Universal credit help

[Ells2024]

Last year I was made redundant before I went on mat leave and was given a nice chuck of money, I’ve since used that money to pay for monthly bills. Im now single and I’m going back to work part time but will need universal credit to help toward childcare cost otherwise it’s unaffordable for me to go back. My question is, because I’ve spent my savings on the bills over the last 9months, will they see this as deprivation of capital?

No they won't. You've supported yourself with that money, you haven't intentionally spent it in order to claim.

No it wouldn't be normally, money used for bills and debts is not usually deprivation of capital. How much was it? If you were spending thousands a month then it might be looked at more closely but a couple of thousand shouldn't raise a query.

Money spent on reasonable expenses or reducing debt would not normally be seen as deprivation.