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! 😡

rebel A tax refund in a subsequent period is NEVER income in that period. It's money earned in that tax year the refund is from.

Babyroobs - Thank you, I have less than a month, we were hoping to move this week, but there has been a delay, maybe next week

And yes don't get me started on PIP, I am so tired of fighting a system, which should be geared to helping people like myself, but in fact is designed to wear us down, the fact I have been unlucky enough to have two dates and both been cancelled is unfortunate

Op - you hopefully wont have any earnings reported during your next assessment period though so should get more UC. You will lose out on the work allowance though. They will probably also query with you why there are no reported earnings.

Sorry OP .

I'm on UC and it's exhausting to keep tracking and changing pay dates with my employer just so that UC doesnt mess me up. I'm lucky I work in a small business and they understand the situation. Hope UC assessment period changes this rule soon

Employers will be getting fed up with it too im guessing.

Although this is a problem in the short-term, having pay that varies from one assessment period to the next will probably result in you receiving more UC in total than you would have got if your pay was the same in every period.

I'm not speaking from experience, but I remember this as the conclusion of the first thread on this subject I saw. Someone complained they were going to lose out as a result of being paid four-weekly, and I looked into because it sounded outrageous, and ultimately concluded that they would in fact get more money over a year than they would have done if their annual salary was split into 12 payments instead of 13.

I read that there are in fact compliance investigators who go around checking that employers don't deliberately pay their staff irregularly, in order to boost the total UC they get.

Getting no UC because of two salary payments in one month is the most common complaint about UC I see on here, and it's ironic because the people are complaining of being short-changed in circumstances that actually result in their overall benefit over a year being inflated, compared to someone whose salary and UC are more regular.

Firesuit - I suppose it's the not knowing about it that is the problem and if you are expecting a payment of £600 that you don't then get it is going to create hardship even if it does balance out over the year. And people quickly forget all the problems with the old tax credit system - the overpayments, the inflexibility for variable earnings etc.

@Want2bSupermum I didn’t say it was income in that period. It is income though. Not simply free money!

@firesuit, yet that article, link below, by Children in Poverty Action Group suggests those who are parents and entitled to the work allowance will not end up getting more over the 12 month period if their income stays the same if I have understood it correctly.

“Further, as the claimant is entitled to a working allowance, she effectively loses out on the benefit of one working allowance against one month’s salary which is not compensated by the fact that the following assessment period she is treated as receiving no wages and so gets the maximum UC allowance

CPAG is arguing that DWP’s refusal to adjust the claimants' assessment periods to avoid this situation is discriminatory against working parents with children (one of the two groups who are entitled to a work allowance)”

www.cpag.org.uk/content/universal-credit-assessment-period-inflexibility

Disabled people can lose a fair chunk more than £30 a week, if you are aged under 35 - because you won't be eligible for the same rate of housing benefit as before.

Well firstly, you wouldn't get HB if you are on UC, as if you are in a full service area, you can't claim Housing Benefit anyway as this is one of the benefits UC replaces.
Secondly, under 35's would get a shared room rate...HOWEVER that doesn't apply if you are on PIP ( any rate of care component), or DLA care ( middle/high rate). You would get the one bed rate.
I am lucky enough to be in Scotland where bedroom tax is mitigated, so most people can get a DHP.

@suzannelinder, that’s true, however it is only since 2011 people under 35 were no longer allowed a one bedroom rate.

@firesuit, sorry to be clear I understand those who get their wages four weekly rather than monthly will over the year get the same 12 UC payments amount as those paid monthly. As babyroobs said it’s those not expecting it that can come a cropper and then the uncertainty if income does change month to month.

@suzannelinder, forgot to add that is, as u said, if you don’t get PIP care, enhanced or standard, or DLA high or middle rate care

@SuzanneLinder I don't understand why you've quoted me, I think we are saying the same thing.

If you are under 35 and disabled (on PIP) you get the 1 bed rate for housing benefit instead of the shared rate. You lose this with UC. Not everyone is able to live in shared housing without distress, or compromise to their safety.

The 'housing component' of UC makes no allowances for people on PIP allowing them extra money to rent a place suitable for their needs. I think that's unforgivable.

It means disabled people losing access to a suitable, dignified home - I think homelessness is going to rise among disabled people under 35.

That was my point really.

UC is the biggest load of bs there ever was! Because of them I’m in £2k worth of debt repayment to them because I didn’t outline properly that I got MA despite my partner confirming over the phone to them how much I received per month when adding me onto his claim and making it a joint claim, me giving relevant paperwork at my identity appointment and saying every phone call that I received MA as any other benefits in security questions, no matter what I did unless I took them to court (I would have got in more debt that way so that was a no go) I was powerless and I’m now slowly paying back that £2k every month which is going to take 2-3yrs to fully pay back.

I was on track for a while then months ago they decide to change us from paper to online, apparently changing the period dates (this did not happen and they even told me that) So they took one months worth of pay into account twice so in the first month of being online we received £0 rather than our usual monthly amount because apparently we supposedly earnt £600 more than we actually did, months of arguing with people online someone says hey we are sorting it and we understand we’ve made a mistake, still waiting for that money to be paid back at least 6 months on.

