Is this just getting ridiculous! UNIVERSAL CREDIT

[ChristmasTime2023]

So had a review with UC today phone call she stated she would up date the journal with what I need to provide.
A full length photo of myself standing outside my front door with the key in the lock!?
Then a letter from the children's school & nursery saying they attend there
A letter from the children's gp
Passport photos
Child benefit award letter
Birth certificates (they have had birth certificates before )

This isn't a new claim either I dont understand why gp letters are needed they want one for me and my partner too.

Also on the phone call asked who I use for my gas and electricity
Ive never been asked these things before seems strange to ask?
Anyone else had a review lately what did they ask for.

Partner works full time if that matters.

All the people in this thread mentioning the benefits battles they've had after losing a job, none of them were contributing via tax & NI? Then there's taxation other than on earnings, perhaps people on UC should be forbidden shoes & biscuits so we can properly distinguish the taxpayers from the non-taxpayers.

How rude. Claiming Universal Credit isn't begging.

Prove it.

You have a phobia of what exactly, taking photos of yourself?

OP it sounds bizarre and not something I have experience of, but I'm all for it if it means people who are cheating the system are caught out.

I would do all that the OP is unhappy about for some free money 😀. Sadly, not eligible.

It’s not “free money”! Show me a person in this country that doesn’t pay tax!

Probably quite a few people claiming UC that pay income tax also.

If only they insisted on this much proof for tax cheats. They'd get so much more money than going after people claiming what they're due.

So everyone who pays tax should get UC then?

Do you think people that are claiming UC are paying enough tax to cover their share of public services?

Probably not, usually it’s multiple children and a 16 hour a week job in a supermarket at play.

The majority of the population aren't so UC irrelevant.

I don’t have understand why these things prove anything.

A full length photo of standing outside front door with the key in the lock
Firstly a lot of keys will go in a lot of locks you just can’t turn them. Plus if you are a single parent with no friends or family how do you take a full length shot of yourself?

A letter from the children's school & nursery saying they attend there.

What if your child doesn’t go to nursery or school. Too young for school and can’t afford childcare till you get a job
Plus this could be anyone who could write the letter stating that they look after your child.

A letter from the children's gp

Surely if you need UC, the very fact you are claiming means you cannot afford this. GPs letters cost money

Passport photos
What if you don’t have a passport. Like the GP letter passports cost money

Child benefit award letter
Surely they have this already. Certainly never kept mine

Birth certificates
So why the need to send them again. Do they need to keep it on file in which case, again like the other stuff they requested, how are you supposed to afford any of these things. I have lived for decades not having to produce my birth certificate.
My original one got burned in a house fire, copies don’t have my name on. My name was altered by deed poll when I was a child and again by statutory declaration. Original SD was sent to my bank when my name was changed and never returned

All of this stuff can be faked and/or costs money.

It’s this type of stuff that makes me seethe with rage. It’s so obviously been thought of as a brilliant idea but just the front door key one shows how little the people who have come up with this understand about basic life.
Cant believe not one person has ever put their key in a lock and tried to turn it and then realised they have mixed up their keys

But you can get UC if you work f/t and pay tax/NI at the same time

Most people aren’t net contributors.

There are many, many people who have a lot of opinions on benefits and “tax drains” who actually aren’t covering themselves.

We see it all the time on MN. Someone earning £25k banging on about tax takers, whilst technically I’m paying for her bins to be collected.

If you don’t work and all your income is from benefits then you don’t pay tax. You use the money from taxpayers to pay the vat etc.
We have a tenant who has never worked a day in her life. First child at 16. She has never paid a penny of tax in her life because has never earn a penny in her life! It’s not a difficult concept.

It's definitely a thing as our school sent out a message to say they'd always try and help with letters but please be patient because they have so many requests and can't do them right away.(Its a pretty average school in an average area)

Not so, I'm aware of several people claiming fraudulently. Mainly household circumstances and living arrangements. These are the facts and I have plenty of hobbies and pass times

What triggers a review though or are they just random?

You can always refuse and not get the free money....

I think complaining that you have to jump through some hoops to get given some money seems a bit out of touch and entitled.

Sorry to pick up on this but, if you are on UC and are renting, you definitely should have housing element on your claim; you would then have (at present) £411 wages disregard before they calculate the deduction for earnings.

Really?

Wait until fate turns around and you have to make a claim.

It sounds like a frickin' nightmare @ChristmasTime2023 - I feel v, grateful I don't have to do this.

That doesn't make it right.

Part of my work involves dealing with benefits queries. Usually when we have asked for a particular piece of information or proof, it is because something on a claim has triggered the need. Child turned 18? Proof of their income, individual UC claim or continuing education, please.

New claims will usually require birth certificates, proof of income etc to be submitted again, because it is a New Claim. Otherwise technically we are taking your word for it that the £207 savings you had in 1995 has never changed by a penny.

Was talking to a woman yesterday whose UC had been suspended and she was kicking off like you wouldn’t believe. Turns out we sent her letters from October last year asking for various pieces of information to validate her claim.

As far as I could work out, she doesn’t work, and has had THREE MONTHS to get this to us. She submitted some of the information on the last day of the deadline, so she was nil qualified and has to start again.

While I have every sympathy for claimants, for those ones not working, it’s literally the ONE THING that we ask of them, which they don’t appear to be bothered to do in all of the time they have when they’re not working.

It’s frustrating for everyone concerned because it triggers more letters, phone calls and admin. Just do what we ask you to do and the claim will be processed smoothly and in time.

Asking for your energy providers could well be do so with the warm homes discount?

Agree that the photo seems mad though.

Passports are so expensive. Nearly £100!