UC Note "We have arranged a compliance telephone interview for you" having a panic attack

[courtneyk92]

I am having a panic attack. I have social anxiety, I receive LCWRA and PIP, along with universal credit. I was awarded LCWRA Years ago, and never been reviewed, I am a 33 year old mum of two little boys age 8 and 6. One who is autistic and receives DLA. I Received a note about a compliance interview today and a letter. I don't know what it could be about, my son was awarded and backdated DLA only a few weeks ago… on the 30th June and today on the 30th July, Receive a letter that says "Notice of a compliance telephone interview We need to discuss your Universal Credit claim
Dear [named redacted by MNHQ]
We need to speak to you about your Universal Credit claim.
A compliance officer will call you on (my number) to conduct a telephone interview.
Your interview will be on 6 August 2025 at 10am.
If you do not answer when we call, your Universal Credit may be affected. You must tell us before the appointment if you will not be available at this time.
Yours sincerely,
S Thorpe

I feel sick when you google compliance interviews it says because you've been suspected of fraud, I cant stop crying I feel so sick, my interview is 6th aug, I wont be able to eat or sleep until then, can any one ease my mind. I'm crying my eyes out I cant even breathe.

I wasn't sure so I just looked back on my journal and mine was a claim review, so it looks like mine might have been different?

The part about nothing to worry about as long as you’ve been honest in all your claims still stands though!

They are doing them randomly and I think plan to have one with most claimants. If you've got nothing to hide there is nothing tk worry about x

They are not doing compliance checks randomly.

Compliance checks are not random. It is not the same as a routine review which lots of people are having.

Compliance reviews are not the same as general routine reviews - they are done when something has flagged on the system as off.

Fair enough! My bad!

The part about nothing to worry about as long as you’ve been honest in all your claims still stands though!

Yes, this is of course true.

But the DWP are such bastards that claimants always get anxious about things like this. It's understandable.

It's going back a bit but I had a compliance check years ago when I first applied for Income Support. Turned out the system (not sure whose error it was in the end) had added a couple of extra 00 to my balance which put me way way over the threshold for being eligible. I just told them it was ludicrous but I'd be MORE than happy to pay back all the benefits money and any fines if it turned out to be true and they told me where the money was so that I could access it! They just wrote a statement that it was a mistake which I signed and said I was happy for them to investigate further, which I genuinely. I had a call a few weeks later to say it was a mistake and there would be no further action.

Not really. These letters tend to say "we have information to suggest...." and they say what it is about. It might be housing costs, undeclared income... anything really.

@courtneyk92 there is some info here - https://dontdisappoint.me.uk/resources/finance/what-is-a-compliance-officer-dwp/

Unless you are stashing loads of money or have someone living with you that you have not declared, then it is probably nothing to worry about. Sometimes the DWP have made a mistake at their end.

That's a review not compliance. They're different things.

are you sure you had a compliance interview not a review?

Hi did you have your review hope its gone all well for you. I have mine next Tuesday and my anxiety level is sky high.

I am a compliance officer for UC. Our roles is really to check that you do not have more than £6,000 in savings and we ask review claims as audits. Nothing to worry about at all. Further to this if you was suspected of fraud you would be getting a letter from higher tier fraud officer and be called in for an interview.

Our roles are to make sure you do not have more than you should in savings and if you didn't declare it we would simply reduce your benefits and warn you.

We often can asked for you to supply between three to six months of bank statements including any saving accounts.

I hope this puts your mind at rest. We must review UC claims yearly to make sure you receive the right amount of benefit due. Some claimants are overdue reviews, all the reviews are carried out by compliance officers.

Are you suggesting all UC claimants have a yearly compliance review?

I don’t receive UC but deal with benefits for my job and I don’t believe this to be true.