UC want all my money back…

[MapleHazelLatte]

I applied for UC when I separated from DC’s father 3 years ago. I have since been living with my parents and he stayed in the house we bought together. I’ve been asking him to take my name of the mortgage to give me my share but he just has been dragging his heels about it. I applied for UC when we split up.

i then got a notification to say I was having a review phone call. Apparently someone had accused me of still being with DC’s father. I had to send all my bank statements for the last 3 years and fill out forms regarding the house. Originally I vaguely remember they did say they would disregard the house for 6 months then I heard no more.

a couple of months later I was told I had been overpaid but it was only slightly and a manageable amount to pay back.

I’ve not got another letter saying I shouldn’t have got UC since 2022 and they want ALL the money back other than the first 6 months. It’s “disallowed” I’ve worked this out to be around £30k. I have no idea what I’m going to do. Anyone else been in this situation ??

I've answered that already as somebody else contested it.

You'll find my take upthread.

As a professional Welfare Rights Adviser I've a degree of cynicism about the DWP.

In that case there was no change of circumstances for the op (related to the house ownership) - she declared it when she first opened her claim. UC advised that it wouldn’t affect her claim for 6 months after which point the claim should be reviewed.
why has it taken them over 3 years to spot that they had been paying her incorrectly? Do claimants have to pay back UC overpayment even if it’s paid in error despite circumstances being declared appropriately ?

I worked for a year on universal credit. I don't have kids - but I was guaranteed 8 hours a week. When I got offered more hours I always took them. There are reasons why people on part time wages claim UC and it isn't always because they are better off working part time. Sometimes peoples employers don't give them enough hours to live on.

The OP came on here to discuss her situation - not to have the fact that she works part time picked apart.

No. After the six months it was up to her to let the dwp know that the flat hadn't been sold. The responsibility falls on the claimant

Exactly! I don't mean to sound harsh but OP comes across as incredibly passive and almost wilfully ignorant in this thread. She has assumed an awful lot (the house doesn't count as capital, she wouldn't be entitled to any equitt because she was a SAHM etc) and doesn't seem to have made any effort to actually verify any of this. I know people are suggesting that the rules are complicated but they're really not in this area and freely accessible online with a lot of advice. There is obviously CAB too if OP needed further clarification.

OP has done nothing to force the sale of the house and just seemingly passively accepted that her ex can stay in the house forever and that her share of the equity is exactly what he says it is. She works very PT in a low paid role and has no ambition to work anymore despite obviously struggling financially and needing to support two young children.

I hope this is a bit of a wake up call to OP that she needs to take more control and responsibility in her life. Being passive and relying on others to sort everything out for you is hugely risky and organisations like DWP expect people to act with some degree of responsibility and accountability.

If your ex is living there as their main residence and has agreed access to the kids, is it not a case it doesn't form part of the assest calculation?

If you've been there for over 9 years there's likely much more than 32k equity in the house, especially factoring in it having a higher valuation with house price increases.
You being a SAHM is irrelevant, he will need to pay you 50% of the houses current value after taking off the amount still mortgaged if you own it 50/50.
Also apply for child maintenance.
Contact UC and ask if they can direct you to support on how to sell the house or get ex to buy you out as he's refused every time you've asked the past 3 years.

And I have a degree of cynicism about many Welfare Rights Advisers. Like anything else, it depends on the knowledge and professionalism of who you deal with.

I’m probably missing the point of the thread but that’s a huge amount in UC over 2-3 years while you’re only working 2 days and living at your parents, who I presume aren’t charging you rent.

I think it’s best to think of UC as various elements rolled together. So you get an amount for an adult (or couple) then an amount per child ( subject to limit) then an additional amount if you pay rent, then an additional amount if you have paid childcare costs. You don’t need to be entitled to all of them to claim.

Yeah the banks have to recognise domestic/financial abuse now So why shouldnt the DWP

They are entitled to money for each child

UC don't contact you at the end of a grace period so watch out. I did get a year's Transitional Protection when tax credits ended, and was aware of the capital rule. I got a payment I shouldn't have after the 12th month, and realised that it was up to me to contact them - was expecting an alert from their end, but no. It's a shit system that can catch people unawares.

Work more, earn more. Why can't your ex take your child for 50/50 to allow you to work?

They don't sound like they have the best relationship. He isn't paying child maintenance. She didn't come on here to be questioned over her circumstances

But I assume he’s paying the full mortgage on the jointly owned house? So he’s paying something - if he’s paying mortgage it means she’s not paying her half

I see. That makes sense, thank you.
It still surprises me that they didn’t simply ask the question buy I guess that’s the reality of the system.

Well she isn't living there for one reason or another. I would guess a bad one...

But she still owns part of it doesn’t she? He’s paying off the mortgage that is partly her responsibility - same as a landlord doesn’t live in a property but still has the responsibility to pay the mortgage on it.

If the mortgage stopped being paid the mortgage company is well within their rights to come after OP - whether she lives there or not. As it stands ex has been covering all the responsibility

She says she moved out because she couldn’t afford the mortgage on her own…..she’s not mentioned fleeing it any abuse

What I would do is just say you've been living in the house (that you own with you ex). That way you would be entitled to the money!

That would be incredibly dumb of you if you’d been declaring for three years (as op has) that you weren’t.

That's fraud. They also wouldn't necessarily be entitled to everything they are claiming just now depending on their exes income

Actually there kind of is, although it wouldn't apply anyway. There are actually several pieces of legislation that can apply to make most debt irrecoverable.

Unfortunately not one of them apply to benefits payments, and the DWP / government departments don't have to rely on them because they have a double whammy. Beyond the law as it applies to anyone else, they don't even have to take you to court for the debt - they simply deduct it from any future payments that you may be entitled to including your statutory pension.

She wouldn’t as his income would be factored in as they’d be living as a household

it’s also a lie