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 ??

Thanks must have missed/forgotten that bit. I only remembered the mortgage.

Wrong.

Really? So you could have the farcical situation of op paying back benefits she wasn’t entitled to claim out of … her benefits?
What a world.

Literally that yes

They have told the OP she is no longer entitled to claim benefits due to having an asset

Well no. If she repays all the money back she still won’t be entitled to claim as she still has her asset/equity. She wasn’t entitled 6 months after her initial claim and she still not entitled

Yes, but they are wrong in that assumption.
And once it’s all untangled an unpacked she will be able to claim and pay them back with their own money.

Many people have a great deal more assets than the original post still make successful Claims

They’re not wrong in that assumption at all.
You don’t seem to have a clue what you’re talking about.

And once it’s all untangled an unpacked she will be able to claim and pay them back with their own money
What an absolute crock of shit.

Oh dear, you really don’t understand this 🤣🤣

Worst case scenario, she gets her money out of the house from her. She spends it and then she puts in another claim. And pays them back anything that she needs to pay back out of their own money
But it really shouldn’t come to that

What hilarious about not having a city and guilds qualification in gaming the benefit system?
I’m bloody glad I’ve no part in it, thank you.

Ok 🥴

She works as well.

Spending it quickly would be deprivation of capital - something the dwp are very strict on

I can’t remember the exact number did she say she earned £700 a month?
What do you think they’re gonna do with that?

Again not true either depending on what she does with the money if she buys another house with it fine if she uses it for rent fine if she uses it to pay debts off fine
If she uses it for living costs fine I think we were talking 13 grand weren’t we? That’s about 3 to 6 months living expenses depending on where you are in the country.

Sorry. No idea what you mean. She will be asked to pay back a certain amount on a repayment plan. She's been told she's no longer entitled to benefits - so she's going to have to repay it from her wages - they aren't going to ask that it's repaid all at once

And actually. She only needs to get that lump sum down to less than 16 grand for her to be entitled to something and less than six for her to be entitled to everything.

Oh dear 🙄
A single woman with two children is not going to be able to live on £700 a month
They are not going to stop her benefits in the long run once she has communicated with them and explained the situation and unpacked it as I said three or four posts ago they will reinstate her benefits

This. I work in the welfare benefits advice sector and now the capital disregard no longer applies for the house because of the associated regulations you have this overpayment of UC. He cannot just refuse to dissolve the asset. You need advice and fast.

It is true. I sold a flat in 2020 and I was spot checked when I was back on benefits because they have rules about how quickly you spend capital. Yes - she might be able to buy another flat but that depends on what she gets from the sale of this one. What's your issue? That she might be entitled to benefit again?

If you engage with them, and you and Dad have obviously made sensible plans to try and address this, it will help in the long run. Still get advice- I deal with cases like this a lot; advice is key.

Why were you spot checked? Did you not declare your assets ?

You are talking absolute nonsense. They have told her she's not entitled to benefit because she has an asset? Do you work for the dwp - or are you just an online "expert".