UC £6k savings limit breached - help me understand

[Amberlynnswashcloth]

I'm in receipt of UC (health element) and low rate PIP. I've been saving for 3 years to buy a car for health/mobility reasons. Being on the lower rate PIP, I'm not entitled to a mobility car or any help with this so saving has been my only option. I have no access to credit so I need to buy a car outright and pay insurance, taxes and repairs upfront. For the past few months, I have reached around £5500 but never gone over it as day to day expenses have kept me under (its been very hard to save this much) but this month my UC and PIP were both paid at the same time and my balance went briefly over the threshold to £6030 for a few hours overnight until a phone bill brought in back under the limit.

My question is do I declare this? I can't understand the rules. Are the deductions of £4.35 made only when it goes over £6250 or are deductions made on everything over £6000?

I am happy to pay if I owe anything to but I don't want to start a whole declaration/investigation if I don't need to as I find it very stressful. I'm a worrier and I don't want to be accused of fraud as this is really not my intention.

Thanks for listening.

What are your Assessment Period (AP) dates ?

They tried to keep UC as straightforward as they could was by having 'thick red lines' around changes. If there's an in AP change it applies for the whole of that AP.

The practical effect so far as capital is concerned is that effectively what matters is what you've got on the last day of the AP. If you've spent the £30 that took you over £6k then even if it counted as capital - see below - your back under £6k lickety split.

Further, there are rules about how income becomes capital. If you've got £5.5k and receive £700 in income resulting in a notional £6200 that's not £6200 capital. Generally speaking income becomes capital at the end of th AP after the one in which it is received.

Tariff income is £4.35 for every £250 or part thereof but for reasons above that's academic.

Thank you for replying @Bromptotoo.

I think my AP runs from around the 10th of the month.

Under £6k in savings doesn’t effect your UC BUT it could be a problem if you go over and have to inform them and they may go through your claim with a fine tooth comb because you withheld the information