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.

I work aswell. I have worked since my youngest was 7 months so i also pay into the system and am a tax payer just like you....
If they need something then of course i would buy it for them out of the money...

What about gifts or inheritance that are specifically for your children, not you? Domtou spend your children's birthday money on groceries? Doubt it.

Thank you @Coffeeandbooks88

Some people with sympathy in the world! and i also work and i pay taxes.. some people are very small minded!

I commented on the saving birthday and Xmas money, not the inheritance. But as you've brought it up, how much do you think it would be OK for them to save before it affected UC? Each GGC inherited <£2k, but what if it was £20k each? Would that still be ok to keep in a savings account and continue using UC towards bills?

Yes. If it was left to the child then absolutely.

Yes because that is for kids future and not for bills IMO. I doubt that happens very often though.

But you've said you don't take any money out of the savings to pay for things. I'm just making the point as a pp has, that my kids need to use their bday Xmas gift money to pay for things and we don't have spare cash to go into savings. I thought benefits were there for need.

The irony of this when if you spent these savings on the kids via schooling you'd be taxed.

Trying not to be annoyed my inheritance being used the way it was asked to be, on my kid's education, is taxed on death and now for education, where if I had saved it in accounts for them I'd be able to claim UC because I am a single parent under the minimum wage. Of course.

You can open a junior isa for up to 9K a year. Junior isa doesn’t count as your savings.

Taxpayer should pay before they use their own family money? Really?

Such is life on Mumsnet especially when it comes to UC.

If you want, I could start a thread about how I'm a SAHM of 4 children and on UC and as I'm not affected by the benefit cap due to a) my husbands wages and b) the fact I receive disability element for my ADHD, then we will receive the full benefit of the 2 child cap being lifted. We also own our own house which we bought after we started claiming benefits. And we often have money left over from said benefits every month. Would really take the heat off you 😂

Yes really. If the money is inheritance that has been left to the children then it should remain their money until they are old enough.

Exactly - you should have to show you spend it on their education before claiming from the state. UC isn't supposed to be so everyone's kids get thousands in savings, it's meant to be for emergencies of day to day spending where there is no other option, not hoarding money for the kids.

Well apparently not, as OP hasn't been picked up 'very quickly', it's been years and aside from the inheritance which is legitimately the kids, she says:

I will be honest, I can't defintley say none is benefit money as once it's in my account it gets mixed up with my wages.

There's a real issue here with thinking that there's some wages she can give to her kids to save and that benefits are a separate thing that's got 'mixed up' with them, causing this issue, Uh no, if you have enough spare that you can beef up your kids savings that much (on top of the inheritance), then you're getting too much. Sure someone will pipe up that she's entitled to whatever, but clearly it's not on and OP has got a ton more cash than she needed whether she hung onto it herself or gifted her to her kids and is gutted they might lose it. I believe that she's legit and hope she can sort it out, but the whole thing encapsulates why people get pissed off that they live off their own wages and can't save while others manage to amass significant savings of money they got given to live on.

Because there's nothing to be "picked up on" here as the OP has done nothing wrong.

Honestly stick £5,£10 into a bank monthly and your child will have something even if just a grand or two by eighteen. It isn't OP's fault.

It was left to them via me to spend on their education in a letter of wishes.
I have saved it, am using it, am being taxed on it once again and there will be nothing at all left by the end of it.

So what, then I go on UC and start building up her savings, I guess?

There is zero chance you'll be prosecuted. Absolute worst thing that can happen is a 50quid civil penalty fine and you'll have to repay, with tiny repayments, the overpayment. The agent you speak to will more than likely be a bored 20 year old who does not give a shit what you've done.
I wouldn't worry at all!

Yes, the treats/toys we otherwise couldn't afford to buy them. So they spend it - we don't have enough to put it into long term savings. IMO it is a real luxury to be able to put kids' Xmas and bday money into a nest egg.

Yes because it would be theft to use your child's inheritance money left TO THEM to meet bills. Children should not be expected to fund their own upkeep.

That's entirely up to you but the person I was replying to gave the child themselves being left £20k in inheritance as an example. Nothing mentioned about it being specifically for education except by you.

In what world is that type of post judging other people remotely helpful?

@Gabbygirl is quite clear as to how gifts to her children and money from their Gran are the source of their savings and why it's not spent on toys or whatever.

I understand your point but we buy our kids a few gifts and they get plenty from other family members plus some give them money. We also don't have space for any more toys in our house so any birthday and Christmas money they get mostly ends up in savings unless there's something they really want to buy with it.

So, to be clear, the key thing is not whether the accounts are in your children's names but whether you, the parent, have access to them so if you wanted to you could withdraw money from those accounts? I'm not saying you have done that, it sounds like it's all deposits no withdrawals but the fact remains you would be able to access that money if you wanted to which could compromise your position with UC. Maybe you chose the wrong kind of account for your DC's savings.
If you have to pay the excess back that is only fair IMO but you'll know to separate these things out in future. Inheritance especially can be in a trust fund or savings account only accessible by the individual DC when they are of age.

This from the HOC own page clearly states that a dependent child's capital is disregarded. How savings can affect benefits.