Luckily now we are at the point where my partners and my wages can cover bills without thinking how the heck are we going to pay for stuff this month after my partner got a job that paid more.

I had to start blaming benefits in January, universal credit area, yay.

I then found it impossible to get referred for an assessment for work capability - although I knew I would meet all threshold for disability benefits easily. Yay.

That’s not a good thing, when your GP assures you you will stroll through the assessment criteria with ease (On the other hand it’s been awhile since I strolled with ease anywhere so I’ll take what I can get!

But, I kept being given one reason and other excuse and another fob off over and over, and never made it through to getting an assessment.

Did get a Lovely Job Coach who let slip after 5 months of ‘helping’ me get an assessment that she was deliberately stopping me. Errr. Because.... cos I never did find out why, it changed each time.

Because I suspect there’s a policy somewhere. I wonder whether it’s at job centre level, UC centre level or top down... but I’m pretty sure I encountered a nasty little silent policy.

Mind you this job coach also started to tell me that there were no disability benefits. so I shouldn’t waste everyone’s time by applying. And when I corrected her she got increasingly aggressive until she entered harassment territory. Shouting aggressively at a seriously ill person that they had to repeat after them that ‘there are no benefits for people like you!’ Or else I’ll get sanctioned.... yup, I think that counts as harassment right? But stupidly I refused, and next I knew she referred me to the benefits officers home visiting team to ‘check my papers’ as she had reason to believe they’d changed... ffs.

And so it went on.

I was too ill to help myself and started to have panic attacks. The assessment forms finally came but this woman intimidated me into not filling them in. So I didn’t.

Thank god my GP got involved. She filled them in on my behalf and I don’t know what the hell she wrote but within a week I got approved for the benefit! I didn’t actually realise she’d started to fight for me so I thought they’d made a mistake when I got the email alerting me to the commitment change! But it’s true and thank gif she did, because I’d given up.

The best thing is I don’t have to be in that work group again, so no more prejudice and harassment yay!!!! Honestly, at the moment, that’s the best bit.

So well done government, for manufacturing a situation where the best bit about getting a benefit is not the money, it’s that I don’t have to be harrassed by the state every week for being ill.

If I was well I’d do something about it. But I’m not and that’s the great thing about picking on the poor and needy... I’m too ill to fight back, so you win because you grind me down.

By the way, because of the whole, no money, but forced conversations with cruel person each week, I’ve been too ill and poor to go to any hospital appointments since April, including really important ones. So I guess it’s a good strategy longer term for the government, as if you do this to enough people, the benefits system and the nhs kind of balances itself out.

Sick fuckers. Oh no, I’m the sick fucker, they get to walk away scot free...

Another example of how much the evil Tories hate the common man. Fucking bastards. Everything they do seems to be an attempt to thwart ordinary people from living dignified lives. Totally myopic attitude towards health, education and overall care. No wonder there is so much anger growing. Social mobility my arse. What a fuck up this government is.

Sorry op. Rant over. I’m really sorry to hear your predicament this month, it must be totally debilitating to get a blow like that.

It's a ridiculous rule and I hate explaining it to customers.

What

So you are paid monthly but because your payment comes in Friday because last day is over a weekend you don't get your payment?

Am I understanding it right?

I get paid on last day if each month which realistically always between 28-31st does this mean I'll keep losing UC monthly? And then what - have to reclaim?

Yes youare :(

Absentminded Woman

If you are under 35 and disabled (on PIP) you get the 1 bed rate for housing benefit instead of the shared rate. You lose this with UC. Not everyone is able to live in shared housing without distress, or compromise to their safety.

You don't lose this with UC if you are on any rate of Daily Living of PIP or on middle or high rate of care on DLA.

benefitsaware.centralenglandlc.org.uk/housing-benefit-and-universal-credit-housing-cost-restrictions/

This should be an easy thing to fix: just a software patch that says to treat payment date as X when X falls on a Saturday, Sunday or piblic holiday. The fact that they haven'tm fixed is surely because they simply don't want to.

This will affect everyone who is monthly paid and has a pay date at or very close to the end of their assessment period, which must be a hell of a lot of people. The savings must be massive.

It will also affect those whose employers pay early in December, which a lot do.

Btw, thanks to pp's who posted helpful links. I have an interview for a welfare rights job later on, and have been out of the game for 2 years, so am not up to speed with the whole full service thing. It only started in my area last week.

There are a lot of comments on here being very harsh/ critical of the UC benefits system. Which let’s face it- is money you are being given! Perhaps you’d all like to go live in America (or one of the many other countries where you’d receive FAR less than you do here) and take your chances with that???

Just a helpful suggestion 🙌🏻

Do you have any understanding of economics IAm.
You realise this is an in work benefit right? Designed to prop up a ridiculously low minimum wage, and absurdly high childcare costs. It's also designed to ensure disabled people are not disadvantaged because of their disability financially (except it never really works out like that...).
The ignorance of some people never fails to astound me.

From previous posters does a change in circumstances means you'll get changed into universal credit? Cos I need to change my childcare amount and details, does this mean I automatically go into universal credit now??

Im paid weekly and on 2months of the yr 5 fridays fall in the assessment period which buggers ours up too. Since a lot if our outgoings are weekly this causes us struggles 😢 im not sure what can fix this