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.

it is in their names. it's in a halifax kids first savers, in their name. I had to take id, birth certifcate and take them to the bank to open it.

Mumsnet is full of very bitter angry(often wealthy but of course not in their eyes) people at the moment looking down at WORKING people who dare to claim benefits that they are deemed entitled to.

I don’t have children and i’m constantly being told that we need children to be able to continue society pay our pensions and so on. Yet so many are n here want them to be in poverty or only just barely have anything in life if it means some benefit help.

I’ve no issues in my taxes going towards children and investing in their health, wellbeing and education.

Isn’t the answer here
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-money-savings-and-investments#childrens-savings

Children’s savings
Money, savings and investments that belong to your children, and are in their name, are not taken into account when assessing your Universal Credit. For example, you do not need to tell us about children’s savings accounts in their name such as Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds

@Gabbygirl I hope you've got the answer you need about how your kids' savings should be treated in UC.

Beyond that try and avoid feeding the trolls.

@Gabbygirl copied directly from government site
Children’s savings
Money, savings and investments that belong to your children, and are in their name, are not taken into account when assessing your Universal Credit. For example, you do not need to tell us about children’s savings accounts in their name such as Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds.

i don’t think you should worry OP. Everything Ive read says childrens savings in their name is not counted. I assume
you can prove £2.5k each came from inheritance? And if the rest was built up over years of deposits then Im sure it wouldn’t be considered deprivation of capital. Different if you opened a child savings account, whacked £20k in it then claimed UC the following month. Good luck with the review.

So many different answers. Surely you cannot open accounts in your children's name, stick whatever you can in including any inheritance and then claim you are still entitled to UC.

It seems mad as money is money for the whole family and if you overall have access to it what stops you spending it if you needed it regardless of the reason.

Why don’t you ask UC so you get clarity?

I had my review last year.

If it's in a general savings account or NS&I (even in their name) then you need to declare it as you have access to it so can obviously use it for yourself at any point.

If it's in an junior ISA or a type of place which you cannot take money out of and only they can when they turn a certain age, you don't have to declare it.

Unfortunately it seems like the former from what you've said.

I think people offering their circumstances and the ‘you won’t have to pay’ , you ‘will’ have to pay should actually let OP just provide the accurate information and see what the DWP says re UC - why do people keep mentioning HMRC , it’s nothing to do with them-

dont fudge it OP, don’t move money around, act as if you have nothing to hide ( you don’t- it was a mistake) they are harsher if people clearly try and hide dodgy behaviour

@Gabbygirl It really doesn't look like you've done anything wrong - I hope you can ignore posters who seem to think it's outrageous that anyone receiving UC should have any savings for their children at all. Other people have posted links to the relevant government guidance which reiterates what I said in my earlier post. I hope it all works out for your family.

Both examples they give are accounts that a parent could not access though.

Although I’d hope if it is the case that it has to be in an account the parent can’t access the fact that OP has never withdrawn from it will count in her favour. It’s clearly a genuine mistake that it’s not in a JISA or trust fund.

I can’t find anything official to confirm either way that savings in a child’s name which are accessible to the parent are excluded, only unofficial sites. So apologies if my advice that you’d have to repay was incorrect and worried you needlessly OP.

If you look on the UC Decision Makers Guide you should get a clear answer.

I'd get a statement from the solicitor who did your grandmother's probate to say each of the children were given £2.5k. That amount might be excluded then as it couldn't have been you hiding UC money.

Agree! OPs kids have £4K each! This will help with driving lessons, uni living costs or similar. It’s not a massive amount of money & mainly came from a small inheritance to the children from their GGM. The OP is a responsible parent & is saving it for when they are older. Imagine if she’d squanderd it all on tattoos, takeaways & vapes 🙄

@LoudNoiseCantCope i'm reading it again and the fact it doesn't put in a clause stating ( it must be an account you cant access for withdrawals) that it might be ok, certainly reads that way to me, however if i am wrong then i agree with you if there is no withdrawals that will go in the OP favour

Yes, I agree!

Whilst I think saving money at the same time as claiming benefits is morally wrong (you either needs hand outs from taxpayers or you don't), if your children's accounts are ISAs then you cannot access the money. Your child has exclusive access from the age of 18.

In the UK children under 13 can't open bank accounts in their own name. They are opened by a "trustee" usually a parent. So even though the child's name may appear on the account, if they are under age they are deemed to be owned by the trustee. That's why you can see all the children's accounts under your main account. Different banks have different rules for when ownership passes to the child between 13 and 16. [As an aside, it was a similar scenario that caught out Angela Rayner - she was in fact deemed the owner of the house which was in trust for her son because her son was under 18 and she was a trustee. So the taxman "looks through" these trust arrangements for minors.]

Child Trust Funds/Junior ISAs are different because you can't access the funds until the child is 18 when they are deemed the owner of the account.

Parents can't simply hide their own savings in their children's savings accounts so for example, if a parent puts money into their child's saving account any interest has to be declared by the parent on their tax return. Interest on gifts from non-parents eg grandparents do not form part of the parent's tax return.

UC may have its own rules and clarification, but relying on the account "being in the child's name" is not a guarantee. You need proper advice - maybe CAB can help you or you should declare the accounts and see how the UC investigator responds.

See also, 'anyone earning over minimum wage should be kicked out of their council house immediately as these homes are only for the destitute' and umpteen similar responses to that poor woman's thread yesterday.

@PrioritisePleasure24 What a kind person you are, thank you!

I doubt she did that in order to defraud. She needs to go and talk to UB and explain she did not realise that because she had access the savings were her asset. Confession is always better than being found out in these cases. And she can pay it back. It does always seem to me, though, that the thrifty pay for the thriftless in these cases.

Universal Credit is also paid to working people whose income is low.

but it is not that simple it is?

If i have £70 left at the end of every month, it doesn't mean i could of survived without my UC entitlement of £800 does it?

You don't need to be on the breadline, spending every single penny to need the money... this is a silly comment.