To the think this Universal Credit rule is so so wrong!

[ilovewelshrarebit123]

I'm a single parent, one DD and I work 30 hours a week.

I didn't get my UC payment this month which was a complete shock. I get paid my salary on the 15th of every month, and as the 15th of August was over the weekend I got paid on the 14th.

After investigation which has taken over a week, UC say I've been paid twice in the assessment period (15th to 14th) so I get nothing. I was paid on the 15/8 and 14/9 but it isn't two payments in one month is it. It was just a day early because of the weekend.

I'm £600 down and i just can't get my head around this policy. They've said there is nothing that can be done and I won't be getting this payment. It will also happen in January due to Decembers pay date.

They suggested I cancel my UC claim, start another one so the assessment period is different. But then I have to start the claim again and wait the 6 week assessment period with no payments.

Please don't tell me not to 'rely' on UC, I have no choice and I work hard.

So that's it, I'm stuffed this month through no fault of my own and UC is a crock of shit! 😡

Lucy - Are you not missing out on the work allowance ( the amount that is disregarded) though . Depending whether you claim rent element/ have kids etc this can be £198 or £409 .

thepoorsideof.life/author/seercharlotte71/
This is depressing reading, and I think a lot of people wait longer than 5 weeks.

@Babyroobs, may I ask as I am still not sure I have got it right that work element aside it is right that over a calendar year the month where payment falls twice in one month due to being paid four weekly not monthly and the following month being classed as earning nothing will only happen once over a 12 month period? Thank you for all your help.

Coolmule thats Charlottes blog She has been writing it for five years. Ashton under Lyne was one of the first areas that went on to UC.

My working allowance is £198 but if every other month I have no take home income it's irrelevant because there's nothing to take off the full entitlement. When I have double income I get paid nothing.

I made a mistake of putting my claim in on 1 July because I wasn't aware of the rules and the fact you've got to time it right. So according to their assessment periods and my paydays (on the last working day of a month) I'll be getting paid every other month.

Tog - Yes I would say it only would happen once a year being paid four weekly as there are 13 x4 weeks in a year and only 12 assessment periods. I don't understand why Lucy is getting full UC every other month with no deductions , unless being paid early for some reason. if paid weekly there will be a few months a year where 5 paydays fall in the assessment period and people get less UC.

Thanks lucymorningstar, just when I think I have got my head round the UC payment schedule for people working I find out I haven’t!

Thanks @Babyroobs.

Lucy - if you get paid early at Christmas / New year it may later things.

alter not later !

@Babyroobs I think I had to go on UC because of the housing benefit part?

Babyroobs I'm not holding my breath that any of it will be right to be honest. It's utter shambles. I've now looked far enough on the calendar and yes, I agree, things will change around Christmas time.

Just read that blog and totally agree with people saying they're being treated like dirt for no apparent reason. When I walked out of that first interview I felt like someone tipped a bucket of manure over me.

I guess I better give them a call on Monday to make sure they've not cancelled my claim altogether based on how loaded I am (according to them) this month

ivykaty44 no because if she were paid on the 17th, then the assessment ran until the following 14th and paid again in the 15th so the start of the following assessment

Togaandsandals have you already submitted your claim? If not then I would suggest leaving it untill you're smack bang halfway between your potential paydays to reduce hassle to minimum.

I have a few massive issues with How UC has messed up.

This will never impact on me personally but it bugs me.
We like young people to remain in education mainly because it boosts life chances and employability under the tax credit system they can be treated as a child until the day before they turn 20. Providing they are eligible to be named on a child benefit award by virtue of their educational status.

Under UC if you have a summer born then smack bang in the middle of their last year in college (think level 3 2 year course) they will cease to be considered a child even tho they will still be elligble for CB for another academic year. And the parents will lose the child element half way through the course.
Great incentive for young people to be encouraged to stay in college.

