Universal Credit overpayment

Ah - yes, good point.

Still very frustrating though!
Thanks for all your replies so far. I will update when i hear anything further from DWP.

A potential new development and another question for you!

So i have heard nothing re my MR and no further bank statements have been requested.

With the UC closed, NI contributions have obviously stopped too so I wanted to see about voluntary contributions for my son.

I also thought a private pension scheme might be good.

However my son is under a legal welfare guardianship. We have no financial guardianship powers, only welfare.

So i messaged our solicitor to see if this is allowed. And she tells me that i cannot pay the NI contributions or set up any pension. I have no financial powers so i can't legally sign.
My son has limited capacity so he can't sign.

Which brings me to my question. £7k of his capital is in a help to buy ISA started in 2016. Before he was under any guardianship and before he ever claimed UC. The ISA is in my son's name only.

This was declared to UC but, at this time whilst he is under the guardianship, that money is inaccesible because i am not allowed to sign on his behalf and nor is he as he lacks capacity. Therefore that money is stuck there in that ISA and no one can draw on it just now. It is not available capital, if you see what I mean.

He was put under guardianship in April 2023. He has paid UC deductions for this money right through but - should he have been?

Could his overpayment become an underpayment on this legal technicality that his ISA is stymied?


When his UC claim was opened in 2019, he had 6k locked in a 5 yr bond. That was disregarded until it matured.

Could this be the same and is it worth writing with this extra info for my MR?

With this 7k plus COL, he'd be a full 9k down - WELL under 16k.

The only way that help to buy money could become accessible is if I apply for financial powers but there's no legal aid available for financial guardianships so the solicitor says best to wait til next April when his welfare is due to renew and apply as a variation then. Welfare guardianships do qualify for legal aid.

Thanks, David. I certainly thought it was worth a mention so I wrote a short letter about it which my husband will hand in to the job centre today as he is in town.
The 30 day MR time has passed now but i know they haven't started work on the calculation of overpay as they haven't been in touch for more statements yet.

It should be possible for me to get a letter from the solicitor to confirm that there is currently no way of drawing on the money in the ISA.
If that is acceptable to DWP, it's perfectly possible that any overpayment will be reduced to nil.
Just need to see what they say.