Capital

wolfchile

It is very unlikely that the DWP will pursue you criminally for not reporting your savings correctly, you would need to have accrued an overpayment in excess of £20,000 with a clear intent to defraud the DWP.

Providing you have not at any time exceeded the absolute limit of £16,000 the overpayment will be £1/week for every £250 you are in excess of the £6000.

The first thing you need to do is see the content of this letter, is this an interview or an Interview Under Caution? If the former you should be able to have someone with you and I would encourage you to do so.

If the latter, then the situation is more serious but that still does not mean a prosecution is intended. You will need the advice of a solicitor and I would have one present at the IUC if you can afford one.

I'm afraid if this is an IUC then we cannot provide any more help on this matter nor can we allow you to make further posts about it in the forum, you may reveal information that would be detrimental to your case. As a consequence, I am making your post confidential so that only you and the Mods can see it.

Gordon

wolfchile

I want to clarify the situation about your posting.

If an Interview Under Caution is carried out then this becomes a legal matter and as a result, there are legal rules that you and those communicating with you need to obey.

One of these is Sub Judice rule (my emphasis)

"under judicial consideration and therefore prohibited from public discussion elsewhere"

More important than this is the danger of your incriminating yourself with the contents of your posts, while it is unlikely that the DWP are monitoring B&W that does not mean it is impossible.

Gordon

wolfchile

It is not a claimant reaching State Retirement Age (SRA) that set what the capital limits are but rather the benefits a person reaching SRA can claim.

So for individuals under SRA the benefit to claim is UC and the capital limits are £6000 and £16,000. For individuals over SRA then it is Pension Credit, the lower limit is £10,000 and there is no upper limit.

The rules for couples are different. First, mean tested benefits such as UC and PC are always claimed as a couple. It used to be the case that the ability to claim PC was determined by the older person in the couple, once they reached SRA the couple could claim PC. However, the rules changed several years ago and it is now the younger person who determines eligibility for PC.

As I understand it you are still under SRA which means your only option was to claim UC with its limit of £6000.

Gordon