To think Universal Credit are a bunch of cunts

It’s not the OP looking ignorant here.

It's especially true that people need UC because there is such a shortage of affordable housing in many parts of the UK.

The housing costs element is the biggest single item in almost every UC claim I look at. When it's hard to find a 2-bed flat for less than £1300 in areas that are 50 miles from London, it's no wonder that so many people are dependent on state support.

And that's without taking childcare costs into account.

Employers should not be allowed to pay a wage that people cannot live on. Tax payers money should not be used to bolster corporations' profits
out of touch comments, so do
you think carers and retail staff should be on £40k +, do you see anywhere paying that?
Not everyone in a MN big job person

There are other ways to express it that don’t make you look ignorant !

I don’t imagine that a typical Amazonwarehouse/Tesco employee can afford to live on typical expenses in London - and they seem to be pretty viable.

Is it ethical? Trickier question.

If they’re paying tax properly - then it’s that money that then goes back into the system (but that’s a big if).

barbaric?!! go to Africa, Asia, South America... basically 95% of the rest of the world and tell them that the government not giving you money on time is 'barbaric'... see what their reaction is.

People have been so molly coddled in this country they have lost the ability to be grateful. We are incredibly lucky.

And yet oddly all the employers can pay using all those different pay frequencies and pay days and everyone can pay the right tax and NI. If UC mirrored the tax and NI system which have weekly and monthly rates instead of using a frequency that bears no relation to the pay frequency of many employees, that would be a start. It is a shit design, presumably done for cheapness of the software and implementation so that as others have said, poor people will have to pay the extra costs.

That makes sense though - the pay rise is backdated, so you’ll have been overpaid UC for those months as you’d have received less if you were on your new wage.

I’ve been there, it sucks, but it’s correct.

@BeaRF75 - there are many people who work and get UC who dot have anything left at the end of the month- certainly not enough to pay all the expenses they cover with UC for a month. Many people, despite working and getting UC have sweet FA left at the end of the month. To tweely tell people to juts save, means you really don't understand the situation thousands of people are in every month in the UK. No money from UC is actually devastating. People don't even have a spare £100 lying around, never mind whatever it is you get from UC each month.

Probably because the cost of living is fucking ridiculous - particularly if the Op rents and is in the south.

If a full-time employee with typical expenses can’t afford to live, and the employer can’t afford to pay the employee more, then the business is not viable. If the business provides an essential service, then there is an argument to be made for government subsidy. we need certain businesses, even if they are not profitable.

However, that does not mean that the business itself still should be allowed to pull profits beyond the labor of each person working for the company. The person running the company deserves to be paid, but if the business has to be propped up to stay open, they should not be making profits for simply owning the business. For publicly held companies, stockholders should not see dividends when those dividends are subsidized by the government.

My job isn't even that badly paid - I work full time and not on minimum wage
So how can you be reduced to living on “stale shite in the cupboard” when you don’t get your benefit top ups for one month?

I'm usually one of the first to shout that it's all the fault of the fucking Tories, but in this case, I have to disagree.

I genuinely don't believe it's possible to design an income-based system that takes account of every possible pay frequency. I've had cases where people are paid fortnightly, so they get 3 paydays in a calendar month a couple of times a year, paid 4-weekly so they get a month with 2 paydays once a year, then cases like the OP where they're paid on the last Friday, or 3rd Thursday and all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Weekly paid people get the occasional month with 5 paydays.

Maybe they should just introduce a law that says every employer should pay calendar monthly and pay on the same day every month. That would stop all this confusion.

At least people with fluctuating income, eg due to shift patterns, don't have to report how much they get every pay day like people still on housing benefit do.

And it's an improvement on tax credits, where every award was provisional and reconciled after the end of the tax year, leading to overpayments and a big drop in income the following year, when the overpayment was clawed back and the amount for the current year was reduced to reflect the increased income, leading to big reductions in the amount paid in the subsequent year.

You’re absolutely right. They are. I genuinely don’t understand how the system can be this bad.

i want to apply for childcare costs as I have a new job. NONE of them know what they’re doing. They once told me I owed them 4K - I appealed it because there was literally no way that could be the case and they decided they owed ME 2.5k which they then paid me… then they started reclaiming the payment as a debt. No one seems to know why any of us would be owing each other money! I’m just paying it… it’s easier than trying to sort it out!!

why is there this ridiculous monthly system anyway?! It should be based on annual income averaged out, it’s shocking. Absolutely shocking.

The person on UC works 14hrs per week, and is on a reasonable FTE salary for the role (£32k FTE - second jobber type role). So no, it’s not possible that every employee can be at a point of not needing UC.

But I can also see that there will be lots of smaller businesses who cannot pay higher wages (cafes, small retailers etc) as well.

So what?

@nothingsforgotten But you're not in the UK so that's irrelevant?

Question, if you don't mind.

How would your business be affected if you upped everyone's wages so they didn't need Universal Credit?

Would you have to close? Raise your prices to your clients? (If you have clients)

Because I often see people say 'blame the employer' but I think that's lazy logic and borderline idiotic. The costs to the employer would have to come from somewhere.

@Lovinglife57 Why do you keep calling everyone sweetie? Is that meant to be patronising or something?

@StarbucksStraw I'm severely disabled and claim UC but I also get the LCWRA element instead of working (I do have a degree but I can’t legally work due to my current state of health, even if I felt well enough to but that's a whooole depressing thread in itself!). My advice is to keep posting on your journal. Multiple times per day. Bug them until they sort it to shut you up. It absolutely should not be necessary but if it solves it for this month 🤷🏼‍♀️ I too have experienced them not replying.
Meanwhile, try and see if you can change your pay date with your employer?

I’ve said up thread that the UC staff told me it was 5 weeks when I asked them, if I’m wrong I’m wrong, but regardless it’s still a crap system. OP obviously relies on her UC, she hasn’t been paid twice, it just happens that two work payments have fallen into one assessment periods.

It's even worse if you're paid weekly.

It was designed this way.

UC was designed to punish the poor and appease abhorrent ignoramuses that suffer from ignorant rage.

As I recall, there was a time they'd shut your claim down and you'd have to re apply for it, but I think they changed it.

It sucks OP.

But the wealthier and holier than thou will call you names and show little sympathy, it's them this cruelty was designed to appease.