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! 😡

No Purple. That's not the kind of change that triggers it.

Here's a list. www.entitledto.co.uk/help/changes_that_trigger_Universal_Credit

Purple . Changing your childcare details will not trigger a change to UC as you are just amending your existing claim. A change that woukd trigger it is needing to make a new claim for any of the six benefits that UC replaces so Income support , income related jsa or esa , housing benefit , child or working tax credits. So for example a lone parent with a child turning 5,who needs to switch from Income support to job seekers would have to go onto UC or someone moving areas and needing to make a new claim for housing benefit in a full service UC area. The only exception to this rule seems to be where someone has for example a child tax credit claim and needs to then claim wtc. This would not trigger a switch to UC because you are just adding the wtc element to an existing tax credit claim. Hope this makes sense. A lot of dwp staff are giving wrong advice and people have been wringly advised that they need to switch to UC when they dont.

Ok thanks

Iam I live in America. Benefits here are quite generous once you qualify.

Thanks @Want2bSupermum I could not fathom how a previous years refund had any bearing on our current earnings... though when trying to explain they made it sound like we were thick by not getting it!

@SusanneLinder

"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."

Incorrect. That link isn't clear.

A person under 35 in receipt of PIP, eligible for I think about £250 weekly housing benefit in inner London for example, is eligible only for the shared rate of housing component on UC so about £100.

They can fight to get a sort of UC disabled supplement of about £40 per month, I think from memory. But this is not automatic just because someone gets PIP.

Sorry, £40 per week.

This has been brought to there attention numerous times and they are refusing to act.

Yes they cancel your claim! Dh got some back dated holiday pay from a previous job and we were bumped off UC.

Never mind the fact he was actually unemployed at the time!

Thought the whole point of UC was it was supposed to be more flexible....

I run a Cleaning Company & due to the prices we charge, we can only pay minimum wage (I try to pay more for overtime etc though, but realise that minimum wage isn't great)
However, we always paid wages monthly (we work on regular contracts), so calculated by taking the weekly hours, multiplying by 52, then dividing by 12, so that everyone knew what their wages would be, and it was easier to budget.
However we ended up in trouble with HMRC, and told we HAD TO change to 4-weekly or weekly, because there may be some months (31 day months) where the staff were "technically" not being paid minimum wage.
I queried this with HMRC because I knew that this issue would arise with UC, but was told it had to be changed.

We looked at our budgets, and the only way we could have got around this was to increase our hourly pay by 70p, which we simply can't afford to do it (many of our jobs would end up costing us money).
I wonder if this is simply a co-incidence..

@SusanneLinder

Actually - further to my assertion that disabled people lose their right to the 1 bedroom rate, I've messaged the person I know to see what the official line was for taking it off them - and CAB are helping them fight to get full housing payment at a 1 bed rate again because apparently they should be entitled to it.

So it seems like maybe they are technically entitled to it but had it whipped away wrongly

That stinks to high heaven. UC is a disaster all round, and as somebody with dodgy health myself I'd be so scared of trying to claim it. There but for the grace of God

You prompted me to check OP, as DPs wages get paid early in December. He is normally paid on the 28th of the month, but in December he gets paid on the 18th. Luckily, our assessment period is between the 12th of one month to the 11th of the next, so we will be ok!

Seriously people speak to your MP. They were the people who are ultimately responsible for this. If you don't speak to them nothing will change.

I'm dealing with this through the HA my family own. We are having people showing up at the office in tears because they can't get their claim processed. We don't have loans that have to be paid and run as a true charity so we are fine to wait but other HAs can't be so generous. My father has been going to every single surgery in every area with housing with the lists of people who can't pay their rent on time. Some of these households can't afford to eat 3 meals a day, clothe themselves properly or pay for needed services such as childcare so they can work.

Its an absolute disgrace it's come to this. Please think about buying some extra food to donate if you can afford it.

Not a claiment but my jaw is on the floor at how unfair UC is - breathtaking disregard for anyone needing this money from the Tory government. Shame on them

I'm absolutely dreading changing over.
I don't understand why they introduced it.
Surely it would of been better to tweek the tax credits system so people didn't end up with massive overpayments?

Dh is disabled so I dread to think how much were going to lose when we're already struggling

I'm not claiming Council Tax benefit because i'm terrified of being transferred to UC. I am currently disabled.

My DD is £300 a Month worse off on it. Which wipes out any 'treat' money and non absolute essential clothing for the children etc.

We are going to lose a few major employers in our region because of Brexit and our high streets are looking empty as it is. The jobs are disappearing faster than they did in the 70/80's. I said when UC was announced as going ahead, alongside the cuts, that poverty that we still had in the 80's, would be back. But was told on her that it wouldn't.

