Universal Credit: How do they check savings?

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I've received a managed migration notice to swtich from 'legacy benefits' to UC.

I just wondered if anyone is on UC and knew how they check how much money you've got? I know I will initially have to provide bank statements, but how does it work on an ongoing basis after that? Do I have to upload bank statements every week/month going forward? Do I have to grant them access to constantly check my bank accounts?

I'm worried if it's the latter. I've got nothing to hide. And I completely understand that it's a means tested benefit so there has to be some mechanism for checking who's eligible. I certainly don't have over the threshold amount of money or assets, but I just feel uncomfortable with the thought of the government bods being able to dip in and out of my account at any time and check what I've been buying. So, does anyone know how it actually works?

And what happens if I temporarily go over the £6k, say for a couple of days? I can imagine it, e.g. if I agreed to organise a holiday for my extended family and collected in everyone's money before paying out to the accommodation provider. Would I get penalised and lose UC?

Can anyone who currently claims give any insight as to how the process actually works?

TIA.

Apologies if there's a dedicated topic for this, I couldn't find one.

There is transitional period for your savings. It would probably be easier to get someone else to pay for the big holiday to make it easier for you if you were on UC.

For those who are asking what reasons would someone not switch over. If you claimed UC tomorrow your tax credits and other means tested benefits would stop and you would receive no payment until the very end of June. That's a long time without any top up income.

If you pay child care costs you have to pay them up front on UC before you can claim them back so you would need to find the money for that too.

So the stock JC+ answer is to get an advance, which you then have to pay back over the next 12 months, so that wipes a chunk off your UC increase every month.

If you are paid 4 weekly you will have none or very little UC once a year, so for example if you claimed tomorrow and you were paid this Friday you would be paid again on 23rd June which would mean you had double pay in this assessment period so a huge deduction or no UC payable at the end of June and it would be the 30th July before you got a full UC payment.

So your means tested benefits stop tomorrow, some but not all have a 2 week run on period. You need to live for 2 months plus 1 week on just your earnings and child benefit, and you also have to pay next months child care costs up front and the month after and your landlord wants 2 months rent.

Where do you get all of that money, how long does it take to pay it back?

It's going to be a long time before you feel better off on UC and that's without any other work conditions added to the mix.

This was my experience. I told them I wanted to close my claim as my salary would be in excess of the claimable amount, they didn't believe me, lo and behold I got a nil claim month from UC. They let me close it after that.

Do you have to have some kind of interview when first claiming UC in the transfer from tax credits?

Would rather not claim it at all and just close the claim after tax credits but we have got a TC overpayment which will need paid back from UC (nightmare) so will need to do it I suppose.

How they will sort that out I don't know.

No interview and they just take over payments off you each month. Think I pay £25 a month for over payment of tax credits

I didn't.

They just deducted mine straight from my UC.

Once your child is 12 you have to start looking for full time work, which is fair enough as they don't really need childcare at that age.

I personally found UC so much more transparent and user friendly than tax credits. Try not to worry, once you're through the transition period it'll be far easier.

Does anyone know what would happen in my case? My understanding of the rules is that you're expected to earn the equivalent of NMW at 35 hours/week (so just over £14k/year), or look for work at this level if you don't already work, assuming no disability or caring responsibilty that prevents full-time work. I might be wrong on this.

I work p/t (20 hours/week) and study p/t, they add up to more than f/t hours in total. I get a stipend for the study which (as stated above) I am expected to use only for study expenses but which UC count as normal income. Between the two I 'earn' more than the equivalent of NMW f/t, but my wage alone is under NMW (not per hour, clearly, but for the full-time equivalent).

So I know that I will have some UC deducted for earnings, which is fair enough, but will they also expect me to seek f/t work (i.e. give up my studies) so that my primary wage is above NMW?

You can study and work and claim UC

Children's savings are not counted as parental income.

I'm dreading the letter saying I'm moving to UC, I'm a full time student and my maintenace loan will be cosidered as earnings with UC whereas with legacy benefits they aren't.

I haven't read the full thread, but we did have every single account checked a few months back. Myself and my partner, all accounts going back to 2018. And we had to send paper copies of everything. Very annoying when you've opted to receive digital statements. In our case they thought that we were hiding a significant amount of money in an account from a bank that we didn't use. The bank confirmed that the account in question didn't currently exist. It was all very odd. Never did find out what it was all about but assumed an old account belonging to my partners grandparent who had the same name.
There were points where my partner had been transferred large sums of money to pay for things for his elderly parents and they did question this. A letter from his mum stating why it had been transferred was accepted however.

When must you apply by, OP? Have they given you a few months or do you have to do it immediately?

I’d avoid offering to collect money for hols etc whist you’re in UC. I’m pretty sure that PPs are correct and that it won’t ring alarm bells (and we’ve seen comments from a DWP person) but better safe than sorry.

I can't remember the exact date, because I'm intending to get it done ASAP, but it's something like 3 months - it's sometime in August.

Do you think it's fair that student loans are counted as income so UC is deducted? Even though it's a loan that's paid back anyway? I think it's awful and really makes studying and improving life as a single parent difficult

The thing is if studying is going to be free for parents it need to be free for everyone. Why should a younger person who chooses to study first before having kids end up with a massive student loan to pay back when someone who chooses to study later get it all free - which effectively is what happens if you get UC to live off instead??

No they don't t get it free they get the loan like everyone else plus UC to live on because unlike a non parent who can work part time and study that's very difficult to do who lost raising children.

I took out a £5000 bank loan to buy a car as I have issues with walking due to arthritis. I don’t qualify for high rate PIP. This made my bank account balance rise to over 6144.00 for 2 days. Do I need to notify the UC for taking out a loan for a car?Thank you in advance. I’m shaking now this is stressing me out.

They told me I had less savings than I put on the form (car repairs had just been done) so it seems that they can just check, they didn't ask permission

I wouldn't as it will presumably be leaving your bank account soon and you'll have proof it's going on a car.
When I have to do the same thing I won't bother telling them as it's pointless hassle for everyone. It's not like the money will be sitting in your account for weeks.

Sorry, I was replying to @Crystalgem13

Does the bank notify DWP as they did face recognition when I paid cash into the car’s business account also.
Does it flag to UC up if my account was over 6000.00 for 2 days
it does say on the gov website that people need to report savings or they could be investigated for fraud.
Thanks in advance this is stressing me out. If they stop my payments I’m in big trouble as I won’t be able to pay back my loan

Thank you @UCKnowitall. I think your post is really helpful. The DWP is not watching every financial move of every citizen in the UK, with feeds in from all of their bank accounts, savings accounts and so on to trawl for those who may have lied about their income and assets when they claimed, or may have forgotten to inform them of a change in circumstances. This is in the realms of Big Brother, and they don't have the staff to do that, nor the permission to do it either. That said, there are certain things that would flag up as "odd" from an data pov - e.g working / running a business (and paying tax) while claiming, or earning a fortune from your assets (and therefore paying tax on them) when you apparently don't have any assets. Similarly, if you can only sign on at certain times (because you are actually working) and you turn up in painty overalls with your work van parked outside, and cannot possibly attend any interviews, then you cannot blame them for smelling a rat. Once they suspect that you are not telling the truth (for whatever reason) then it becomes an individual investigation, and then they have many more powers to check things out, and then impose sanctions (loss of benefit) or in more serious cases, fraud, You will then, have to supply evidence to the contrary. Hope this puts your mind at rest, they are not after people whose money is borderline and whose entitlement is true - although, like another poster has said, I would not hold excessive funds for others for any period of time, as it leave a financial footprint. I hope this helps xx