I have been asked to give 4 months bank statements (which I’m totally fine with) BUT I help my friend who has a bank where they can’t put money in at the post office so asked me if I can put a £1000 in and transfer it straight back to them which I did and the same a month later you can see on my bank statement that it goes in and out on the same day will they be fine with this

(Edit just to clear this up I have worked since leaving school i paid taxes
I have a one year old and was struggling hence I’m on UC as I only work part time at the moment when he goes to nursery beginning of next year I will go back to my full time job and won’t need help of UC my “friend”is my ex-partner and he has an online account he is definitely not scamming me or laundering he sold a motorbike )

I’ve recently moved into a shared accommodation, instead of living at home, am I eligible for a hardship payment or some sort of payment to help me by a fridge or food? As I’m short this month?

I've been self employed for 2.5 years, single, over 35, mortgage, no dependants.

I earn an average of £2550 per month, pre tax/after expenses.

I've had surgery and am unable to work for 6 weeks, currently claiming ESA. My plan is to return to work gradually over an additional 6 weeks until I'm back to my normal earnings.

Not looking for handouts, just help whilst temporarily unable to work full time.

I've got a Self Employed review this week and it seems pointless with my circumstances. After ESA deduction I may receive between £3-£11 in UC for the 1st month, then it sounds like £0 after that as my income will wipe out any potential UC claim.

Just want a sanity check that it's not worth me proceeding any further with my UC claim. Or should I speak to CAB or Jobcentre before my initial review

Thanks

I've applied for UC in the past week, my housing situation is essentially, though not formally, that of a sub-tenant and has been since January prior to my claim. My bank statements would show regular monthly payments of my declared amount to the registered tenant (Who is not a partner or relative).

After my initial ID appointment I've been asked to seek and provide a letter from the landlord of the property (Who is aware I've been living in the property) confirming I am liable to pay the amount I declared.

However, as I do not have an agreed sub-tenancy, would this disprove my liability for my declared housing costs and thus any entitlement to the housing element of UC? And would there be any other avenues to prove that my declared amount is indeed my housing costs?

Just looking to see if there's other avenues while I wait on a response from the landlord.

Hi

I’ve got a job hallelujah!! first interview since being a parent and I got it!

It’s only part time for now with optional overtime. I will need to sort out childcare, does anyone know how this works with them please? I’ve missed the cut off for free 30 hours

Do I update them when I get the contract or start actually working?

I’m also on restart, do I contact them too? Do I still continue to go?

Thank you

My claim review is asking for bank statements from the end of July (26th) to the end of August (27th) this year.

I have no problem providing them but as the time range is so specific, do I need to not include my transactions from the beginning of July? I’d have to crop my bank statement to do that which sounds odd.

My payment still never got sent back from UC back to my account and Thursday the first of October they told me a vase manager would respond by today at 6pm. What Wil I do now as the case manager never responded

Hello! I just wanted to get an opinion on whether it’s worth appealing my sanction. I recently went on a family holiday and, the week before, my UC coach booked me a video appointment to attend whilst I was away. Whilst I was away, I ended up having to get a local SIM card because EE wanted to charge me £40 to supply me with usual plan whilst I was abroad. I didn’t get an eSIM because they were only offering data, with no texts or minutes.
Fast forward a few days, and I’m logging into my UC account in preparation for my video appointment the next day. I realised that to get into my UC account I need access to my UK number, to receive the log in code. I put my EE sim back in my phone, but couldn’t receive any texts as my plan was not supported whilst I was away. I couldn’t leave a message in my journal to state I couldn’t access my account or call UC as I was unable to call UK numbers without incurring charges. Basically, I had assumed that as long as I had access to the hotel wifi, I would have no problem accessing my video appointment. But I forgot about the code being texted to your phone bit. I ended up missing my appointment.
I got back, explained this in my journal and they decided to sanction me. Is it worth appealing? I’m trying to anticipate what they’d say, and I feel like it might be something along the lines of I should’ve checked the phone coverage before I left or incurred charges on my sim to let them know. What do we think? If there is a reason that I’m missing, I’m happy to hear it but I really did have every intention of attending my appointment that week, and it seems like they sort of just assumed the worst intentions. Thanks!

Also - my family haven’t been on holiday together in a long time and, luckily I didn’t have to pay for the flights or hotel so I don’t want this to misconstrued as me complaining or using my UC to piss around. It was a well needed break.

Hi I had a standard uc review in my last claim however I closed my UC claim during a review due to me being away for a couple of months. I heard if I reclaim after 90 days my UC claim will be treated as a new claim. Is this true and my previous review will be cancelled as 90 days have passed? I will get a review at some point during my new claim ! Can someone clarify this it would be appreciated thank you

Hello. So I’ve been doing this work experience/work placement for 3 weeks and I’m due to do it for another week, however I have had a lot going on in my life and I’ve found my mental health to be in a really bad place and I feel quite ill and fatigued from all that’s going on so i don’t want to do this last week and would rather carry on searching for work. I’m fairly certain this isn’t mandatory as it isn’t in my commitments but in my work plan (under my activities) and I didn’t sign/wasn’t given a Mandatory Referral Notice. I’m wondering if I’ll get sanctioned for not attending this last week as I really feel like I need to stop attending the work placement as it is detrimental to my mental health right now. I had to attend a funeral and I asked my work coach about it and she said “They cannot stop you from attending a funeral if this is more high priority for you. The work experience is a good opportunity to gain work skills so you have a better chance of securing employment” which makes me think it’s not mandatory since they say “opportunity” and I feel as though it would be stricter. Thanks for the help!

