Universal credit review help

[moonstarsuns]

So me and hubby joint claim. I’m not working as care for my child who disabled. Partner self employed. Recently UC asked to do a review so want bank statements etc which have been provided. My only worry is that quite often various family and friends help us out with money so it’s obviously different peoples names shown on the bank statement. Could be 100 one week or maybe 50 here and there another week. Sometimes around 200. Just depends what we need. But it’s not income it’s gifts but I’m still worried they will question it and we will be in trouble. Savings are below £1,000. Anyone here work for UC who can advise or has been through a review with circumstances to mine above

Yes of course it could, you will need to be able to prince evidence that the friends are not clients.

My friend had this, the fact the money she was sent was put into savings went against her and they requested the details of every person who sent money. If it had been spent immediately in bills or groceries I doubt it would have triggered an investigation but her transferring it to savings seemed to raise suspicions. There was a whole investigation and she had to pay back some money and had her benefits suspended.

In her case it was sort of warranted though as the funds were sent in exchange for other things which came to light during the investigation (she was basically seen as running a meal prep company because she was charging relatives for ingredients but was still making profit)

I would be suspicious of this if I’m entirely truthful, I can’t understand why friends would be regularly gifting you money, that isn’t usual. I could understand a mum or dad, even maybe a sibling regularly helping you out but not friends.

it looks like your partner has a business and your friends are getting a ‘mates rates’ deal for whatever product or service your partner sells so that it can go through as undeclared income and not be taxed. However UC would have to be able to prove that rather than just suspect it.

Why are so many people giving you money? Especially friends. I've never known friends to give each other money.

Right so your self employed husband is putting money people are sending him into savings because they’re just kind hearted?

He’s getting paid cash and giving it to friends and family to send to him to cover it up. We’re not stupid you know. It’s not slick.

@AutumnAllTheWaythis is very good to hear thank u for sharing

You tell them it’s a gift. It’s not usually an issue, but it may be probed if you’ve got lots and lots of different people doing it. Especially friends. It’s very normal for families to send money to help you but it’s unusual for friends (and lots of different ones) to be sending it. Can you explain why your friends are doing that? Because you might have to.

Gifts are fine. I claimed UC when I first went self employed and my mum sent me £200 a month. When I had a review, it was absolutely fine. I also had several payments from friends because I organised a weekend away so they all sent their share of the money, I also had a payment from my boyfriend for his half of a weekend away. I had money sent from my ex’s mum (my kid’s grandmother) for their birthdays. So I had loads of payments coming in from friends and family. It was totally fine; I just explained each payment as gift, or paying back their share etc.

You just need to be able to say what it was but lots of friends sending gifts is unusual so they might ask more about that. But it will be absolutely fine because your friends can confirm it if needed.

Me either. I mean I’d happily give money to a close friend if they were absolutely skint, but certainly not if they had savings.

@Holdmybeermomenthow long did your review take roughly? I was asked for documents on Monday and uploaded immediately but just curious as to when I’ll get an answer or whatever, I’m hoping soon

oh, that’s hard to remember. I think it was a couple of weeks from uploading to getting the phone appointment. And then during the phone call the guy told me I’d sent the wrong 4 months for one of my accounts and he just needed the month before it before he could close the review. I uploaded it straight after the phone call and then it took a few weeks for him to close the review but they did say they were just very very busy and it wasn’t anything wrong. There were no issues, review complete and all good.

@Holdmybeermomentok yours sounds good. I’ll update this thread once I know more

We're self employed and just explained, no evidence needed

The amounts we got from family that we didnt return were very different from se income payments so it was obviously different I guess

@AutumnAllTheWayso did they question the payments from friends and family?

Yep, they asked. We just explained, so that was £600 from pa in law towards van repairs, that was a bit from my dad towards holiday, those payments are my bro lending me bits etc. I also arrange things as part of a community group, so explained what those payments are and that they arent part of income.

This is over a few bank accounts.

She was fine with it all.

We are completely honest and transparent in.everything we declare so didnt worry too much, but like you I was worried they'd say these payments were a problem. But they weren't so please dont worry

@moonstarsuns you do seem to be evading the question as to why various friends are sending you money.

Why aren’t you telling us?

A colleague at work was receiving money every month from a relative. They did a check and it was classed as regular income. I don’t know how much this extra income was, but they had their UC reduced.

In my experience people will give or lend money in response to a particular need or event so all you have to do is evidence why your mum sent you £50 or whatever.
The last few times I sent friends or family money it was either in response to a big bill that they were struggling to pay or for my share of an event. Both would be really easy to prove and justify.
It would be really unusual to have lots of one-off payments from different people in to your account so I would be prepared to have to evidence what they are.

@Roseshavethornsits more just general money so we don’t have receipts as such but it could be we ordered stuff of Amazon or went food shopping etc so the money is going back out again. Bank balance never too high

My mum often puts in £50-£100 “to buy the kids an ice cream” uc just ask who they are and what the money was for. If it’s the same person/2/3 people should be fine.

How many "family members" are helping you out? If it's half a dozen fine,if it's a hundred your self employed partner is diverting payments to your account (foolishly) .. or your earning.

@Pinemartin4yes it’s about 6 ppl maybe less

@houseofismsbut do u have to provide evidence that u bought the ice cream ?

It really doesn't matter whether your balance is low (as long as it is not above £6000).
If money is being paid in to your account they may ask you where it came from and why it was paid to you.
It also really doesn't matter what you spend it on other than you can use it as a means of demonstrating why you were given money (ie your friends all give you £300 and you can show a group booking for a weekend away for £300 per person.
Your mum giving you small amounts of money on a fairly regular basis will probably not raise any questions as it is a fairly normal thing to do.
If you are receiving one-off payments or larger amounts from individuals then this is less normal and you may be asked for more information.

That’s just not true because UC doesn’t class it as income. You can confirm this yourself by calling their helping and asking.

She must have been receiving the money in exchange for something, like cleaning for their relative or helping them with something. Because they do no class gifts from relative as income, even if it is a regular monthly payment. Again, you can check this yourself.

If you are as evasive with the DWP as you are here you are going to have a problem. You ask a lot but answer very little. You will have to be completely transparent with them