Universal credit suspension

aeriel82

My UC has been suspended and is with a decision maker to see if my claim needs adjusting and to verify savings. I did have savings, over the past twelve months these have dropped, no huge purchases no transfers it's just been used to bridge the cost of living, bills, debts food e.t.c and has dropped quite, I was slightly over the 6000 but now it's around 500. They have told me there is no timescale and it can take between now and 12 months surely they can't suspend my claim for that length of time.

NedS

Your claim has most likely not been suspended, that is something entirely different and there are a very specific circumstances under which a claim can be suspended.

From what you have said, it would appear that you have reported a change of circumstance relating to capital. This creates a Verify Capital To-Do on the system for a UC agent to verify the change, normally done in the jobcentre with you attending an evidence appointment and providing copies of bank statements etc to verify the amount of capital you have declared.

In this case it would appear they have some concerns over the sudden drop in capital and have referred that to a decision maker (DM) for a decision on whether to allow or treat it as Deprivation of Capital.

The To-Do to verify your capital cannot be completed until the DM has made their decision. The Verify Capital To-Do is what is known as a payment blocker - the UC system cannot generate a monthly statement and payment for you until that To-Do has been completed, as the outcome may affect your payment. So any payment will remain overdue until the DM makes a decision and the To-Do is completed. That may look like your claim has been 'suspended' to you.

You need to wait for the outcome of the decision. The DM will notify you directly on your journal of the outcome, so you will know before anyone in the jobcentre or on the phone lines. How long it takes will depend on how many cases are in front of you in the queue.

If having no payment is putting you in hardship, you should raise a complaint and ask for it to be escalated which may or may not push your decision up the queue and get it resolved quicker.

born_again

Did you inform then once it was below £6K?

Or have they just done a review, which has thrown up the drop in savings?

aeriel82

I declared the drop in savings no review, after two days of me changing it I had an appointment to go to the job centre with all my bank statements they scanned these in and sent them on the computer. Do these take priority though as there is no payment.

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81957368#Comment_81957368

No, there is no priority. Your decision goes into a queue and the team of decision makers do them in date order. It is likely that all of the decisions may involve a delay in payment so there is no priority to look at yours before any other, hence they are dealt with in date order.

As I said, if this is causing you severe hardship, you can make a complaint and ask for it to be escalated. However, if you had reported the change as soon as it happened (e.g, as soon as your capital dropped below £6,000) then you would still have had nearly £6,000 of capital to fall back on whilst they made their decision, and it probably would not have triggered a DM referral. Suddenly going from above £6,000 to £500 is likely what had triggered a referral to a DM.

TELLIT01

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81957344#Comment_81957344

Whatever terminology you, or DWP, wish to use if the claimant is no longer getting any money the result is the same.

Altior

Of course all the info I pick up is second hand, I did read that someone itk from DWP (ie employed by them) that stated that the Verify Capital trigger was £2K or more (up or down). Of course this isn't public, but it's useful to know. My capital will have significant shifts when I am on UC, so for example if I have a cc I am settling with OB £6K, I will do it over 4 months rather than one AP.

I gather that you are effectively meant to report capital changes at every AP even if sub £6K. However there is no sanction or penalty for not doing so, rendering it pointless. However, as in this example, it can still have unintended consequences. And going from above to below the lower threshold materially impacts payments. They will, I am assuming, need to determine whether the OP was above or below £6K at the end of every AP. So it will theoretically be in their favour if they were below but reporting above.

TimeLord1

I always think the response is harsh; your claim has been suspended. Remember, it's only while they review the new upfront information, but still treat people like they've done something criminal.

Altior

It might be pedantic, but surely payments are suspended, rather than the claim? Which is entirely logical, as why would you knowingly release incorrect payments, only to need to correct them. It might sound churlish, but the answer is to timely and accurately report capital.

TimeLord1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81957466#Comment_81957466

Once you enter the queue you could be waiting a while, rather than someone adjusting some figures on the system it will pass through various departments and if anyone delays it can extend it. Like council you wait your turn. Months in some cases.

Altior

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81957501#Comment_81957501

They could deploy a triage system I suppose, but that could be prone to error too.

I have been in this 'world' for a while now, and I feel overall that there is not enough negative impact for claimants not getting the absolute basics right (not singling out the OP here). There are so many people deliberately cheating the system and the worst they will likely face is a £50 penalty and paying overpayments back bit by bit. If you know the worst sanction will be is £50 if you are unlucky, why bother doing it correctly.