AIBU to really fucking hate universal credit.

[Shootfirstaskquestionslater]

I got a letter today telling me that they have over paid me by £70 which means that I have to pay it back which means even less money for me to live off every month because they keep finding ways to screw me over. I can't afford to feed myself so I am now having to go to the food bank and I'm having to sell stuff to get money together to try and pay bills and get some food in for the freezer. I feel so pissed off and annoyed with the whole thing I'm too ill to work and now they keep finding ways to kick me in the teeth and remind me how low I've sunk. I hate living like this.

Telephone Citizens Advice. You can get advice on the phone. I don’t know if I’m allowed to link here so it’s citizendadvice dot org dot uk

Hi OP.
Can you list what the £111 needs to cover and I (probably among others) would be happy to give you some budget suggestions to help you make it stretch as far as possible.
You can also post what's in your cupboards and we can probably come up with some meals (at least a few even if you've not got much of anything.)
Happy to help how I can.
If you don't want to that's understandable BTW but mumsnet has been a huge source of info and tips to me for years.

Aside from that I'd get down to the local cab and see if you have a welfare rights near you explain everything to them and see what they can do.
I'm sorry you're in this situation

This is just so awful to read. I’m not in your position op but I have made it my duty to read as much about the shocking way people are having to live due to the benefit system shakeup. It shouldn’t be like this in this country in this day and age.
My sis in law works at a cab and deals with these cases a lot.
Like LeKirby says, tell us what you’ve got and we’ll give you recipes.

Haven't RTFT, but:

Ring them straight away and explain that you haven't received carer's allowance since 2016. Refer them to the bank statements that you submitted in support of your UC application, these will show that you are not receiving carer's allowance. Ask them to reassess your claim as a matter of urgency, because they have made a mistake.

Check the dates for both the period covered by the last HB payment (on your payment advice) and the start date of the UC claim (on the UC award letter). If they don't overlap, you may be able to get the full payment reinstated.

Final HB payments are often made after the UC claim has started, because of the time it takes to close down claims. DWP don't quite get this, and count it as income for the UC period. I have had some success in explaining to them that it is an arrears payment, and should not therefore count as income during the period for which UC was claimed.

Are they they claiming back all the overpayment because of the overlap between housing benefit and universal credit in one hit? If so, explain that this is causing you hardship and ask if it can be repaid by instalments at the maximum rate, which is around £11-12 pw.

Also, if any overpayment has been caused by a mistake on the part of the DWP, you can challenge the decision on the grounds that it was their fault and that it would be unreasonable for them to recover the money and cause you hardship.

UC has been rushed through and staff have not received sufficient training, so mistakes happen a lot. There is also a real lack of consistency when decisions are made, which makes it hard to give advice sometimes. There are a lot of scenarios that aren't covered in the decision maker's guidance manual, simply because no-one ever thought of the implications of stuff like switching from SSP + HB to UC, and how to treat post-closure HB payments.

They should have asked a few benefit advisers to look at pitfalls, but of course this govt doesn't give a toss about people on benefits.

This is so upsetting to read. A Pp summed it up, we are a fucking awful backwards country. UC is shameful. I’m sorry for all of you who have had to deal with it.

OP - you should be entitled to Council Tax Benefit if you're on UC

Council tax benefit was abolished a few years ago, Awesome.

Councils run their own schemes now, and most of them are far less generous than CTB was.

YANBU it’s a fucking flawed system. Don’t get me wrong, other systems have been shit as well but UC is the absolute worst. And £70 is hardly £7000. It’s easy to miss you wouldn’t automatically assume it’s an overpayment, you wouldn’t have gone out and spent it on tiaras and caviar. That’s the sort of amount that can get swallowed up by overdraft or spent on any of your bills without you even realising it was even there until it’s too late.

They should have asked a few benefit advisers to look at pitfalls, but of course this govt doesn't give a toss about people on benefits.

This! Absolutely sums it up in one paragraph!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Try calling your MPs office. They should have a caseworker who can call up for you & start asking questions about how they've screwed up.

This is why I voted Labour. Our government now just makes it so much fucking harder on the already poor, disabled and people struggling.
My dp lost his job. An it's taken over 60 days for them to sort out benefits for him. I have a job. But honestly, I'm barely affording to live. I'm on a credit card now as work keep underpaying me.
You'll get through this OP. I'm sorry its such a shit situation.

We could be in our coffins and still deemed fit to work with this shit government.

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/27/terminally-ill-man-fight-universal-credit-disabled-people?CMP=share_btn_tw

motherofasurvivor thank you so much for that helpful information I had no idea they where doing that to me they never told me that. Yes I do have a work coach and I am having to provide fit notes do things improve any once I've had this assesment.

Rosemund1 thank you I will do that.

Lekirby that money needs to cover all my bills so water £19.95 tv licence £12.25 talktalk £45 phone bill £25 gas £20 electric £20 and council tax when that comes through it also needs to buy food for me and my 3 cats my bills cost more than I actually have. I will write a list of what food I have in the morning my boyfriend kindly topped up my freezer for me because all I got was £5 for an old iPod. Thank you for your help. I will speak to someone and see if I can get it sorted out somehow.

sluttybutty Thank you I will do.

