Mum soon will be claiming universal credit while be receiving 150k from sale of house in a month time

[Jellypinkbean44]

Hi all will keep this short, my mum has put in for universal credits even though she had 20k in savings and told me she will be receiving £350 pounds a month very soon from universal credits. She has recently sold her property, and will be receiving £150k in a month or so after all the deductions etc.She has signed a declaration to say she will report any changes in circumstances, she told me she would keep quiet and take the money.Would I be unreasonable to report her.

Thanks everyone for your help appreciated, will read this thread again and write down key points so I can speak to my mum about it. No point in reporting as many of you said.

How old is she?

Wow what a difficult situation to be in OP.

If your Mum has £20000 in savings then she isn't entitled to get UC even before the proceeds from the sale of a house.

Even if she manages to avoid giving the DWP the appropriate bank statements, they get info from the Inland Revenue so that will show any tax deductions from any interest she's been paid.

It's not only fraud but it's stealing from a benefits system that can barely afford to pay the people who are entitled to help. Maybe if you point out that when she gets caught her name will be in the local papers and all her friends and neighbours will know she has a criminal record plus there's no guarantee that she won't go to jail unlikely though that may be.

Good luck with persuading her to drop the claim.

@Jellypinkbean44 they will find out unless her savings are in cash... is it really worth it for £350!? She could end up in court. It is fraud and she would have to pay it all back plus court fee's and any other fee's they want to come up with...

One more thing - she WILL get caught but it may be a few years before that happens and then she'll be paying them back for many years.

TwoBlueFish thanks

Pollywollydolly thankyou will tell her

She'd potentially get a custodial sentence. Anything she has received so far is fraudulent, due to the 20k savings.

However, I don't think they take the house you live in as an asset, so now that's she's sold it, if she buys another house to the value of 150k, she would be entitled to UC (if it wasn't for the 20k savings).

That's my understanding of it anyway.

She's playing a dangerous game committing fraud. The DWP will pursue her relentlessly if she's caught.

I’m assuming that she has been paying national insurance over the last couple of years as she does need to have been doing that in order to claim New Style ESA.

www.gov.uk/how-to-claim-new-style-esa

they will very likely find out as the contents of all your bank accounts is available on your credit report. she needs to immediately use the money to buy another property, or declare the money and rightly come off uc and live on her savings/top up her income with her savings

I think the question they ask on the application form is do you own any property other than the home where you currently reside - or something to that effect

Pinkruler shes nearly 60

Think some of you will be interested to see this

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3582417-Universal-Credit-Someone-being-forced-to-go-on-claiming-UC-even-thoough-it-was-set-up-by-a-third-party

Well surely you cant report your own Mum!.However you should make it clear to her that DWP will take a very dim view of people hiding their assets!.Presuming the 150k is for a property ,that money will be gone towards a new home presumably.I would point out the risks involved if the 150k is after her home was sold and is surplus .If you tell her and she continues to risk it then thats up to her .You could let her know that the UC is only for people who have no savings or other money to fall back on and see if you can appeal to her better nature maybe?

dottiedodah yes will do, yes it's for a property.

Oh my goodness I've heard it all now.

converseandjeans yes shes always worked, but cant atm due to health issues.

If your DM has always worked & paid into the system with tax & NI. She may be able to claim contributions based UC for a couple of months. Then after a certain time, if she is not working, I believe it is at this point, that they look at your income, savings, expenses etc

Savings in her name, paying interest will be notified to HMRC!
Best to stay out of it. They WILL find out and deal with it.

When the house sells the tax office will have the info anyway. At some point DWP will pick it up as they get print outs from tax office. It could be months though and she will be called in for a compliance/fraud interview and made to pay it all back. If beneficial to the department they may make it a criminal charge.
Not worth it really.

Your mother was never eligible for Universal Credit in the first place, as she has £20k in savings.

If she's worked and paid National Insurance for most of last 2-3 years, she should be eligible for new-style ESA:
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/before-you-apply-for-esa/eligiblility-for-esa/#h-contribution-based-or-new-style-esa

I suggest that you strongly advise her to cancel her UC claim and claim new-style ESA instead.

As others have pointed out, she could be fined and/or prosecuted.

Not reporting a parent for illegal activity. Mmmm let's see where this line of thought can lead. I work in the public sector and am sick of seeing scum defraud the state because family cover it up.

She will get into trouble for the savings as this means she does not qualify.

If she did qualify then she would not get in trouble for the house sale proceeds, as long as she was using it to buy another house. There is a 6 month grace period written into the regulations.