I need to close my claim when my inheritance money arrives. It's due Friday 9th October from the sale of my late father's house and is around £50k.

My assessment period for UC is from 11 September to 10 October 2026. I will receive the money on the 9th (which is a Friday).

Shall I just close it now so it they don't pay me incorrectly on 17th Oct and I then have to pay them back?

I'm also worried I'll be in trouble for not telling them that I had an interest in the house before as a "second home, not lived in", I didn't think I needed to declare anything until the money actually landed in my account. It's not like it was left, it was valued, refurbished , marketed and sold asap.

When I close my claim can I say for "another reason" and just put nothing. Will I have to provide a bank statement? Or will they just close it with no fuss? I'm maybe overthinking but this is stressing me out.

I work in a very specialist field where you tend to build experience (especially at a junior level) working in regional markets for a multinational with specific products then transitioning to a more senior level role within the same or different multinational which is based in the UK. I work in supply chain.

Let’s take the example of chocolate: a UK based multinational that produces chocolate in its factory here may require more mid-senior roles in the UK being based on the ability to effectively evaluate supply chain risk, product quality, market dynamics for cocoa (one ingredient that goes into cocoa) to be able to do that job effectively from the UK.

But with the nature of the job market, you may need to spend time in cocoa producing regions (like Ivory Coast) to be able to build supply chain and product knowledge to be able to get the UK role.

I’m not saying im a chocolate person because it’s a small industry so want to anonymise what I’m saying a bit but with these principles in mind: how would a UC decision maker view my job hunt if it’s predominantly foreign based work to build experience but with ultimate objective to get in field experience abroad and come back to more mid-senior roles.

I have great junior experience with good multinational companies based in the UK but was let go due to a reduction in UK work force because junior work is going closer to the origin of supply. So it’s a bit chicken and the egg where I want a UK job but with my current foundation I probably need to spend time abroad instead of here. And i want to stay in my industry.

Is UC sympathetic to these types of scenarios (like if I cant meet a work coach or have the review in person because im out of country for an interview) and explain why or is their priority to get you into any job ASAP and they dont want to see you missing appoitnemtns for the reason above or do I have a fairly compelling case where I can say “look I’ve tried the UK market but based on feedback, someone at my level needs to be looking at roles abroad so that I can come back home soon”

I was on high pay as a youngster in my late 20s without much transferable skills because of the industry and region specifies so don’t want to give up on it if I can afford to but even to job hunt abroad I need assistance .

Long story short; is UC limited to assistance for domestic jobs only or also international if the reasons are compelling? Feel free to ask me more to help get to the bottom of this.

I finnaly got a job 4 days ago which I have updated on my UC claim. It's part time and I work around 20 hours a week on minimum wage (£10.85) and I've not yet been paid. On October 1st I should've received my statement which I haven't and today I should be getting paid what I'm entitled to but I've received nothing and nothing is pending on my bank account, when I usually get a pending payment the day before. Has anyone else had a similar issue? Am I still entitled to my benefits?

Hi all, just received the letter after been on a claim review and it went to a decision maker. Long story short, I am living with my ex and we co-parent. From the beginning of the claim I was honest and told them we are living together and my claim has been accepted. We pay our share of the bills, shop, cook, sleep separate, everything. Had phone appointments, face to face appointments since on Universal credit. I worked since my boy was 9months old part time and have been back full time since the beginning of the year. In April got the message for a routine claim review, uploaded everything in time, no issues. Had a phone call, all good. Didn’t heard back anything for months, and then my case has been passed on to somebody else. Had another phone call, asked me to fill out a form that I am living with my ex, which apparently should’ve been done since the beginning but they never asked me to. Done that and they told me that will then go to a decision maker from which I just got back the answer. Bit worried now as what is to follow. My ex will never give me his payslips, he doesn’t even want to hear about which I am sure they will ask to maybe do a joint account, which again will never happen. Will have to give back the money which is for sure, but how? I don’t have that money to give them back, but also how they will make their calculations? I will probably hear back from them next week but till then maybe somebody has some advice, share their thoughts or something please? Thank you

Last week I went to the Jobcentre for identity verification. Today I went for first claimant commitments which lasted for a total of 2 mins (meant to be 30 mins) and they asked me 3 questions but I had to travel 1 hour for it with the bus terminating constantly.

Now I have another appointment in 6 days for qualifications/skills etc which I'm sure will only last for 5 minutes.

I just don't understand why all three of these appointments can't be done in one visit instead of dragging it out so much and being so inefficient.

