JSA claim. Undeclared savings. Please help!

[LordLee]

I'm hoping someone can help me as i'm worried sick.

 

Back in August I was suddenly made redundant after 11 years within a company. It happened very quickly. I was fortunate that a couple of weeks before I was made redundant my parents had given me £10,000 to assist me for the future. (This is the only money I will ever get from them as they sadly don't own a house and have struggled for years... but a friend of my mother passed away leaving them a sum and they decided to help me also - anyway that's another story.)

 

When I was suddenly made redundant it was a very worrying time. But i had no intention of signing on for JSA. I have never claimed it and just didn't want to. I was being all too proud. I was told by various people that I should do as I am entitled to it after paying all my NI contributions and they will assume that i should have claimed it anyway when it comes to my 'payment in lieu of notice'.

 

Reluctantly applied for JSA around a couple of weeks later I believe. By this time the money I had left was £8100 after buying a new computer and paying off a student loan.

 

When filling in the form i left the savings field blank. Not ever having had that amount of money ever i was still thinking in terms of my earnings and didn't think of it. When i realised later and wanted to correct it i was incredibly confused as I had been told my savings were completely irrelevant when it came to contributions based jobseekers allowance. So i did my own research and low and behold on the government website it also states savings are irrelevant when it comes to contribution based JSA. So i left it.

 

I signed off at the end of October as I went to travelling for a month to decide what to do with my life. Came back and signed on again in December and just didn't mention it again as i was still claiming contribution based JSA.

 

However... A friend told me recently that as I was claiming housing & council tax benefit also savings do count. I had no idea of this i thought it all fell under the one application for JSA.

 

I am now very worried. I am a very honest person and have informed the job centre of all the little cash in hand jobs i have done whilst signed on (i'm a graphic designer and get the occasional private work), however small, and told them when my redundancy came through (statutory so not much).

 

I keep seeing the benefit fraud ads and read stories of people getting a criminal record and it scares me to the point of feeling ill as this is if i have done wrong it is a genuine error but i still don't understand as i thought whilst on contribution based savings are irrelevant.

 

Do i go into the job centre and tell them of my error 6 months ago (having signed off and back on twice) or is it ok for me to just leave it as i am still on contribution based?

 

This is all so confusing for me. I've never claimed before... i've always just worked and had a salary.

 

I've only now started to learn about tax as i have to declare all the little freelance jobs to the tax man of course (even though it is way under what is needed to be earn to be taxed.

 

Please someone give me some advice. Sooo worried.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Hi Lordlee

you didnt know that capital affects housing benefit but it does.

 

It doesnt affect your JSA at the moment but if you go onto IB JSA it will, you need to contact your local LA if you claim HB and declare your capital

and JSA as well.

 

dont worry too much as you are allowed 6k capital without it effecting your claim, then theres tariff Income

so maybe a small overpayment

 

http://www.eden.gov.uk/benefits-and-tax/benefits/housing-benefit/how-housing-benefit-is-calculated-and-paid/

 

with regards to your JSA when you do go over to JSA IB then your capital may have dropped anyway

 

our LA is on the ball when it comes to undisclosed capital to be honest....

[LordLee]

Ok... Very worried now. So the best thing to do, is what I was going to do, and just go to the jobcentre and declare it?

 

I have been having nightmares about being prosecuted. It was an honest and stupid mistake.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

please dont worry its a genuine mistake, ring the Jobcente up and your local LA

they will send you out the some forms to capture the info

in the meanwhile get together all your bank statements for the relevant period

then take it from there,

you will have no OP iro of your JSA

but housing benefit you may,

it will not be a huge amount anyway

 

and you will have disclossed it first.

you will be fine

[LordLee]

I called my local council and explained. They don't seem to know what they are doing either as they told me not to worry as i'm allowed £16,000. When i said i'm not sure that is right now i've done a bit of worried research... they said to email a different department. I did this and will just wait and see i guess. I've declared the savings... so not a great deal I can do.

[Life-Goes-On]

With £8100 in savings the overpayment would be £9 per week, so you're talking about under £300 overpayment.

Forget about being prosecuted, it will never happen with your circumstances.

[xmedia]

The money they gave you is less than the £16k you are allowed for Housing Benefit so they are right. You should have declared it yes but you have corrected that and as they say you are allowed it anyway for HB purposes.

 

I know, I got hit with 15k notional capital after a divorce settlement was declared deprivation of capital because i spent it quickly on setting up a home from scratch and bought a reliable car, and although it has affected my Income Support it made no difference to my Housing Benefit claim and I got and still get full Housing Benefit entitlement and Council Tax Credit and it is still at 10k now.

 

That is more than you have left so don't worry.

Edited February 29, 2012 by xmedia

[Life-Goes-On]

The OP should have a deduction of her HB as she has over £6k in savings.

 

If she had JSA income based or IS, then the deduction would be taken from that, so then would get full HB.

[MIKEY DABODEE]

the OP has Conts JSA so the capital does not effect the JSA at the moment

but the housing benefit it would

capital disregard 6k n£1 tariff income from benefit,

to be honest dont know how this applied but it would effect......