Social Welfare Request

Nozebleed

Hi..i got a letter from SW this morning which contained a UP1(b) form. In the letter it states my social welfare payment will either be suspended or closed if i fail to provide a bank statement within 7 days. Can SW dept actually do this? Ive nothing to hide essestially but i fear if they see i have savings( minimal amount i might add) they will cut my welfare payment. Seriously worried about this..not far off christmas and the like

Esoteric_

Nozebleed wrote: »

Hi..i got a letter from SW this morning which contained a UP1(b) form. In the letter it states my social welfare payment will either be suspended or closed if i fail to provide a bank statement within 7 days. Can SW dept actually do this? Ive nothing to hide essestially but i fear if they see i have savings( minimal amount i might add) they will cut my welfare payment. Seriously worried about this..not far off christmas and the like

Yes, they can do it. If you have less than 20k in savings, it won't lead to your dole being cut.

Nozebleed

Thank you.

danjo-xx

If your on JSA you can have up to 20k in savings and still get full rate.

Nozebleed

Thanks for the replies. If i get called to an interview and asked about savings in my account. Can SW suspend my payment and request i live off my savings?

Esoteric_

Nozebleed wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. If i get called to an interview and asked about savings in my account. Can SW suspend my payment and request i live off my savings?

If you're on jobseeker's allowance, and have less than twenty thousand in savings, they will not cut you off. If you have more than that, I think they reduce how much they pay you per week.

Nozebleed

Ok thanks,i just dont understand why im being askec to produce such details. Beginning to think someone has made an anonymous complaint that j was working and claiming.

Gatling

Nozebleed wrote: »

Ok thanks,i just dont understand why im being askec to produce such details. Beginning to think someone has made an anonymous complaint that j was working and claiming.

Did you supply a statement when you applied

eddiehen

Nozebleed wrote: »

Ok thanks,i just dont understand why im being askec to produce such details. Beginning to think someone has made an anonymous complaint that j was working and claiming.

You're being asked to produce the details because it's a requirement for satisfying the means test. Periodic checking is part of their job. While they may not find millions of euros hidden in your account, the chances of them finding it without requesting statements from people are rather slim.

Tasden

Also, if your savings are over 20k and they have to adjust or lower your rate of ja you may need to repay any overpayments (the balance between the rate you have been paid up til now and the amount you should have been paid). You would've been required to declare any saving in your application so if it transpires now that you have significant savings that you didn't mention before then it will raise a few questions/suspicions and you can expect more documents and such to be requested.

Nozebleed

Tasden wrote: »

Also, if your savings are over 20k and they have to adjust or lower your rate of ja you may need to repay any overpayments (the balance between the rate you have been paid up til now and the amount you should have been paid). You would've been required to declare any saving in your application so if it transpires now that you have significant savings that you didn't mention before then it will raise a few questions/suspicions and you can expect more documents and such to be requested.

Well i didnt declare savings of 5k when i first made my application. I have now sent sw a statement for that account. So im a little worried they will cancel my sw payment. Not the most clever thjng ive ever done.

Tasden

Nozebleed wrote: »

Well i didnt declare savings of 5k when i first made my application. I have now sent sw a statement for that account. So im a little worried they will cancel my sw payment. Not the most clever thjng ive ever done.

Nah 5k is grand. They wont, or rather shouldnt, cancel your sw payment as you're within the criteria re savings, it just might raise questions is all. Sure we all make mistakes, its just better to be upfront with these kind of things.

Nozebleed

Thanks for the reassurance..its basically all i have in life at the moment.

Tasden

Nozebleed wrote: »

Thanks for the reassurance..its basically all i have in life at the moment.

Honest to God the worst case scenario here- if you had over 20k then they'd calculate what you "owe" and arrange that an amount, say fiver a week, would be taken from your payment from now on. If under 20k they may see it as "ok he didn't class that as savings as its not in the means bracket" and shrug it off. Or they will wonder why you didn't declare it at first and they will investigate all statements etc given. Possible worst case scenario of all would be that they give you another letter asking for more documents with a limited time frame before your claim is suspended. Generally, unless they have a blatant cause (they found you working red handed in a building site, or you fail to produce documents theyve requested, they allow you to fight your case and prove yourself before they touch your payment. Don't be worrying.

Nozebleed

Grand thanks again.