r/universalcredithelp

Not sure if I’m missing something here…

I’m a single dad with 3 kids (5, 4 and 2). Up until now I’ve only been getting support for 2 of them.

I was already over the benefit cap, so I wasn’t expecting much extra now the third child’s been added — if anything at all.

But somehow I’m actually getting less money now?

That just seems completely backwards to me.

Side note: I work on the weekends the children are at their mums but my 2 youngest aren’t in nursery full time so I’m unable to work mon-fri.

Any help, suggestions or advice are appreciated.

Hi I’ll try keep this short. Basically my statement came through on the 4th of May & payment due the 8th. My statement came through and said “£0” , this was because it showed my husband had been paid twice apparently, I flagged this straight away as it wasn’t correct. He had only been paid his usually wage, we have bank statements and payslips to prove this. By Tuesday it had been sent to the earnings dispute team, and my husband called his employer . His employer then told us he had processed two pay slips at once, his March and April one which doesn’t actually get put into his bank until 15th, something to do with end of the tax year and wanting to change the dates that they processed the pay slips..he has sent a letter to us to provide to UC to confirm this and I’ve also asked if I can upload bank statements and his pay slips to show what we received but I’m getting no where! We spoke to a case manager on Monday and he just said all he can do is send a message to the team to further explain. Has anyone else ever had this issue ? It’s really stressing me out now. We rely on that money for rent and food shopping ect.

Thanks !

Hi,

I had my telephone review just over 2 weeks ago.
I provided some further evidence that was required (proof of child living with me and bank statement for a dead account I forgot about)

I have heard nothing, at all.

My anxiety is horrendous, I’m not sleeping, I’m getting sick etc

How much longer until I know the outcome? This was a standard review (as far as I’m aware)
Also my payment is still scheduled for a few days time (not sure if this indicates everything is ok?)

Any advice on timelines would be really appreciated.

Got the dreaded review message today.

Have uploaded all bank statements but my main bank monzo the statements are a mess lol money in & out of pots, money to credit cards everyday as trying to pay them off, money to and from partner most days.

I also included account statements that I forgot I had, Chase & Kroo never been used I think they gave money for free if you signed up a few years ago.

I have nothing to hide, no savings and no money hidden anywhere but still can’t help overthink all this. Currently need UC to get by each month.

I broke up with my fiancé about two months ago. We lived together and I was financally dependent on him. He moved out immediately and I applied for benefits straight away.

I ask my letting agency to change me to a sole tenancy to help prove my UC housing costs, and they asked me to serve notice on the joint tenancy so they could switch me to a sole one.

My landlord took advantage of this, declined the sole tenancy and gave me less than 4 weeks to leave the property.

I couldn't find a flat in time because no agency will accept me, and I know it is because I'm unemployed and on benefits. I've been told I don't meet affordability criteria for even £550pcm (the lowest rent in my city). I've had applications denied and even had viewings cancelled on me. One flat I offered the deposit for picked someone else who offered deposit after me, three days later. The agency pathetically lied saying "first come first serve" when I literally was first to offer a deposit.

I have an excellent reference from my previous landlord, I can offer two guarantors and deposit plus two months upfront. But no one wants me.

I am now homeless and desperately trying to find something. I'm meant to return to university studies in this city in September, I need to live here.

I might just have to move back in with my ex partner. We would get a two bedroom property. But I'm terrified Universal Credit will cut me off, thinking we are actually a couple, and I will be trapped again.

I am extremely stressed. Any advice is appreciated.

I had an appointment with my work coach on 25/3/26 which I ran a little late for. After I checked in at the JC and was waiting, I got a notification I had missed my appointment. I spoke with my wc and was told she correct the missed appointment.

Then on the 20/4/26 I got a sanction applied to my account because they wanted me to rebook the appointment.

I made a note in my journal and called in that day explaining the missed appointment was an error. Coincidentally the next UC appointment was the following day, spoke to the WC about the journal message and it's still not been amended. What can I do now?

I sent this message on the 12th of May: Hi, while I no longer have access to my payslip online through my work I have done some research and found that on the 24th of April 2026 I received 685.33 pounds of holiday pay that I was owed even though I I no longer work there. As soon as I discovered the money was of this nature I contacted my you because I know it may affect 1 of my universal credit payments. I apologise for contacting you about so late after but I have contacted you as soon as I realised. I am still not employed because of the nature of my severe disability and this is a mistake on the half of my previous place of work. Thanks, (name redacted)
I receive my payments on the 15th and while I already contacted them over my journal I still have had no response although my work coach says she would respond within this timeframe and I am afraid of getting a sanction. I am considered eligible for LCW and being re assessed for LCWRA and really worried about a possibly getting sanctioned.

Spent months trying to escalate a Universal Credit complaint and honestly wanted to post this in case it helps someone else.

