Wtf is this a new low for UC :(

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So in lie of my other thread, I'm in rent arrears. I decided to delve into this and see by how much to get it paid.
UC did not pay my rent for October, hence the arrears. I'm just off the phone the guy said "UC is paid 13 months, the rent is 12 months so for one of those months rent will not be paid"
He also said this months rent will not be paid.
Making me over 700 pound in arrears 😭 wtf

Yeah they got two payments in December but the statement is still showing 2 months rent is missing, even the money owed from April if I minus that from the balance, it adds up to two months payments.
Actually come to think of it, I don't think I do get rent free weeks, I can't find anything about it on Google. The other house I lived in was a different housing association and they allowed two weeks free rent on other sides of the year providing you weren't in arrears, I'm so so sorry for the confusion. Perhaps I should just move out

The January payment isn't due until the 28th as they are paying every 4 weeks and the last payment was on the 31st of December.
Not entirely sure whats going on with the October payment but it may well be that they have agreed to pay the maximum monthly payment every 4 weeks in line with the payment schedule but as they can only pay 12 times a year one payment date has to be missed and covered by yourself.

That's explainable user, just wish they'd told me that and I could of tried to afford it

Rent free weeks are used in the calculation of your monthly housing element of UC so won't mean you get paid less housing in 1 month. For example if your rent is £70.00a week and you get 2 rent free weeks a year your UC housing payment will be £70.0,*50 weeks/12 to get the monthly amount.

UC is paid monthly not 4 weekly.

1 issue is if the housing element is paid directly to your landlord they are not neseccarily paid on the same date you are.

UC rent payments to social landlords are paid in a bulk payment once a month for all their tenants. This can make any rent arrears look worse than they are. Could that be the case with you?

benefitsinthefuture.com/weekly-rent-and-universal-credit-dont-panic/?fbclid=IwAR2YS1jb6227oX33QY1rFqTRZi9DAae7eJpMLdNYuxyXuqRdbLlIrgZPkGY

No it's the case here chasegirl although the landlord did mention that already, it takes a while for them to get the payment. But October's is missing, and UC confirmed that this months rent will not be paid, due to them randomly selecting a month not to pay
How is the world is that fair! I barely have 200 pound left over after paying the bills, I can't afford to pay back anymore

Wow, this is confusing, and I'm a benefits adviser with a housing association so am used to this shit!

Because UC is paid in arrears, a rent account where everything is paid on time will still show 4 weeks rent arrears when a payment is due. The only time the rent would look like it was paid up to date is on the day the payment is credited to the rent account. And that's when everything is running perfectly.

There have been problems with UC rent payments being made to councils and HAs with missing or incorrect information, so that the payments can't be allocated to the right account. That can take ages to sort out. Then there's the problem with the SAP system referred to above, which has caused real headaches for some big HAs.

You need to go through your UC records and compare the payments the DWP have made with the ones that have been credited to your rent a/c, and see if any payments have been made but not appeared on your rent a/c.

I'd hazard a guess that you got a bit in arrears at the start of your tenancy because of thinking housing benefit were going to cover it, and that the rest of the arrears is just down to DWP paying in arrears.

When you moved, did you move to a different council area? If you're still under the same council as before you moved, you should never have been switched to UC anyway, it should have just been treated as a change and you should have stayed on housing benefit.

I assume that your move happened before the baby was born, and that you only had 2 children back then.

You could ask your HA have a financial inclusion team that helps tenants with this sort of stuff. They'll be able to sort it out much more quickly than you could!

That's not correct at all. They cannot decide just not to pay the rent. Once it's been set up the system automatically pays the rent along with everything else.

I think someone has cocked up. You need to ring on Monday and ask to speak to a team leader for a full explanation

Yep mega confusing.
October my UC payment says 350 was paid to the landlord but I've got my rent statement here and no payment was made at all.
January says UC payment 350 to landlord but again no payment will be made as this month is the month they've decided not to pay it

We send your rent payments to your landlord 4-weekly, so there are 13 potential payments to landlord per year. However, we make only 12 monthly payments of rent to your landlord. Therefore, for one of the 4-weekly dates each year no rent payment will be made to landlord. This is why no payment was sent to your landlord in October 2018. Thanks
Robert
This is what they said on my journal so yes they've basically decided it won't be paid but on the phone, he said this month won't be paid either

That s not correct. You definitely need to speak to a team leader

Partner who works in UC says this is really common as your UC is a monthly period.
However your rent is 4 weekly to landlord.

This means the payments don't match up. Your landlord payments will be bulk and if your cycle has just miss their creditor date then the latest UC deduction of your rent will sit there until their next cycle.

This means that you are always looked like you are in arrears. Regarding the thirteen times a year- There always be one creditor payment cycle that doesn't have a rent in
it ie £0.00 as your rent has been deducted 12 times from UC. However that deduction was a calendar monthly deduction not a 4 weekly deduction so it does work out. Of course this doesn't help if you have top up to make.

yes the system isn't fit for purpose and my partner suggestion was that you take back paying the rent direct yourself and set up a direct debit.

My partner is not Robert Btw. We both worked in benefits for years and he's just had to have a very long conversation with me to explain it....... No wonder everyone is so confused.

When would you youngest child born- what you claiming before?

If you try and look at it that those 4 weekly payments to your landlord were actually more per cycle than the actual 4 weekly entitlement would be because the amount paid was the monthly deduction from your UC payment.

Your youngest is 5. I don't think you should have transitioned to universal credit.

My youngest is 5 months old

Ah didn't realise 5 mths. Then yes 2 child rules.

You will always look in arrears unless you take back rent deduction and pay landlord yourself. Sorry.

Yeah I know it looks in arrears, but even calculating it all up there's two months payments missing plus the amount I owe from end of march/April time.
Just didn't realise they can stop the months payment with no notice, no warning nothing had they said this was happening I'd have tried to budget for it

My Ha warned me of this when I told them I'd be claiming UC, plus that UC often pay late so I opted for just recieving the full UC amount which includes the rent and pay the rent myself.

It's a mighty cock up, I'm sorry iv no advice or experience of this.

Florences at least you had the heads up, my HA just said get the housing benefit forms in as soon as to get your address changed. Literally nobody mentioned UC.
Somebody asked what I claimed before moved to this house, income support. I split up with my ex in November, he kicked me out so council put me into temp accommodation, where I got housing benefit for that place, then moved into my house and of march

I don't know if this helps but rent is paid by uc 'late' . so for example, I get paid my uc on the 6th of each month but the housing element of that payment that goes direct to my landlord isn't received by them until the following 2nd of the month, nearly a month late. Could that be why?

No, two payments have definetly not been paid
Like I said I've got my up to date rent statement here, it's up to date from the 17th of Jan, no October payment at all

Just didn't realise they can stop the months payment with no notice, no warning nothing

I thought that they told you each month how much you will be getting? That figure should include how much you're getting towards your rent, even if your rent is being paid direct to the landlord. Otherwise, how are you supposed to know your rent isn't being paid in full?

Yes it does say how much I'll get for example it says
1050
350 to your landlord
but the rent has not been paid to the landlord?