Does a 30-minute Universal Credit review call mean anything?

[Saddaughter999]

I’ve been selected for a Universal Credit review and have been given a 30-minute phone appointment.
I’ve seen people mentioning that their review calls were booked for 15 minutes, while others were given 60 minutes. Does anyone know what determines the length of the appointment?
Does a longer appointment mean they need to go through more information or that the review is more complicated? Or is it simply down to how much time the particular review agent has allocated?
I’m just curious because I’m wondering whether the 30-minute slot means anything about my particular review, or whether the appointment lengths are completely random.
TIA

UC are now doing checks on all claims.

The focus seems to be on checking for undisclosed earnings - eg from a side hustle or cash in hand and on compliance with the £6/£16k capital limits.

They're not interested in what you spend money on except in so far as (eg) it might look like buying in business stock.

If you've got a joint claim, several bank accounts, stuff like kids savings as well 30mins would be normal I think.

Nothing to worry about.

I had one 2 years ago. Lasted about 15 minutes.

Got called again this year to submit bank statements and rent statement etc but never got booked a call - maybe because nothings changed other than I earn more which they know anyway. I only get UC because I get an allowance for being a carer! And I lose most of that!

Mine was booked for 30 mins. Just checked and it lasted 22.

Thank you, I never had it before and I'm really worried 😟 I heard they asking lots of questions regarding simple transactions, like £5 at Asda. I literally spent all evening yesterday trying to remember every single thing listed on my statements....

I had one booked for one hour but it actually only lasted 10 minutes. I was expecting to go through my three bank accounts but all he was interested in was re-affirming the information I'd made at the start of the claim, eg how many living with me, amount of savings, owner or rental. Not one question about my bank statements except to clarify the savings amount. At the end of the call he said I'd given all the information he needed, thanked me for being clear, and the review was now over.

Everyone has one. It does feel like another way to take money off people struggling but honestly if everything is as you have stated then they get off the phone quick. They’re looking for people earning hundreds/1000s a month on the side or savings. Not what you spend. Or if people send you money.

I'm not sure why they would ask you what you bought at Asda?

I've had 2 reviews and sat with my son through his.

They only asked about cash being deposited into the account, bank transfers to and from people and a large payment from a loan (and about savings and investments)

They never once questioned what any money was spent on or questioned what was bought at a particular shop :/

Sorry, apologies, I thought you said that happened to you!

They absolutely do not do this!!

They are looking for unexplained money coming into your account mostly. Hidden savings. And they might question expenditures if they are to a person (not a shop) or are large or occour regularly.

Please try not to worry. Just have the statements you sent them printed out and if you've sent anyone any money just jot down why next to it if you worry you might get mixed up. This is what I did.

I had one - it actually disclosed that I had under claimed for 12 months. The person I spoke with asked lots of questions about transactions in/out of my account, housing etc but was lovely. Very simple, all very standard and nothing to worry about unless you are falsely claiming/not disclosing income or earnings.

I've had two. Both listed as 30min reviews on the journal. First one, someone has reported me for benefit fraud and they needed to check my entire claim. I had to confirm everything I had said was correct then submitted bank statements from when my claim started. I was completely exonerated in the end.

Second one they wanted to talk about the drop in my hours and earnings. I think it was an error on their part as I've worked 38 hours a week in the same company since claiming, my employer reports my earnings to them directly to them and there hadn't been a drop. Got a message after that one to say all good and no further action

This! We have to book the calls for at least 30 minutes now, but they usually don't take longer than 10 minutes for most people.

Then you have cases like the one I was doing today where people are hiding income. £20k just sitting in the bank for the past year and cash deposits of £10k every few months. You won't be asked about regular transactions, anyone who asks about £5 spent in Asda isn't doing their job properly!

Nothing to hide, my main worry is that I sent some money abroad for a family when my dad passed away (declared going outside of UK for 3 days). I even asked for copies of receipts from funeral agent, hopefully they'll accept it....

what about small amounts you borrow / are given eg 50 here 40 there etc to put in to cover eg ebay if you buy for family due to their lack of technical skills ?

Small amounts aren’t questioned unless they’re very frequent and even then easy explained. You’re allowed to help family or be helped by family. It’s less about questioning people’s normal incoming and outgoings and more about finding people hiding accounts, owned properties and not declaring income or savings.

There's a reason for the £5 in Asda question.

One of the things they can look at is how much you spend on supermarket shopping over the average month, and see whether that matches with what would be expected of a family with x number of adults/children. If you aren't spending anything like as much as they would expect, then that leads them to assume you are spending cash instead of using your bank card. This could be a sign that you are working cash in hand, and not declaring the income.

This isn’t true! People are allowed to use cash, many people prefer to use cash.

You’re fine as long as your partner doesn’t put stupid stuff like “sex favour” and “honey pot fund” when transferring money 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 luckily I had an assessor with a sense of humour!

That is rubbish and scare mongering.

so like having eg £500,000 in an account etc or having a job thats paying eg 40k a year etc

Well, yes. Both should be declared. You are meant to declare your capital when it reaches £6k, and earnings will be done by your employer or you if self employed.

personally i always prefer cash due to phones being easy to hack and malware etc its like when the bank says do you have the app etc, its like if i got the app and my phone was hacked it could take weeks to get the money back

I had one, ironically I had applied to close my claim as I had received part of my inheritance from my parents the day before. They were more interested in my living situation as I suspect my bitch of a sister in law had told them I was living with my mum full time, I wasn't, once I produced proof of my rent & council tax at home they closed my claim, my call lasted about 20 minutes.

It's not true, every family have different spending each month. It would be impossible to track it .

I had a very strong feeling that we were reported too... I'm a carer too and one of my "friends " was always jealous that I receive money for it. We had an argument with her regarding my situation and few days later I got a notification about UC review.

I had this yesterday! It lasted 13 minutes.

asked me if I had any none disclosed bank accounts, and then if I had stocks and shares etc, asked me about 3 different payments into my account - which was fair as one was a one off payment of £2k which looked out of place.

20 minutes after I hung up I had confirmation that my claim remained unchanged and I was still entitled.

didn’t ask me about any payments I made (though I explained one, to explain the 2k)

don’t panic at all, if you’ve been honest in your claim it’s totally fine.