My timeline:

- 1st formal complaint submitted January 2026

- 2nd complaint submitted February 2026 (after being advised by UC staff to resubmit)

- 3rd complaint submitted May 2026

Over that entire period I repeatedly requested:

- complaint reference numbers

- Stage 1 complaint responses

- Complaints Resolution Team involvement

- escalation to a Complaints Resolution Manager

I received none of these.

My MP’s caseworker was also ignored for weeks/months despite repeated follow-ups.

I then contacted ICE (Independent Case Examiner) thinking they could finally step in, only to be told they cannot accept a complaint unless DWP issues a formal final/Stage 1 complaint response first.

What shocked me most:

- a UC case manager told me she had never heard of ICE

- she also didn’t recognise “Stage 1 response” terminology

- another staff member previously told me complaints were “escalated” despite there apparently being no complaint reference or formal complaints process attached to them

ICE eventually gave me the following DWP escalation email:

correspondence@dwp.gov.uk

Apparently this is the DWP National Complaints Gateway / Operations Correspondence route.

So if you are stuck chasing complaint references through your journal with no formal response, it may be worth escalating there directly as well as reaching out to your local MP!

Here’s hoping this finally gets somewhere. 🙏

Hi, I have my kids savings account in my account, it’s over 6k as they had backdated disability pay. I’ve had a lot of personal issues and have ADHD, so I’m a bit of a scatter brain in changing things etc. the long hold up was battling for years to get my children’s name change, to get them an account in their now name. But UC review person just said to me basically it’s up to the decision maker on whatever they feel if they want me to pay money back when I shouldn’t have to. I think it’s unfair, it does say on the statements going back years that it’s money for them, apart from once I did dip into it due to us having to move house due to our roof collapsing and I couldn’t afford to move. It was for them and spend on them, it says online it’s ok but UC don’t seem to be on the same page. Has anyone had this and it e be ok?

Universal Credit has just told me I have to repay over £3,000 because apparently we weren’t entitled to anything due to my partner’s income. The thing is I told them every single information about ourselves from the start exactly how much he earns all our finances basically nothing was hidden. They still approved and paid me, and now suddenly it’s like “you get £0 and owe it all back.”

We’re honestly barely getting by as it is. His money just covers bills and food there’s nothing extra. Even with the UC payments, we were struggling so I don’t understand how they expect us to just magically repay thousands. If they had told me from the beginning that I wasn’t eligible I wouldn’t have relied on that money at all.

It just feels really unfair that I’m being punished for what looks like their mistake when I was completely honest. I genuinely don’t have £3K to give back and this is putting so much pressure on us.

Has anyone else been in this situation? Is there any way to challenge this or reduce what I have to repay? I’m really stressed and don’t know what to do

So, I am 17 and eligible for Universal Credit, but I don’t have a passport to prove my identity, and I don’t have any other photo identification to prove who I am. I went to the Jobcentre for an appointment to verify my identity, but they told me to get photo ID and booked me another appointment for next week meaning i need to sort it before next Tuesday.

How do I go about getting photo ID without a passport? I know that for most things you need a passport even to apply. They said I could get a referee, such as a doctor, but it says the referee must have known you for at least 2 years, and I’ve only just transferred doctors, so they have only known me for a few months.

Hi everyone,

I’m in a mess of my own making and honestly could use some realistic advice.

​I’ve been on a solo UC claim for about 9 months (getting around £240 a month). I’ve also been on Carer’s Allowance for about 5 years, which has amounted currently to around £85 a week.

Before my solo uc claim I was in a joint claim for over a year with my ex, only making a solo one when we split.

During all this time, I’ve been working irregular/zero-hours contract, mostly paid into an HSBC saver account. I’ve been earning roughly £1,200–£2,000 a month, usually around the £1,600 mark but it has been sometimes a lot lower.

​I basically buried my head in the sand about reporting the income because with a child, life, everyday stress I didn't even think about it.

I still help my ex with bills because she is renting private and has been on council waiting list for around two years, she cannot afford it otherwise.

Regardless of excuses, I’ve now been asked to do a UC claim review and they’ve asked for 4 months of statements for my accounts of which I have two.

I am not going to hide anything, the income is clearly labeled on the statements from a business account.

I’m planning to upload them and send a journal message straight away admitting I haven’t declared this income and offering to pay back the UC overpayment in full as a lump sum.

​My main worries are that the UC review will flag my CA claim and previous joint claim which I will again be completely honest about.

I’ve looked and been earning way over the limit for parts of the last 5 years which is the length of time I have claimed Carer’s so the overpayment there could be big.

If it just relates to the solo claim then I will pay back what I owe and end my claim, if more then I would like to do the same but I am worried that that could escalate it to something else.

If I’m totally honest now, is there a chance they’ll keep this as a civil matter (like a fine/penalty) rather than a criminal fraud thing? I’m not trying to dodge the debt, I just want to avoid a court case or prison.

How likely am I to get called in for a formal interview? Does being cooperative and paying it all back now help avoid that?

​I’ve really struggled with the admin side of things and I know that’s no excuse, but I just want to make this right, pay what I owe no matter how long it takes, and move on with my life.

