UC Migrated claim - one year later

john_l_k

Hello and sorry to have to ask here, I'm getting no response to my query in my UC journal. 

So, wife, I, and daughter, claimed CTC and WTC and were migrated over to UC the early part of last May. 
No disability elements were claimed for. 

As I understood it, our claim would only last for one year as we have savings in excess of 16k.
Come the anniversary date and UC have not announced anything, so I have asked them what happens now: Do I wait for them to catch up and tell us our claim is ending, or do I close the claim? 

I know there was a specific procedure that had to be followed during the migration, otherwise transitional protections would not have applied, but i don't know if that is still the case for a claim ending.

I suppose it only matters if we were likely to receive any other assistance, but from my understanding, as we still have over 16k in savings, we are now ineligible for any further help from the benefit system. 

TimeLord1

Hello, there was a temporary rule for those who moved to UC via a Migration Notice from tax credits. This rule meant that if you had over £16,000 in savings when you moved to UC, that capital would be disregarded for the first 12 assessment periods (roughly one year).

So do you wait for them to catch up and tell you your claim is ending, or do you close the claim? It's generally advisable to be proactive. While Universal Credit should eventually recognise that the 12-month period has ended and reassess your eligibility based on your savings, it might be prudent for you to report a change in circumstances—specifically that the 12-month disregard period has ended and your savings remain above £16,000. This could help prevent any potential overpayments that you might have to pay back later. You can do this through your online Universal Credit account

It's always a good idea to keep records of any communication you have with Universal Credit. If you are unsure or want further clarification, you could also consider contacting Citizens Advice, who can offer independent advice. Take screenshots of all relevant information. It could be down to the original first payment date not the initial claim date. 

Can you still see the first payment received from UC in 2024 have you sent a message through payments option regarding your situation ending.

TimeLord1

@Newcad You may be more familiar with this question: interesting as it is, what is the claimant meant to do—close the claim themselves, report a change, or report an error in the system not picking up the special rules for migration from legacy benefits? I guess a lot of this will be happening soon.

huckster

It is 12 UC payments and not 12 months.  Once you have received 12 UC payments (zero payments don't count), you will be asked to declare capital that you have.  If you declare over £16k and there are no disregards to any of the capital that can be applied, then the claim will close. If you failed to declare capital within 1 month of being asked for this info, the claim will be closed.

john_l_k

Thanks everyone. 
I can confirm we have received 12 payments. 

I have also now noticed I was asked to report the value of our savings, investments etc. earlier this month.

I did leave them a message stating our savings are still in excess of 16k, but that obviously hasn't been acted on. 

The issue I have is when I try to report this change in our financial situation, it asks for a specific date the change happened, and then goes into wanting account balances and specific details that I don't have to hand. 

I might just have to wait it out until the claim closes for itself.
And I will make sure to screenshot messages in the journal first. 

huckster

On the home page, there is an option to withdraw claim and you can send journal message saying claim to close as savings still above £16k after transition period.

Claim should be closed by UC at some point anyway to stop a 13th payment being issued. 

Robbie64

huckster said:

On the home page, there is an option to withdraw claim and you can send journal message saying claim to close as savings still above £16k after transition period.

Claim should be closed by UC at some point anyway to stop a 13th payment being issued. 

Can I ask a question here about something that's worrying me and is something that you've just mentioned? Apologies to the OP as my question is not connected with the question posed by the OP.

I'm about to make a claim to UC on managed migration I've read that a UC claim can be closed through the home page. Is there a radio button or option on the home page that simply says "Close Claim" or something similar? My worry is that I choose this option either by error or curiosity and then the claim is closed. Is there, for want of a better expression, an "idiots confirmation" button which would appear, along the lines of "Are You Sure"?

Again, apologies to the OP, but this is something that's worrying me (I'm dreadful at looking through screens to see what screen appears next after choosing an option - I managed to wipe the contents of my computer years ago doing this.

HillStreetBlues

Robbie64 said:

Can I ask a question here about something that's worrying me and is something that you've just mentioned? Apologies to the OP as my question is not connected with the question posed by the OP.

I'm about to make a claim to UC on managed migration I've read that a UC claim can be closed through the home page. Is there a radio button or option on the home page that simply says "Close Claim" or something similar? My worry is that I choose this option either by error or curiosity and then the claim is closed. Is there, for want of a better expression, an "idiots confirmation" button which would appear, along the lines of "Are You Sure"?

Again, apologies to the OP, but this is something that's worrying me (I'm dreadful at looking through screens to see what screen appears next after choosing an option - I managed to wipe the contents of my computer years ago doing this.

It's not something you could do by accident, as the couple of screenprints show (i didn't bother going further) Top one is homescreen, bottom one is when you click on "request to close your claim"

Robbie64

^

thanks HSB. That's actually a peace of mind for me as (although not as bad as I used to be) I have a habit of clicking through screens out of curiosity. At the above point I would have stopped.

Apologies to the thread starter for me going off on a tangent.

born_again

john_l_k said:

Thanks everyone. 
I can confirm we have received 12 payments. 

I have also now noticed I was asked to report the value of our savings, investments etc. earlier this month.

I did leave them a message stating our savings are still in excess of 16k, but that obviously hasn't been acted on. 

The issue I have is when I try to report this change in our financial situation, it asks for a specific date the change happened, and then goes into wanting account balances and specific details that I don't have to hand. 

I might just have to wait it out until the claim closes for itself.
And I will make sure to screenshot messages in the journal first. 

You need to provide statements or a balance on each account.
Report a change > Money, savings & investments. So it goes to the right team. Surely you know the balance on your accounts? At the very least put any UC payments on one side as they will be expecting them back.

Newcad

TimeLord1 said:

@Newcad You may be more familiar with this question: interesting as it is, what is the claimant meant to do—close the claim themselves, report a change, or report an error in the system not picking up the special rules for migration from legacy benefits? I guess a lot of this will be happening soon.

AFAIK after the 11th or 12th AP with a payment UC are supposed to ask for the current savings/capital situation and do a review so that a decision of further eligibility following the Transitional Savings Disregard can be made.

That appears to have already happened here:

john_l_k said:

Thanks everyone. 
I can confirm we have received 12 payments. 

I have also now noticed I was asked to report the value of our savings, investments etc. earlier this month.

In the original post it says "... were migrated over to UC the early part of last May."

Which means that the first UC AP would have been early June 2024, (with first payment mid June a week later), and assuming no gaps the 12th AP would have ended early May 2026 (with last payment mid May a week later).
So 12 UC payments have been made, as confirmed in that quote - which is what the Transitional Savings Disregard allows for.

Which means there has not been a 13th payment yet and so no overpayment yet.
There is still time for UC to notify that the OP is no no longer eligible for UC and to close the claim.

@john_l_k I would double check your UC journal for any outstanding To-Do's.
Although you say that you have notified them that you still have above £16k was that as a To-Do or as a note on your Journal? I don't know but there may be a specific form that needs to be filled in. If there is one then it will be a To-Do.