UC review - over 16k childs savings

[Gabbygirl]

I need advice, i am so worried and stressed!

I have been asked to submit 4 months bank statement for a UC credit review. At first, I had absolutely no worries. I was talking to a mum at the school about it and she said to make sure that i upload my children's savings account as she had too due in her review.

I said to her that i didn't think they was included in my UC claim as they are children's savings accounts, in their own name. She said if I had access to them ( which of course i do, i set them up!) then they are included in my capital.

I rushed home and i've been doing some online research and the information is confusing but it does look like she is right.I can't believe i have let this happen.

I have gone through all my bank statements/uc payments and if my math's is correct i have been overpaid over £14,000 in the last 5 years.
( Any month over £16,000 savings i have calculated to owe back in full, any month over £6,000 but under £16,000 i have done £4.35 for every £250??)

Between nov 2025 and July 2020 - there is 11 months i was over the 16k and should of not got anything and besides 4 months, every other month the savings was inbetween £6000 and £15,999.

( I have some savings myself between £2,000 and £5,000 over the 5 years. I never included my children's savings, so depending how much i had, would take me over the 16k at times but not constant)

I feel sick with worry and i feel so guilty that such a stupid mistake can have a massive affect on my children and our home life. I am a single mum to 3 children and the thought of being taken away from breaks my heart. I know i have made a mistake and it is not fair for tax payers to have to pay for my mistake. I know i need to pay it all back and make everything, I am just so scared and i just don't know how.

I don't expect sympathy, this is my mistake and i need to handle it but any advice would be hugely appreciated.

When I claimed UC it seemed to be a grey area. My DCs accounts were ones in their name, that I'm a signatory for but once they are 13 it's all their own money, I'm just on there to guide them until that age. I spoke to the bank (Lloyds), they said they are their accounts and not mine. It never came up with UC though, although they only had around £1300 in each account so it wouldn't have taken me over and UC didn't ask me about them. Also they would see that no money had been put in for a long time - I'd put in £10 each Christmas and birthday but the bulk was a gift from DGP a long time ago. The reason I was on UC was I had virtually no spare money anyway

I think we can all see just how much some people expect the state to pay for things !

Error

If HMRC will go through all my bank statements going back 7 years when I die (to ferret out how much I've given away over the previous 7 years re IHT owing), then I don't see it's unreasonable to expect the relevant authority to go through the children's bank statements to see where the money came from and, more importantly, whether the parent withdrew any of it as well as paying it in. I can't see this happening with such a low amount but possibly if tens of thousands of pounds were being 'moved' it might ring alarm bells. I have no knowledge of the system though but the OP seems a very honest, sensible parent so I hope the review proves to be nothing to worry about.

@Lifestooshort71 I don't think anybody has said that checking accounts as a mitigation for the risk of claimants depriving themselves of capital by putting it in a child's account is unreasonable.

As with other stuff that's disregarded you don't get to say whether it is; you declare it and let a DWP Decision Maker decide.

OP's situation seems to be that (a) her children had a modest inheritance each and (b) for reasons x, y & z they've had monetary gifts rather than physical 'stuff' at birthdays/Christmas.

The accounts are in the kid's names so unless there are transfers suggesting OP is intermingling money to conceal it she's fine.

Some horrible people on here. OP didn’t set out to intentionally defraud the state, she made a mistake and didn’t double check the rules. She’s also a single working mum who’s just tried to do the best by her kids. We all make mistakes OP, just be honest & get proper advice and guidance. Good luck.

Did you fail to read and comprehend what others have posted on here about how inheritance for children works?

I’m story but the vitriol from some posters on here makes me feel sick to my stomach….

It is all sickening especially given that you can claim UC with £5999 in savings and get the full amount and get some UC right up to having £16k savings!

and the govt encourage UC claimants to save with help to save accounts!!

yet arseholes on threads like this come after the OP and others who are doing nothing wrong other than obey a system they didn’t set up!

that’s what’s sickening. Not people on benefits being able to save a bit of money and kids getting a bit of inheritance.

There ARE some horrible, vitriolic and downright made people on here. Spend your children's inheritance?! If they were named beneficiaries of a will, they could take the trustee to court when older, to recover it. In fact, a woman got prison recently for stealing her daughters' money, though I think it was quite large amounts.

The government encourage it so that then the claimant will eventually be entitled to less UC. I genuinely don't see why people want OP to have no savings? Just pure jealousy.

That's horrible. My children dont have that much savings that would make me worry but I certainly view it as their savings and 100% not mine. Im sure OP feels the same and at no time as tried to fleece the system by hiding money this way.