Has anyone been through similar recently, especially with the CA reviews happening this year?

​Thanks in advance.

I uploaded what I thought was all of my bank statements Tuesday (some were at a previous address and i had to collect them), I got a message in my journal at 6pm Thursday to say that there was some missing, I found all the ones from one bank but was still missing one from my other bank, literally turned my home upside down looking for it and could not find it. Which meant, I had to leave work early yesterday to make it to the bank before it closed to get one from there, I did, but I didn't realise that it was not the right one and it had closed, I explained this to to the case worker in my journal and she gave me a grace period for today (saturday) to go to the bank to get the correct one. I did, even woke my infant up so we could get there when the bank opened, I made sure it was the correct one and uploaded the statement while still in the bank. Well, I finished work this afternoon and checked on it and they've closed my claim, stating that I didn't upload the evidence.

It says clearly in my journal that I was given a grace period, I'm a single mum with a 17 month old, we survive off of that money, what do I do?

Hi,

I have an upcoming UC review soon and I just want to ask will they be bothered about money going in my account from my ex partner for the kids x 2

Some months he earns alot, some not so much so it fluctuates, when he puts a lot in my account I use what I need for the kids then when he picks them up and takes them out he might ask for some of the money back to spend on the kids is this ok?

Thanks

I just finished paying off my new claim advance, can I apply for it again after I’ve paid it off?

I updated my capital that had risen to just over 16k in a routine review. I didnt understand that a lifetime isa counted as capital until I asked the local charity. So I have had 15k in isa since started of claim 5 years ago.

I have been asked to attend capital review at local centre today with 3 months bank statements. I am terrified. What will happen to me?

I hope to start a new job in a couple of months too.

**Update - the person checking the statements said the system is telling me to close uc claim but he thought the lifetime isa should have a 25% disregard so has referred to a decision maker.

Im not good with uncertainty so what happens now?

Looking for a bit of advice,started making a joint claim a few months ago after moving in with my partner and have credit claim review shortly. When I was younger I inherited some money and invested it into gold and whisky barrels which now exceed 11k. Do UC need to know this? I had purchased these years before I claimed anything. In terms of what’s in my bank it’s no where near the limit.

Hi,

My husband and I have set up a section 89 disabled person's trust to purchase a flat for our adult disabled daughter to live in (in England), based on the advice of multiple disability support charities. She receives UC with LCRWA and higher-rate PIP (both elements). The trust deeds were drawn up by a solicitor who is a member of STEP. We know about the 9-month qualifying period before UC will pay any service charges for an owned flat. But we're unclear about what happens after that 9 months is up. Our daughter will be living in the flat rent-free but there are significant service charges that she will need to pay for maintenance of the lift, cleaning of communal stairwells etc. Will she be able to claim those from UC? The service charges seem to meet all the necessary criteria set out in the UC rules and it would seem entirely reasonable and in line with the purpose of the housing element that she can claim them but we're a bit unclear whether the fact the property is owned by a trust of which she is the beneficiary would affect her entitlement to claim the service charges from UC? Has anyone encountered this situation? The only mention I can find of it by Googling was on the Trusts Discussion Forum where a solicitor said one of her clients had been waiting for an answer from DWP for very many months and DWP said they were struggling to make a decision.

Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.

hi, so i was getting rent from uc for close to a tear before i moved house im on PIP and lcwra aswell, i moved house updated UC and uploaded a new tenancy agreement (house share agreement) with just my name on it not the other tenants i also gave bank statement showing proof of address. it was initially accepted then i got a msg saying it was approved in error and it was actually referred to the review team. i then had a phone appointment with them were i was asked to provide crazy information such as a letter from landlord, gas safety certificate of the house, proof of rent payment, nhs letter showing address utility bills. I uploaded everything apart from gas safety certificate as i couldn’t force my landlord to send me that as its a very odd thing to ask for and realistically i suffer from really bad anxiety so i didnt want to bother him i had already asked for a letter confirming i rent from him. Anyway this all got rejected even though i gave electricity, water bills nhs letter and even a proof of rent transfer to my lead tenants account. i was then asked to re apply which i did as i thought maybe this happened because my initial tenancy agreement did not have all the tenants names on it so i managed to get my landlord to make a proper joint tenancy agreement which his agency issued with all tenants names including mine, so now its a assured short hold tenancy agreement and no longer house share Agreement. I uploaded this and it went to review again this time on the phone appointment they asked me to only send proof of council tax bill and bank statement showing rent going to the lead tenan. I instantly sent them this yet its failed verification agai. its starting to feel like they have a personal pro with me, my question is is it because the rent transfer proof im showing them is a transfer to lead tenant and not landlord directly even though in my landlord letter he stated this arrangement is what he wants. Basically all tenants pay lead tenant who then sends to landlord all at once

4 months this year we missed rent and we’re behind on rent this month , we’re about to have one of those randomly selected checks on our benefits and I’m scared because we’ve missed payments that we’ll be in trouble . what’s the likely outcome ?