LakieLady thank you I will do and I will check the date of the final HB payment because I'm not sure when they last paid it. But I will get on to them and explain it all to them and make them understand that I no longer get the carers allowance. Thank you.

Rumpledfaceskin thank you I will find my way out of this hole some how. It is shameful what they are willing to do to people.

LittleMyLikesSnufkin exactly it could've gone on a bill or anything I had no idea they had given me more than they where suppose to.

poshme not even sure who my mp is but I will find out they might be able to help.

Twocatsonebaby they will be dragging us out of our coffins and sticking us in work. I'm really sorry your having such a tough time I hope things improve for you

Just to add please do contact your MP. 1) they need to know the reality of UC for their constituents and how dangerous it can get and then put pressure on for changes and 2) MP’s case workers can advocate for you over benefits mistakes etc. All the best to you OP.

FancyRibbon thank you I will find out who my mp is and I will contact them. Something needs to be done people can't be expected to live like this.

You can find your MP just by putting in your postcode and this website shows the different ways you can contact them:
www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-your-mp/

Thank you FancyRibbon

YANBU YABtotallyfucking awesome

I hate living in a society which kicks people when they're down. You have the inner strength to survive this if it can be done, allowed to you and heart breaking that so many don't have.

<a class="break-all" href="//www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.turn2us.org.uk/&ved=2ahUKEwi6_sW1_cnZAhXJAsAKHZvvBO0QFjAAegQIBhAD&usg=AOvVaw3e1ch0QaZpjYTxS-au3X_1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">turn to us might be worth a look and they have a helpline. Maybe even contact Shelter as this surely has to put you at risk (I really hope only theoretical) of being homeless.

I seriously hope all the completely predictable horror stories convince MPs Universal Credit needs to be either binned or massively reformed.

All power to you not allowed (stupid typo)

I’m sorry to hear about your situation OP. It seems the government always hits the little people with cuts first.

I was having a heated discussion about this topic with friends last night. They shrugged their shoulders and said ‘the country’s broke, no money for welfare, what can you do’. I then pointed out to them that instead of screwing the disadvantaged maybe they should think about closing up the loopholes that make tax avoidance for big corporations and wealthy individuals legal. Of course they said, the companies will just sack people the. I really do despair sometimes. There is plenty of money out there, it’s just that for certain sectors of society they just want to give nothing back, even if they have more money than they can ever spend.

Everyone should have enough money to live with dignity and not go hungry.

PearlyG8 Thank you I will get through this somehow I'm down but not out I have people that I can fall back on if need be. I will give shelter a phone and see what they say also the place where I go for the food bank they might be able to help me out as well. I just hope that this makes them think and reform it all or just scrap it altogether. How can they sleep at night knowing that people are struggling because of them.

Thank you bluetongue unfortunalty I don't think this country will ever changed the ruch will carry on getting rich and the poor will carry on getting poor and kicked while we are down. There is enough money to plow in to other things like the NHS and benefits they just don't want to do it they would rather sit there and watch us suffer and go down with the ship than throw us a life raft.

No worries OP and I hope that your MP’s caseworker will be helpful for you when you contact them. Take care.

YANBU. UC is a noxious poverty trap with complicated rules and harsh sanctions, all designed to trip up claimants at every opportunity. I don't know whether life on UC is even survivable in the long term, given that its tendancy to reduce or withhold payments arbitrarily make it difficult for claimants to pay rent and thus keep a roof over their heads. We can only hope that the tide of public opinion will turn against it so we can return to something like the old social security system - but how many will have to die first, or lose their kids or their health? Together with the catastrophe that is private renting, UC is the reason I'm leaving the country. Of course I'm lucky to be able-bodied; if I were sick or disabled as well as being poor, I probably couldn't.

Thank you FancyRibbon I hope so too. Take care.

Augustarella I think the idea is that they either force ill people back in to work or in to an early grave. You are right people will end up homeless which is a very big worry for me the last thing I wanted was to have to move back home but if things don't improve then I might have to because I can't move in with my boyfriend we've only been together for 6 months and his parents won't allow it. I wish I could leave the country but I can't even afford to get to the end of the road.

I will check the date of the final HB payment because I'm not sure when they last paid it

It's not the date they paid it that matters, it's the period it covered.

For example: if you started a claim for UC on 1 Feb, your HB entitlement would end the day before, 31 Jan. The council might not process your final payment until the today, so you'd get the money in March.

DWP would try and deduct that money from your next UC payment, but they'd be wrong to do this, because the period it covers predates your UC claim. You haven't been paid double for your rent, HB stopped one day and UC housing costs element started the next.

It's technically a benefit arrears payment, and as such should be disregarded as income for UC purposes.

If the regulations don't cover this eventuality, they should, and someone should bring a test case. Arrears payments have been treated like this for as long as I can remember. To do otherwise would penalise claimants for delays by the council or DWP.