This thread is so nasty. Why on earth should op be punished re saving for children. Just stop for one moment and think about the logic.

none of us have any idea what any other family spends and how they manage their money. but think about this, in theory we are nigh on encouraging a parent instead of saving, to buying stuff , eg the weekly food stuff or more frivolous stuff .... wine, clothes, croissant, anything.

we are penalising someone for planning and strategic money handling, and saving.

That's mad!

Obviously the OP’s dcs have very modest savings.

Would posters’ opinions differ if the grandparent had left the dc a substantial amount? Let’s say £150k? £500k? It would be strange for a parent to be claiming free school meals etc etc if the dc were sitting on a small fortune!

A sum that size would likely be held on trust until the child, as a minimum, attained their majority. I may be wrong but I'm not sure putting money in an account for the child necessarily counts as a good discharge for the person winding up the Grandmother's estate but that's moot now.

If cash in the sum speculated by @MaturingCheeseball were held by professional trustees pending a child's majority would they be acting reasonably in releasing cash to relieve the state of its responsibility to maintain children in low income households?

I suspect not.

If the parents inherit a home, or have just cleared a mortgage on a home they live in, should they borrow against it to relieve the state of its responsibility?

But it wouldn't be accessible to the parents, legally anyway. It would have to be invested until they were 18.
Those are just the rules, odd as they seem. Children aren't obliged to 'support' their parents in our welfare system. If you were very wealthy, with a fortune in the bank, and your mum lived in a council flat with no assets, she would receive pension credit and housing benefit and, if the time came, she would be eligible for funded nursing care. As the elderly care funding crisis deepens over the coming decades, this may change, but atm there's no obligation for the adult children to provide anything (except a top-up, if desired.)

The 7.5k inheritance definitely will not count it is theirs and you manage it. Just get a copy of the will. If the rest is birthday money etc it is probably fine too but inheritance will not count towards 16k or 6k limit. But in future do not put your money into your children's savings account but your own. Just keep their accounts for their money

Putting it in your account and intermingling their money with your own is a surefire way to pretty well ensure DWP argue it counts towards the £6/£16k limits.

OP's approach is exactly the right one with accounts in the children's names. Nothing I've read suggests she's putting/keeping her own money in the kid's accounts.

@Bromptotoo that is exactly my point keep their inheritance separate but if the OP adds to these accounts from her income it muddies the waters. the OP is not in a financial position to be adding to her kids savings at the expense of her own savings . Because adding to their accounts to keep her own savings below 6k will look suspicious.

I would suggest OP keeps accurate records to demonstrate that all money in kids accounts is the inheritance plus birthday Christmas money etc

The DWP concern is money in children's account that is really a front for parental savings and has mostly come from parental income

@Cottagecheeseisnotcheese I think we're on the same page.

I don't think the OP has said anything that might suggest she's intermingling her own money with that of her kids although she may be giving them cash at Birthday and Christmas.

Back/forth traffic if she were hiding her own cash there would stand out sore thumb style.

@Bromptotoo I thought she did say that sometimes the cash was mixed, and she can’t really tell whether it was wages or UC that she is paying over to the children’s accounts; to me, that does suggest that there are payments going over to the children’s accounts from OP’s accounts - but obviously it may not be much, and may not be relevant for whoever is doing the review..

I'm a high earner with a high tax bill, I've never claimed benefits. But if you can't see that even children of parents on UC deserve to inherit money legitimately left to them and deserve to get birthday and Christmas presents from family, you have issues with critical thinking.

There's a change with a decent start those kids might not need to claim UC when they reach adulthood. But you're right, better than instead of them being able to afford university, their birthday presents should be spent on household food and utility bills.

If you've got cash to spare and give it to kids that's fine. UC or not.

If you're moving cash to their accounts and back to yours and having spending splurge, or clearing some big bills, noy OK. UC or not but on UC = packet of trouble.

At no point have I said childrens birthday presents should be used to pay for household food and bills. Get off your high horse. Idiot.

She hasn't defrauded the state, intentionally or otherwise, because she hasn't done anything wrong. OP's DC's savings are in accounts in their names, so they are not taken into account when calculating OP's UC entitlement because their money is not hers.

@Bromptotoo @Cottagecheeseisnotcheese
OP's told us that, in addition to the GP's bequests and family members' Christmas money in lieu of gifts, she's paid about £500 into each of her three DC's accounts over a five-year period, so £100pa per child or £1.92pw per child. Pocket money at best, which I really don't think the DWP would get bent out of shape about.