decision maker 
can they take into account any backpayments you have been paid
what will be outcome be   universal credit stopped, overpayment , fine
thank you

It depends on what type of backpaymemts and when those were.  For people here to advise, you'll have to tell us what they were and when.

If you received any Cost of Living Payments and they accumulated, those are disregarded indefinitely.

Per TELLIT's post it would appear you may have a very large overpayment of various benefits, but we do need to establish whether any of your savings are capital that would be disregarded for any reason.

jasper54

Wife’s backpayment pip £5637 2023
my pip award backpayment £1997 June 2024
Severe disability premium £1370 march 2024

Spoonie_Turtle

jasper54 said:

Wife’s backpayment pip £5637 2023
my pip award backpayment £1997 June 2024
Severe disability premium £1370 march 2024

Those will all have been disregarded for 12 months at least.  (When did you buy the car?)

The only one I'm uncertain of is the PIP backpay, whether it can be disregarded indefinitely because it's over £5k or if that only applies if there was a certain type of error (not ordinary backpay even if they did initially wrongly deny the claim).

jasper54

Bought the car February this year

jasper54

The £5637 was award for pip backpay

TELLIT01

The figures you give total £9004.  If your total savings were over £26000 you would still be over the £16k limit even if they are disregarded.