UC and inheritance

Britannia12345

I've been lucky enough to receive a substantial amount in an inheritance from a relative. I thought I just had to declare the amount to UC and this would close the claim but when I posted the change of circumstances on journal they said I had to make an appointment with the Jobcentre and take in three months' worth of bank statements. 
When I queried with them why this was necessary this is the reply I got:

This is the procedure when Capital over £16,000.00 is declared as we need to see if there is any disregard that may affect your Universal Credit Award.
However, if you do not wish to attend an Appointment with your evidence and want to close your claim, then you will both need to complete the 'Request to close your claim' option from the Homepage of your online Account.

HillStreetBlues

If you have the inheritance now, just close your UC claim


Report a change, then request to close your claim.

Numberwang_2

From experience if you are just over the £16k, they go through the last 3 months, to see if there are any disregards, eg, if you still had the cost of living payments, or equivalent in savings then these would be disregarded, also if you have any debts they recommended paying those off too and putting some in a pension and there were some others, but can’t remember as not relevant to myself. I found them very helpful. Or you can just ask them to close the claim.

Newcad

Britannia12345 said:

I've been lucky enough to receive a substantial amount in an inheritance from a relative. I thought I just had to declare the amount to UC and this would close the claim .....

'Substantial amount' will mean different things to different people.

So are we talking about say £20K, or is it nearer £50k, or nearer £100k, or more?

If it's in the £16>25k region then as said they will want to check that you are discounting all that you can, just in case you don't need to close your UC, and then have to claim again in a couple of months when you have used a couple of thousand of the money to live on.

chappellroan

Newcad said:

Britannia12345 said:

I've been lucky enough to receive a substantial amount in an inheritance from a relative. I thought I just had to declare the amount to UC and this would close the claim .....

'Substantial amount' will mean different things to different people.

So are we talking about say £20K, or is it nearer £50k, or nearer £100k, or more?

If it's in the £16>25k region then as said they will want to check that you are discounting all that you can, just in case you don't need to close your UC, and then have to claim again in a couple of months when you have used a couple of thousand of the money to live on.

Sorry to jump on this comment but I'm actually in a similar situation. Is this to say that >£25k they will simply close the account without making you come in for an appointment? As I am about to inherit just under £60k and wondering how best to go about it with UC also

Grumpy_chap

chappellroan said:

Newcad said:

Britannia12345 said:

I've been lucky enough to receive a substantial amount in an inheritance from a relative. I thought I just had to declare the amount to UC and this would close the claim .....

'Substantial amount' will mean different things to different people.

So are we talking about say £20K, or is it nearer £50k, or nearer £100k, or more?

If it's in the £16>25k region then as said they will want to check that you are discounting all that you can, just in case you don't need to close your UC, and then have to claim again in a couple of months when you have used a couple of thousand of the money to live on.

Sorry to jump on this comment but I'm actually in a similar situation. Is this to say that >£25k they will simply close the account without making you come in for an appointment? As I am about to inherit just under £60k and wondering how best to go about it with UC also

There is no absolute fixed figure with regard to disregards. 
Consider this from a practical perspective. 
An individual with £17k and CoL disregards might well find their assessed capital to be below £16k and hence some UC remains payable.
As the amount of capital grows ever larger than £16k, the potential that disregards bring the assessed capital below £16k grows ever smaller.

At £60k capital, you are likely to be in a position to simply close the claim.
Do you have any savings already?
Do you have any disregards that can be applied?
Do you have any debts?  Repayment of debt is not deprivation of capital.

NedS

chappellroan said:

Newcad said:

Britannia12345 said:

I've been lucky enough to receive a substantial amount in an inheritance from a relative. I thought I just had to declare the amount to UC and this would close the claim .....

'Substantial amount' will mean different things to different people.

So are we talking about say £20K, or is it nearer £50k, or nearer £100k, or more?

If it's in the £16>25k region then as said they will want to check that you are discounting all that you can, just in case you don't need to close your UC, and then have to claim again in a couple of months when you have used a couple of thousand of the money to live on.

Sorry to jump on this comment but I'm actually in a similar situation. Is this to say that >£25k they will simply close the account without making you come in for an appointment? As I am about to inherit just under £60k and wondering how best to go about it with UC also

In terms of process, you will declare that you have capital (~£60k) and they will book you an appointment to provide evidence to verify your capital, and once verified that it is over £16k and no disregards apply, they will close the claim. They like to verify the amount so that it is recorded on the claim (useful if claimants then try to reclaim one month later claiming they have spent it all).

If you do not attend the jobcentre to provide evidence of your capital, eventually they will just close your claim for failing to provide evidence, usually after around a month.

You can just ask for your claim to be closed, but they will ask for a reason, and you will say savings/capital, and then you are back to the start where they ask how much capital and want you to come in to verify it.

D_Martin25

Did you just close your claim or went to job centre to verify your capital ? 
If you closed your claim without verifying capital , i just would know what was the outcome ? Would they still follow up to verify evidence or no
?as im in same situation.

huckster

They will just close the claim, if the claimant does not want to attend Job Centre with the capital information.

If a new UC claim is made within a few months, they will look back and see reason for last claim being closed. And if it looks like the person has spent a large sum of money to claim UC again, they are likely to add a refer to Decision Maker to review what happened to the capital. I.e deprivation of capital. And claim won't proceed until the Decision Making process has concluded.