Good luck Lakie I hope you get the job

Birds you make a salient point. It will affect the economy because not many who spend in mass market retailers will have any money to spend. Premium places will be fine but places like Peacocks New Look Primark will notice a lower footfall and a drop in sales. Which makes closures and job losses more likely. We are led to believe that these drops in sales are all down to the internet but that is bollocks.

And there are big developments involving the Citezens Advice Bureau from next year I put a link about it on page one.

I'm paid 4 weekly, so one month a year il get nothing, those two work payments still have to cover two months rent and bills, il just have nothing else to live on the rest of the time

www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/13474

"In the vernacular of Private Eye, it seems that Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland are set to trouser more than £50m to deliver Universal Support services from April 2019.

DWP will provide £39 million of funding from April 2019 to Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to provide this service. DWP will fund Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland a further £12 million to set up delivery in the run up to April 2019 to ensure a smooth transition to the new delivery model. This funding is from Universal Support’s £200 million budget, which was launched in 2015.

Citizens Advice to provide support to Universal Credit claimants

Be very interesting to see exactly how these services are designed and put into operation in practice. At the CPAG conference last week, there were tales about people almost coming to blows in libraries due to excessive demand to use computers and attempts to restrict the time people can spend on them. Also raises (for me personally) some interesting and enduring questions about independence of voluntary organisations here - if people receive sanctions for example following a joint intervention with a Cit A support service, will they trust them to help resolve that situation properly?"

@rebelworld

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

I don't understand this. If you pay too much tax and get a refund, it's not income in any way. It's just getting money back that you already paid. So it's not "free money" - simply a refund of your own money back.

I think some people on here wrongly think they will get less money over a year if they are paid four weekly than monthly. It’s what I originally thought until I have read it further. Over the year it will balance out as those paid monthly will get 12 UC payments over the year and those paid four weekly would get 13 UC payments over a year, so one extra. By not paying UC on the month when wages are paid twice in one month this means those paid four weekly and those monthly will get the same (presuming income doesn’t go up or down for that one calendar year) UC payments over the whole calendar year.

However, I know if people are not sufficiently prepared for this and budget accordingly it will mean will get badly caught out and when you are on a low income it doesn’t take much to get into financial difficulty. So it must be unsettling.

Also I believe some on UC will be worse off than tax credits with a few better off, however, I am sure the government have calculated it so the overall annual bill will be lower than the old system. It’s canny for the govt to calculate it so a few are better off as some people will say they are better off on UC so don’t understand those who say they are worse off.

I have always been grateful I live in a country that provides support for those ill and disabled but since 2011 I have seen the amount reduce a lot. I know if I was nor as severely ill as I am but still not well enough to work then the financial support would have reduced even further.

I am severely ill and disabled and live alone. Under current rules as I receive ESA and enhanced rate PIP care and live alone I get a severe disability premium worth £60 extra a week. Under UC this severe disability premium will be abolished. I have roughly calculated I will get about £30 a less per week when I am transferred to UC. I will not lose it immediately as I will get transitional cover, however over time inflation will erode the cover.

My financial contribution to my home care package has gone from £40 a week to £116 since 2011, so even with inflation taken into account a big increase. I also had a v stressful first PIP application, having to start appeal process (I am bedridden so it was ridiculous to not give me enchanced care initially. I gave medical evidence) which they finally overturned, but the stress made my health worse for a year.

There is no doubt that the coaltion and conservatives have reduced financial support for those working on low incomes and the disabled.

I’ve just submitted a claim for UC. I’ve worked all of my life and qualified for a small amount of WTC as well as CTC.

I’ve taken a career break to return to uni with the aim of becoming a primary school teacher. I’m almost 35 with one child.

To get any help with my housing I’ll have to claim UC so as of today my TC claim has ended. I have my UC interview tomorrow and am dreading the whole process tbh.

I understand they take my maintenance loans and divide them by the number of months I’m at uni but what happens during summer months?

I’m also aware there are elements of my loans they can’t use as income. Baffles me as to why loans are used as income- I’ll be repaying them for the rest of my life!

I work for HMRC and spoke to many people whose lives have been turned upside down and being a student on a career break I don’t really fit into their boxes.

Having filled out the online claim I stated I was a student(ticky box) when I got to the nd of the claim I needed to write a statement about what work I would like to find.
Still waiting for student finance payment too so not looking forward to month of October!

Just curious though, In the next assessment period you won't have any payment will you if its the 15th to the 14th because your next wages will be the 15th again so will you get more UC for this?

Can you ask you employer to make your payment later rather than earlier to avoid the double count?

To add to the above, I say the UC payments will balance out over a year, but thinking about it if someone comes off UC before the year is out then they will not get the UC portion back they didn’t get the month it was not paid as their four weekly payment fell twice in one month. My brain is fried so not sure I I have worked this last bit out correctly.