Universal Credit won't be paid in months with 5 weeks. (WTF?) AIBU to think no one realises

[raisinsarenottheonlyfruit]

If you get paid weekly, and there are 5 weeks in a month, in those months your pay will likely go over the Universal Credit limit and your UC will be stopped. You will have to go without that month and apply again.

WTF are they thinking?

Have they never heard of averages FFS? (That's how Tax Credits works). This is going to screw over so many people. It's ludricous.

The people claiming UC aren't any richer that month, they get the same amount of money as if it was paid in 12 monthly chunks.

This will happen to thousands of people every time there's a month with 5 weeks. (I guess they mean 5 Mondays?)

This is farcical.

There's 5 weeks in January, so if you get paid weekly that's you fucked for February.

April, July, October and December also have 5 Mondays.

This is utterly farcical and just plain callous.

Wait. What? Premium rate phone number to call them? That is outrageous.

All these points were raised in the initial consultation process before UC started. The government doesn't give a fuck.

And you actually don't "lose" any money with 2-weekly or 4-weekly payments, you get a month or two where you get an extra one (twice a year for 2-weekly, once a year for 4-weekly).

Playing devil's advocate, because UC is based on very up-to-date information from HMRC, it should put an end to the problem of massive overpayments that happens to some people on working tax credits.

Yes it was 50p a minute and probably a half hour wait before you could even speak to someone. They've had to scrap that but are they going to refund the poor buggers?

I arrange payment plans for people to pay off gas and electricity arrears. Everyday people call up to say they can't pay their monthly installment as their UC has been stopped. We can't set up a new plan for them as they don't know when they will start getting their money again. They go further and further down the collections path and end up in court for an unpaid debt that they were trying their best to pay.

Can I suggest we all contact MPs about this? Particularly if we live or work in Conservative constituencies? Most are probably well aware, but the more they are bombarded the more they will realise the depth of concern about it.

This is a ridiculous system- what a waste of time/effort to administer such a proposal.

HMRC are desperate though to get everyone on monthly salary not weekly payments (due to their NI system now). Perhaps the govt think this will force employers to do that?

And why Mondays? I never get paid in a Monday, it's always a Friday.

Make our future UC has worked really well for IT contractors.
How? I do not know any contractors that have low enough income to qualify for UC

Or do you mean from programming the systems, perhaps??

So much waste in the system. They’re making people working in benefits departments in local authorities or administering the old benefits redundant but not re-hiring them to administer UC but taking on completely new unqualified staff and having to train them from scratch.

Have seen plenty of posts to this effect on Facebook and a family member works in benefits and says it’s happening in her area.

Madness.

It’s an outrage, yet another from this shower of a government. How awful do people’s lives have to become before we collectively say enough is enough?

Also- someone said above that conservative MPs had been told to abstain from the vote. (Because if they voted against it, it might fail)

Does this mean THaT LABOUR SUPPORT THIS POLICY???

This is what terrifies me about Brexit. Whether you think leaving the EU is a good idea or not - it will be this lot who are implementing it.

This policy almost certainly certsinly breaks Europen laws in human rights. One way to challenge it would be to take it through the courts.

However we'll soon be free of such pesky"restrictions". Theresa May has made it clear that she wants to reduce our human rights.

The future is looking very bleak right now.

The best thing we can do is get rid of the Tories but how can we do that when the majority of our press is a propagamda machine for them? And when you try to tell people what they're up to you get accused of scaremongering or treating people like they're stupid.

Another thing this government is trying to slip through is totatilitarian-like control of the internet. In the Tory manifesto there are plans for sweeping changes to the internet which are being touted as anti-terrorist but in fact mean not only will the government be able to spy on all of us, they are proposing that sites such as Google and Facebook should not be able to freely share news stories - that the government would potentially have a say over what they can distribute. Also they plan to attack the advertising models and force them to pay the traditional print media (Murdoch and their other mates who deliberately manipulate publuc attitudes).

The only way to make their plans a reality would be to ban encryption. (They say they want terrorists to have nowhere to hide on the internet). The reality of this would mean cutting our internet off from the rest of the world as most software uses encryption. It would not be legal for us to access it. Also the knock on effect of no encryption wpuld mean ALL of our systems would be very vulnerable to attack from hackers.