OP- standing with you. I also work hard. UC made me give up my business and go into employment. In the last 12 months I’ve had a £0 payment on average every other month because my new job pays me on the first day of my assessment period. 5 out of 12 months this year we have got £0 from them. Yes, sometimes we get extra the month after, because according to them I’ve not had any wages, which then triggers an ‘I promise to try and find a better job’ thing I have to sign. My job is entry level, I have prospects but this will take time. We struggle every other month because of this stupidity, and people say, you need to learn to budget... how can you budget £0?!!!!! Without Uc we literally live on the edge of poverty. This month I need childcare for half term. Guess what!! I’m paid a couple of days early in October so I will have to wait until December to get money back! I won’t be able to pay my childcare, I will have to take days unpaid or work overtime for time in lieu (which means , yes, childcare ...) Have you come across childcare payments yet? Over the summer, I got £0 UC for August. I had to pay out the childcare for the kids back in July which took all my extra money and then some, and then they didn’t give me the money back until September. That’s 3 months with money missing and a £0 payment thrown in, and then they didn’t give me all of it back because the period I was paid back in, we earned more in wages. Never mind what we earned the month we paid it. My MP is a Tory... I’m keeping on at him in the hope he will suddenly develop some compassion for those who don’t have a £75k salary, a second home to get away from those pesky constituents that need help, and champagne breakfasts in parliament every day... sorry, been dealing with this a year now, and I’m a bit bitter. Feeling powerless and oppressed. I hope we can get this system gone or fixed. It’s so unfair and it seems like no one is prepared to do anything about it! Frustration isn’t the word!! Anyone got any ideas?!

My other big issue.

Look at the ‘excessive’ clause.

This pretty much means that they can refuse to reimburse childcare costs that the claimant has already had to pay in order to undertake paid work EVEN if it is within the allowable costs bracket if they think it’s unreasonable. And what I see a lot of is claims refused for lone parents who work in NMW jobs with 2+ kids.

Wages approx 125 per week Max. two days work.
2 days childcare costs for 2 kids at the very low end of the scale say £40 per day per child is £160 a week (and I’ve personally never seen childcare that cheap but I’m rounding it down just to be unrealistically fair)
Childcare costs more than wages so BANG instantly unreasonable so they don’t pay cc element.

This will disproportionately impact on lone parents and women.
How is that going to get people into work.

Absentminded Woman I shall bow down to your superior Welfare Rights knowledge even though I do this for a living and double checked my CPAG bible and my Disability Rights handbook.

Its not the Housing Cost element that is the issue. Disabled people lose their Severe Disability Premium and Enhanced Disability Premium which affects their payments.
However as you quote London, that would be more to do with the actual LHA decided in that area, however they would still get the one bed rate.
www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Shared-Room
Maybe this will be clearer.

Seems ridiculous. Why because a payment date arrives on a Saturday/Sunday do payments need to be paid on the Friday. Surely the DWP banking/payment system can be programmed to make payments into bank accounts at weekends. Go to or contact your MP to highlight your situation. ie shortage in payment. Bloody awful.

Blloody hell Sock..................thats appalling.

Ooh, I'm reading this and it sounds terrible. DH and I have held off on claiming housing benefit, as I'm frightened of moving over to this system.
Could anyone advise on where we stand? Currently getting Child Tax Credit. We have 3 kids, youngest is 5yrs. DH works full time, plus a lot of overtime. I'm a SAHM.

I'm sorry to those who are going through trouble due to this btw Sounds like a complete nightmare.

Oh, and DH is paid 4 weekly

@MartagonLilies at this time you won’t get moved to universal credit at all - you have 3 children and it can’t take a new application with more than 2 children.

helena

I have been telling people about this since the very first time I saw the draft legislation, I raised it as an issue during the consultation.
I even went to the length of personally funding a group of benefit specialist legal bods to check on the concerns I had about it and then sent the report to the dwp ministerial correspondence bods.
They knew about this and still did it.

Low and behold in practise it does happen despite them saying it was not the intention and lower earning households are being forced out of work.

Mbear only until Feb next year. After then who knows