UC advice, backpayments & savinhs

[Roadyjoe22]

i just posting this again just to see any body else’s replies etc as still not heard back from UC

Hi, in March - April this year I received 3 separate large sum payments backdated from UC and DLA for my disabled child, I was owned this money plus back dated carers element. My claim for DLA took a long time and a few things with UC where messed up, which means i was missing out on money I was owed, anyway this all got sorted and I was back paid a payment of £9000 from UC and a psyment of around 2000 from UC also and then DLA was around 2000 backdated. I already had 3 thousand in savings which is allowed, however the backdated Payments by UC have taken me Well over the savings amount allowed? And the amount to have an ongoing claim, Nobody ever gave me any information about if this is classed as savings or when it should
be spent etc. I was originally saving it as wanted to move private rented house to a bungalow rented if one came up and buy my sons new room padding sleep safe bed etc that all cost thousands plus other adapt mentos, also first months rent deposit etc on a rented properly all add up. I also need a new sofa tv fridge etc, again, all add up, I haven’t spent any of this money since I got it in March / April, as I said been wanting to move first but no suitable rented properties have come up, However all this news about UC and banks looking into your spending and your savings etc and stopping benefits has worried me. Is the backdated money I got classed as savings even tho they owed me it ? As I said I already had some savings well under the allowed amount, but their backdated amount had taken me into no longer can claim amounts, I’ve left 2 journal message but no reply, I’m worried? I wish I just spent it when got it as I need a new sofa, new tv etc cos son breaks them all , now am worried if I buy something new that’s expensive I.e sofa, it will flag up I’m spending large amounts of money?? Can anyone rest my mind please I have adhd and I can’t sleep for worrying. I only have the savings as it was given to me by the UC themselves , but now am worried they will stop my claim of bank will flag me for spending it ??!
please help!!thank you . I have 2 children and I’m my son’s full time carer just to add.

p.s I did a precious thread just looking for further answers and experiences, a few people said it’s disregarded for 12 months as saving, so am I ok to spend this and what i need now? Even if it’s large amounts? As 12 months is up in March which isn’t that long away! Can I withdraw any to use? or will this flag with the bank? Am very confused, another lady said irs completely disregarded with no time limit. But can’t find anything online or anyone else saying this? Does anyone else know.
dows anyone else have any further info on the latest news about UC investigations and banks.

Thanks for all your replies

All benefit arrears payments are disregarded for 12 months from the date you got the money. As all the different payments will have been paid on different dates, the dates on which the disregard ends will vary.

There are rules around deliberately spending money to maximise benefit entitlement. If they think someone has deliberately deprived themselves of capital, the DWP can treat them as though they still have it. Things like replacing or buying furniture, household appliances etc are fine as long as the purchases are not excessively extravagant. Similarly, buying a car would be ok as long as it's not massively extravagant, and having a holiday would be fine, but maybe not 2 weeks in the best hotel in Dubai or anything.

Clearing debt is a bit more of a grey area, the rules permit repaying a debt that is "immediately recoverable", but I've known the DWP accept clearing credit card and store card debts, because it saves you money in the long run. They did once look into the facts of a case where a client repaid a £5k debt to her parents, and we had to show the bank statements where the £5k loan had been paid into her account. I think they were checking that the parents weren't just holding the £5k on behalf of the client.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for that information, it does really help, do you happen to no more about the 5k rule, I’ve heard people saying if it’s over 5k backdated from uc it’s disregarded for the length of the claim. But it says online that’s if it’s their error, would a backpayment of 5k plus from UC be classed as an error ? If it wasn’t paid due to waiting for DLA and then UC then took a while to process it also . Because 1 of the payments was £8000, so a large sum to spend in the time frame,
thank you for your help .

Hi just checking to see if you had any idea about my question. Thank you for all your help