I can't link and I know many on here won't be read it but fantastic argument against uc by Frank field today.

I think it has to be stopped, it may be another poll tax moment and we may have to take ti the streets, but as Frank says, paying different benefits means you have something coming in, if something goes wrong somewhere. You can eat and eek by. With it all in one go, no chance.
He said his food bank is gearing up to get tons of food for in because people will be left with no money.

It has to be stopped. There is just no question that no vulnerable family should be left a day without money

I don't think it means that Labour support it, Phil: it just means that, if they lose the vote, for some reason the fact that all the Conservatives abstained stops it from being a resigning matter.

Raisins I disagree on brexit.
We don't need the eu to help us stop this we are not that weak thanks.

This is absolutely foul. The government are punishing people for having low paid work.

No Labour do not. There were enough Tory rebels to defeat the gov on this so they were told to withdraw instead. Cynical as hell, but perfectly sensible from a party management point of view.

That also sounds too farcical / totalitarian to believe doesn't it?
But it's in thair manifesto

Theresa May to create new internet that would be controlled and regulated by government

I think that whatever we each think about Brexit, we can agree that this is immoral. Once it really starts to bite in large numbers, we might see a real public backlash.

Interestingly frank field said he tried to reform benefits under gorden Brown but he wouldn't listen either.

I don't think it's a Labour, tory thing... It's a who is listening to the people thing. Actually whilst the u turns have been slammed on here I see it as a government who listens. Blair and his cronies didn't and surpressed free speech. Now we have brexit.

Every one needs to get writing to mps etc

Also it’s interestimg how they define a child for child element.

Spare the fake outrage and learn to read. It isn't the child that's referred to as a child element - it's that part of the benefit paid because you have a child that is the "child element".

But don't let the odd fact stop a good foamy mouth comment.

YNBU. It's a sly way of keeping the payments down without people realising.

It's what they do with ESA. When they take someone off the Support Group, ans placed in the WRAG. They're saving £30 a week. Or those who are kicked off ESA altogether. Again. Taken off the unemployment count, as well as all those on JSA who get sanctioned for the most ridiculous of reasons.These appeals can take months and years and monetary figures are often released in between these times with a "look how much the unemployment rate has gone down" boast, and most haven't got the sense to put 2&2 together.

They're simply doing the same with UC now. Because it's way over budget, way over the deadline and still a complete and utter expensive mess. Making claimants wait a week or two, over that period - that means less people on the claimant list even though they're not. An old friend worked on a zero hour contract and his work was very sporadic. He'd often have to claim JSA for when there was no periods of work at all and have to reapply for UC each time. He'd very often be back in work by the time his UC had been approved.

Frank field is totally behind brexit.

His ward is one of the poorest in the UK, Birkenhead. He has seen first hand, the hideous effect of the eu on his constituents. He pleaded many a time, vote leave for the poor.

Frank is one of the few Labour politicians I trust now and if he leaded the party they may even have a chance to win elections.
I don't believe for one second corbyn will help the poor at all.
Frank however would.

Frank is pleading again, stop universal credit and I for one wholeheartedly agree. It will be hideous.

I worked full time last year and was universal credit. I have never been so poor.
Incentivise work.... my arose. Many of us are already working our arses off.

Thank you ceto, that makes more sense!

It's no going to work and it needs to be stopped now before families suffer.

autumnintheair you missed my point entirely. I'm not saying we need Brexit to stop this. I'm saying there are existing laws against treating people like this. And our Prime Minister has stated her intent to get rid of such laws. That's not really to do with the EU. It's to do with the intent of this government and what they will do with the power they will have after Brexit.

Don't forget they're pushing for Brexit to be something that happens without the ability for public or even Parliament to scrutinise and shave a say on the deal and for them to be able to rewite thousands of our laws behind closed doors.

This isn't to do with Europe. It's more fundamental. It's to do with the underlying issue of transfer of power to the Tories and the likelihood they'll abuse it, which seems pretty high right now.

Using emotive ideas like positioning the UK as strong enough to stand on our own is pure propaganda. You don't need to think the UK is weak to be concerned about those in power abusing that power or making terrible decusions.