Universal credit

[iamtheoneandonlyyy]

Not the right topic but looking for replies.
Has anyone here ever had a random universal credit payment come into their account? I contacted them immediately and they insist they haven't sent it. It says it's from them and the bank checked and said yes definitely them.
Spoke to them again and they said there's no record of it. Now saying they will question whether it's just been mistakenly put in somehow🤷🏻‍♀️and may be it was meant for someone else.
Is this common?

I would advise not to touch it
I used to volunteer with people who were homeless or in temp accomodation and this happened quite regularly.
Set it aside, do not touch it and send them a recorded letter, showing the payment, and the code and ask the bank to include a letter confirming. Keep a copy of this letter and show that their copy had been signed for.
I had one lady who this happened to, twice and twice she came in to us to ask us to call. When I did they were extremely patronising and told me they don't send out payments like that and she was mistaken, as was I and the bank.
Despite the advice we had for this she spent both payments, totalling around £550, as the DWP said that they were not their payments.
About 6 months later she comes in with an official letter, telling her they want the lot back, in one go, as she has committed fraud by spending it and they will sanction her. They had also stopped her payments will they investigated it.
Luckily we kept a log of all calls and I rang them and read them the riot act and they reinstated her payments, but only because I rang, she did still have to pay the money back and they took it in installments of something like £60 a week which she couldn't afford really. But it was that or she was screwed.
Just do not spend it because at some point they will clock and it's not worth the aggro.

Oh I wouldn't spend it, I'm certain it's not mine. I was just wondering how much it happens. It's annoying their mistake has now become my job as well

Leave a message on your journal for your case worker and request that it needs to be looked into. At a later date you will have evidence of informing them and you won’t be liable.

Yes I did do that and had two back since saying 'no we didn't'
I'll be glad when it is sorted

I know people would deny they do these types of things on purpose to trip people up, but the frequency with which we used to deal with cock ups like this and others it makes me sceptical.
Anyone who suggested that UC is the easy way out needs to be forced to travel through the minefield of it all, they'd soon change their bloody minds.

Was the bank reference something like 'fastpay', rather than DWP? If so, it is from UC. Has the payment arrived in time within normal payment dates?

Yes it was a faster payment. It even says dwp uc next to it lol. I've sent another message through the journal, I'm obviously keen to not have it if it's not mine. I don't like the thought someone somewhere is missing it either, it's a lot.
No it's miles from my usual date

Can you attach a picture?

This has minimal details lol

Just received a third denial from them. Couldn't make it up lol

Ask them outright if you can spend it. Then keep a record of it

I'd be too scared of it coming back to bite me in the arse. The last repky on my journal felt a little rude so I think I'm annoying the bloke. He's adamant it wasn't sent and the woman on the phone said it must be a mistake but she can't find it. No note on the journal from her.
I just hope they don't turn around in six months and say oh yeah it's yours 🙄
Strangely on my breakdown there's no mention of jobseekers so I don't think I've been receiving that element and at first I thought it might be tied to that but all this is frazzling my brain, such as it is

My ex h used to work in a tax office and everyone went down the pub at lunch. Maybe the DWP do this too?

it's the only explanation

PA? Wonder if that stands for personal allowance? Have they either mixed your claim up with someone else or they've been under paying you? Is it quite a significant amount?
Maybe use the entitled to website to do a dummy what you are entitled to claim sheet, then compare that to what you have received?
I still wouldn't spend it though

I'll tell you how slippery they are though: we had a guy come in who was working under 16 hours. This is before UC. He told me he had declared it over the phone and was told that's fine, you're not earning over the threshold. So he carried on, I called to make sure and wrote a note of who I spoke to and when.
About a year later he comes in very stressed with a court summons. They are taking him to court for fraud and over claiming due to an undeclared job. He asked me to come and speak on his behalf.
Got to court and I explained the guy had indeed declared it, in fact, I double checked and said who I spoke to. Because it was being disputed, the case was adjourned for the DWP to respond. About a fortnight later they responded saying I had made up who I spoke to.
I called a further 4 times and spoke to the same woman. So back to court we go and they say we've never had an employee of that name and I say yes well that's interesting because I've spoken to her 5 times now.
Magistrate gets the arse, asks me which number did I call, goes to his chambers with the DWP solicitor and myself and then calls.
And is put through to the woman they denied all knowledge of.
He was made to pay back half of the money but the magistrate refused to give him a criminal record and told off the DWP for being full of it.

Crikey that sounds stressful. This is bad enough! As I say there is a boggling doubt about the jobseeker part.
When I originally did the calculator it was about 75 more than what I receive now per week.

It really is starting to sound like it might be the jobseeker part actually🤔
The lady said if it was mine there would be a note in my journal or a letter 100%, but there's no record.
Now stupidly starting to get my hopes up ha. I'm not greedy, it's been a terrible year even without the virus stuff and a little bit of good news about now would be like a warm hug haha.

Yes it's quite a bit (certainly to me)

In my experience, if they give you a one off payment-that comes first and then you will receive the letter of confirmation around a week later!

That's my dream lol.
They have passed it in to the technical team. Hmm.

Well JSA - contributions which is the only JSA you can claim is £74.50 pw. I'm guessing you've made a dual claim for JSA and UC. They will be paid separately with the JSA deducted from your UC. Check your statement.

There's no mention of jsa anywhere in my payment breakdowns🤔

Still not a sausage.
I would phone again but they've been clueless so far. I'm worried I'm being fobbed off with 'technical team'.
I'll be perfectly honest, I'm starting to worry that somehow it could be mine and I could really do with using some of it but I don't.
Argh

So potentially there’s a £75 weekly shortfall in what you’ve been paid up until now? I’d you multiply 75 by the number of weeks you’ve been claiming does the total roughly equate to the amount that came by faster payments?

IF you multiply...^^

Stop press ✋🏻
Thanks for all replies in my rambling but it turns out it is mine😭😭😭those are tears of elated joy