UC review advice

Cheshirecatt

Hi, sorry this is so longwinded but I've tried to include all the information.

I have been contacted by UC and informed I'm to have a UC claim review to check my payments are correct.

I have been told to provide 4 months of bank statements.

I live with my 22 yr old daughter, we are both in receipt of individual payments of UC and PIP.

She does not have a bank account, her money is paid into my bank (her choice). I have 3 accounts but there is no clear separation of whose money is whose.

Every month I move £200 on to one of the cards. My daughter uses this card to order any extras that she needs. All household bills including her food and toiletries come out of the main pot of money.

We are hoping to move in the near future so I have been saving anything left at the end of each month. I have saved £2,000. I was gifted £3,000 at Christmas so there is a saving of £5,000. 
My daughter has just over £500 in savings in the account she uses.

Due to poor health and problems with her EHCP, my daughter is still catching up on her education and is currently studying her A levels. As she is still in secondary education, her father pays £150 a month support for her. He never paid for a number of years when she was younger so I think he's playing catch up. I'm unsure how long this will continue as she's due to finish this year but is currently too unwell to sit the exams.

I pay my rent weekly and am trying not to get ahead with it as I don't know when we will be moving. Since I don't pay the full rent immediately after the UC payments go in, at some points in the month we have over £6,000, sometimes as much as £500 more.

Will this cause problems when they look through the statements? Does the £6,000 limit in savings apply to us individually or both together?
Will they question why my daughter still receives maintenance past the age of 18?

Thank you 

itsthelittlethings

I’ve seen problems before at this kind of age when the parent manages the child’s benefits. My friend was an appointee for her son and the problem was he was a lot more capable than she would allow him to be. They ended up stopping all her benefits and she had to go to her MP. I don’t know the full story.

kaMelo

Cheshirecatt said:

Hi, sorry this is so longwinded but I've tried to include all the information.

I have been contacted by UC and informed I'm to have a UC claim review to check my payments are correct.

I have been told to provide 4 months of bank statements.

I live with my 22 yr old daughter, we are both in receipt of individual payments of UC and PIP.

She does not have a bank account, her money is paid into my bank (her choice). I have 3 accounts but there is no clear separation of whose money is whose.

Every month I move £200 on to one of the cards. My daughter uses this card to order any extras that she needs. All household bills including her food and toiletries come out of the main pot of money.

We are hoping to move in the near future so I have been saving anything left at the end of each month. I have saved £2,000. I was gifted £3,000 at Christmas so there is a saving of £5,000. 
My daughter has just over £500 in savings in the account she uses.

Due to poor health and problems with her EHCP, my daughter is still catching up on her education and is currently studying her A levels. As she is still in secondary education, her father pays £150 a month support for her. He never paid for a number of years when she was younger so I think he's playing catch up. I'm unsure how long this will continue as she's due to finish this year but is currently too unwell to sit the exams.

I pay my rent weekly and am trying not to get ahead with it as I don't know when we will be moving. Since I don't pay the full rent immediately after the UC payments go in, at some points in the month we have over £6,000, sometimes as much as £500 more.

Will this cause problems when they look through the statements? Does the £6,000 limit in savings apply to us individually or both together?
Will they question why my daughter still receives maintenance past the age of 18?

Thank you 

You and your daughter are separate claimants therefore you can each hold up to £6000 of capital before it starts to affect the amount of UC you qualify for. Any income you receive (salary/wages, benefits, pensions etc) in an AP does not count as capital until the next AP. On the last day of your AP, total everything up and deduct any income you have received in that AP, what is left is your capital to report. If this is under £6000 then there is nothing to report. 
In short if the only reason you have topped £6000 at some point(s) is due to income received within that AP then you should be okay.

With regard to your daughter having money paid into and out of your account, that really needs to stop.  At 22, unless there are extenuating circumstances as to why not, she really needs her own bank account for receiving her money. As part of the review you may be questioned about this money going in and out of your accounts and whilst I'm sure you can explain it with proof of your daughters UC award, it's something that you could probably do without.  

Your daugher having her own bank account makes your life easier for one and , without wishing to sound morbid, God forbid something happened to you what would she do then?   Just something to think on.

8dayweek

kaMelo said:

With regard to your daughter having money paid into and out of your account, that really needs to stop. As part of the review you may be questioned about this and whilst I'm sure you can explain it with proof of your daughters UC award, it's something that you could probably do without.  

 At 22, unless there are extenuating circumstances as to why not, your daughter really needs her own bank account for receiving her money. It makes  your life easier for one and, without wishing to sound morbid, God forbid something happened to you what would she do then?   Just something to think on.

I’d agree with that last part - setting up a basic bank account should be relatively straightforward. It sounds like your daughter already knows how to use a bank card etc. Morbid as it is, if anything happens she’ll be in a position where at the very least she can access her benefits.

TimeLord1

So her Universal Credit payments have been approved by Universal Credit, obviously, to use your account because they wouldn't be paying it there if they had an issue with it. Her payments and yours will show different details of the code paid in from UC.

But she really does need her own basic account with a card. Just in case anything happens to you, she will have no way of accessing any money.

But I can't see the amount you hold being an issue as. Have you also had any cost of living payments?

The monthly payments are counted as income, not savings capital, until the following month; if unspent, it's counted as capital. 

peteuk

8dayweek said:

kaMelo said:

With regard to your daughter having money paid into and out of your account, that really needs to stop. As part of the review you may be questioned about this and whilst I'm sure you can explain it with proof of your daughters UC award, it's something that you could probably do without.  

 At 22, unless there are extenuating circumstances as to why not, your daughter really needs her own bank account for receiving her money. It makes  your life easier for one and, without wishing to sound morbid, God forbid something happened to you what would she do then?   Just something to think on.

I’d agree with that last part - setting up a basic bank account should be relatively straightforward. It sounds like your daughter already knows how to use a bank card etc. Morbid as it is, if anything happens she’ll be in a position where at the very least she can access her benefits.

To further explain this, if you were to be ran over by a bus tomorrow and pass away, your account becomes non accessible and closes.  Therefore your daughter will have no access to anything.

8dayweek

peteuk said:

8dayweek said:

kaMelo said:

With regard to your daughter having money paid into and out of your account, that really needs to stop. As part of the review you may be questioned about this and whilst I'm sure you can explain it with proof of your daughters UC award, it's something that you could probably do without.  

 At 22, unless there are extenuating circumstances as to why not, your daughter really needs her own bank account for receiving her money. It makes  your life easier for one and, without wishing to sound morbid, God forbid something happened to you what would she do then?   Just something to think on.

I’d agree with that last part - setting up a basic bank account should be relatively straightforward. It sounds like your daughter already knows how to use a bank card etc. Morbid as it is, if anything happens she’ll be in a position where at the very least she can access her benefits.

To further explain this, if you were to be ran over by a bus tomorrow and pass away, your account becomes non accessible and closes.  Therefore your daughter will have no access to anything.

You’d be surprised (or maybe not) at how often things like this crop up. In very extreme cases obviously Social Services become involved, but in the majority of cases it’s left for the person to navigate with ad-hoc support from local support organisations. 

If a member of a couple utters “Oh s/he sorts all that out, I don’t get involved” I always suggest at the very least they keep a record of essential outgoings so at least you can start to work out who your electricity supplier is, when your water bill is paid and so on. I’m not saying both parties have to be fully active, but at least not wholly passive!