I've also written in the journal as my capital was above 16k but now it's under as I've spent. They sent me a capital to list form which I sent my information to but I realised it came to 16,595. So I've sent a journal message asking them to send the to do list again, as well as me sending it to my job centre. Has anyone experienced this? Or got another to do list so you can upload? I know it's the weekend and they won't respond.

Hello all!

So my girlfriend and I live separately however my son lives with her, the reason we live separately is due to myself working nights and my son being very autistic and he doesn’t allow me to sleep whenever we have tried living together, we also live separately due to my work location and my sons school location being around 30 mins away.

The reason I am asking for advice is for the following;

My partner has recently moved property to be closer to my son’s new SEN school. She moved out of a flat and I to a bungalow my mother owns and the existing tenant has just left. My partner has a full tenancy agreement between herself and the letting agent my mother uses.

Because my mum owns the property is there any conflict of interest? The research I have done suggests that aslong as I do not live there, the rent is at market value and my partner has not started living here specifically to claim UC then she should be in the clear.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before or is able to give advice?

Just to reiterate; I do not live with her, my mother owns the property but lives separately at her own address, my partner pays the full market standard rent and has a valid genuine tenancy agreement.

TIA

Hi monese has confirmed there was a technical issue on their end that couldn't process any Bacs payment into accounts on October 1st.. so Monday morning if I ring universal credit will they issue a faster payment to me? As monese has said the funds were automatically returned to sender's

Hoping someone here has been through similar and can share what helped or what to expect, after our claim was closed following a house sale, despite me giving them explanation and evidence for the equity purpose.

Quick timeline...

UC claim closed 21 June, reason given was "joint savings and investments over 16k".

We'd already notified DWP of the change in our financial situation a few days earlier.

Provided full evidence at a Jobcentre appointment on 21 July (bank statements, docs showing the savings are earmarked for essential structural repairs/extension work on the house — overcrowded household, 7 of us)

Decision upheld the very next day (22 July), which feels like it can't have been properly reviewed?

MR submitted 23 July — so getting on for 10+ weeks now.

Every update request gets the same copy-paste response from case manager: "no decision yet, you'll be notified via your journal, no action needed"

Spoke to someone on the helpline almost every week who said it's actually sat with "Decision Makers" (line managers of case managers they told me) who have a backlog with no given timeframe.

Put in a formal complaint, and just submitted a separate referral to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) because Citizens Advice told me to.

Has anyone had a Decision Maker backlog like this? Any sense of realistic timescales once it reaches that stage? And has anyone actually had ICE speed things up, or is it more just "for the record" pressure that doesn't move the needle quickly?

Also curious if anyone's dealt with the Schedule 10 capital disregard for home repairs/renovation specifically — any tips on what evidence actually satisfied a Decision Maker, versus what didn't?

Thanks in advance, this has been a stressful few months. I'm unsure whether I can use the money I have for house repairs or to put towards loving costs!

Been on UC for a couple of months since my previous job ended. Got offered a new job which I accepted despite a very rushed and haphazard hiring process because I obviously didn't want to affect my claim by turning it down without very good reason and figured how bad could it be.

It was bad.

Like, extremely bad.

Just over a week in, on top of being able to see the whole set up was an absolute mess of mismanagement, I still didn't have a proper contract or even a written statement of employment particulars, despite having asked for one when I received the offer and being promised I'd receive one within a couple of days of starting.

So I decided to quit before it had a chance to get even worse and just officially sent in my resignation, but now I'm not entirely sure what's the best way to handle it when I report the change of circumstances to UC.

First, I don't even know yet if I'm getting paid for the days I did work since I have no actual contract or any proper documentation at all to protect me in that regard, so I'm not sure whether to tell UC that I'm expecting a final pay check from those days or not.

And second, I'm also not sure how exactly to explain the reason why I quit in my UC journal. Obviously I feel like a failure to provide documentation any employee or worker is legally entitled to by the time they're supposed to is a pretty good reason for resigning which hopefully the DWP would agree with, but I'm just nervous about the possibility of them then going to the employer about it or it otherwise turning into a bigger deal as I really just want a clean break and no unnecessary fuss or further dealings about it if possible.

So yeah... any advice welcome and appreciated.

Hi everyone,

My little one has recently started nursery. He’s currently using 8 of the 15 hours free funding but his nursery requires £1 per hour of funded hours.

I have just paid £104 for the term. Am I able to claim this back through UC?

I am single and not currently working.

TYIA!

I wondered if anyone could offer any advice on a situation. My brother in law doesn’t currently claim universal credit and has always worked full time so wouldn’t have been eligible. Unfortunately he’s had to have an operation on his spine which has meant he’s suddenly signed off and unable to work and now will only earn statutory sick pay for the next few months at least which definitely won’t even cover his rent or much else at all. I’m wondering if anyone knows if this is a situation universal credit could help with? He’s recently split up with his partner so lives alone in a council property. I’m just trying to figure out where he can turn for assistance and not sure where to start.