Overview

• The Department for Work and Pensions issued the message on X, urging updates to prevent overpayments.
• Claimants should sign in to their Universal Credit online account and report a change under the ‘money, savings and investments’ section.
• Reportable changes include inheritances, redundancy pay, pension or life insurance lump sums, compensation, divorce settlements and changes in investment values.
• Overpayments must be repaid, potentially via deductions from future benefits, and deliberate misreporting can result in penalties or prosecution for fraud.
• Not updating details can also cause underpayments if changes increase entitlement, and the underlying guidance remains unchanged on gov.uk.