AIBU to ask you how you get on with 4 week pay cycles?

[FourWeeksPay]

I've got friends and family working in retail. They all seem to be on very low pay, limited hours and 4 week pay cycles. The combination seems to cause them all sorts of problems because of the way their pay day shifts from month to month.

Some things are fine (for example United Utilities allow water charges to be paid on a 4 week cycle) but some things really seem to disadvantage people on 4 week pay cycles and low pay. Council tax in my area, for example, c an only be paid on once-monthly direct debits on the same day each month and refuse to add other options.

The real problem seems to be Universal Credit though. AIUI if there are 5 pay days in the month it can increase earnings enough to severely effect (or even stop) UC payments the following month.

Apart from a few grumbles every time UC is discussed I've never really heard anyone making much of a big deal about this on SM or anywhere. I only know about it because I've become accustomed to lending friends money to see them over the worst of it.

Maybe low paid retail workers just aren't the type to make a fuss about such things? Or is it that I'm blowing up a problem that doesn't really exist

AIUI if there are 5 pay days in the month

*I meant 2 pay days in the month, not 5. 8 weeks pay in the same month.

It's weekly-paid workers who can end up with 5 pay days in the month - same sort of problem but less severe.

I get paid 4 weekly. I don't mind, I get a pay day once a year where I have no direct debits. Admittedly I'm not on a low income though.

Yes, it's probably not much of an issue at all unless you're 'just about managing', reliant on in-work benefits and a large proportion of your income goes on rent and council tax.

Yeah, I can imagine it can cause problems. I guess my ideal solution would be to have a second bank account, transfer monthly money to that each payday and then pay bills from that. Then paycheck 13 is savings/ to be used to smooth over gaps. But I can fully appreciate that won't work for everyone. And the UC thing is dreadful.

I get paid monthly - the regular way but I still find it better to just put a certain amount of money into another account every month and all my bills come out of that account i.e. mortgage, electric, gas etc. I always have a bit extra in there in case of any unexpected large bills but is also means that if I have a month where I am a bit stuck that I can usually turn to that account for a few extra quid to get me through - I do try not to touch it as much as possible.

It used to cause me so many problems, especially the transition from monthly pay to 4 weekly. I had to wait nearly 8 months for that 13th payday too, to use to get ahead of myself, once I'd been able to do that it became manageable.
But some months the council tax and rent due on the 1st and I got paid on the 5th say, and no one would agree to 4 weekly payments either. Just late payment charges.
When you're on low and unstable income like I was with little left to save in the first place, it was a nightmare.

Pretty much felt like one bunch of people would tell me when they'd pay me and another would tell me when I was going to pay them and if the two didn't tally then tough titties on me.

I now get paid weekly, and I pay everything weekly whether they like it or not quite honestly. I pay by standing order and bank transfers and have broken down the monthly payments to weekly payments.

There needs to be some uniformity I think, either everyone works on a 4 weekly basis or everyone works on a monthly basis.

And universal credit is a total farce. I did the calculator, and because I get paid weekly, I'd be about £500 a year (for perspective that's a month and a half rent for me) worse off. If I earned the exact same amount over a year, but was paid monthly, I wouldn't be worse off at all. Seems I'd be sanctioned for my employers choice of how to pay me........ And that's just how it'd affect me, without how it's screwing over so many others.

But some months the council tax and rent due on the 1st and I got paid on the 5th say, and no one would agree to 4 weekly payments either. Just late payment charges.

This is exactly the kind of experience I'm hearing about. The UC 'feature' is shocking enough but the refusal of some councils to allow weekly or 4-weekly payments of council tax is just ridiculous.

Yes, but the sad thing is unless you've faced it, most people don't believe that councils are like that. That they just shrug and say if you don't pay it - and because you've missed an installment it's now the entire balance - they'll send the bailiffs.
My mum insisted there was more to it than just what I said - until she faced a similar attitude herself and then realised.