To think Universal Credit are a bunch of cunts

[StarbucksStraw]

I work full time but also claim Universal Credit.

They have awarded me £0 this month because two of my wages have fallen within one assessment period therefore to them, it looks like I have earned twice as much.

This happens several times a year because of how my wages are paid, each time I have to raise a dispute, they then "move" one lot of wages to a different assessment period and adjust my statement and pay me the outstanding amount. This is usually sorted within a few days but sometimes takes longer.

This time my payment is nearly three weeks overdue. I have no money left, all of my wages have been spent on rent, direct debits etc. Every time I ask them for an update I get fuck all.

How can they leave someone in this situation? They told me to ask the local authority for help but I've had no luck.

They already have the information from HMRC/ my employer showing when I was paid and how much. What the actual fuck do the expect people to do? I can't run my car to get to work on fresh air and I doubt my son wants to live off whatever stale shite is left in the cupboard for the next fuck knows how long.

I don't know what I'm hoping for from this post... anyone else had success in getting them to hurry up?

I don't have enough left over at the end of each month to save enough to cover the shortfall when this happens 3 or 4 times a year. I do my best to let them know as early as possible when I've worked out it will happen, but they absolutely refuse to take it into account ahead of time.

I don't think the system allows them to take account of changes that haven't happened yet. I don't think that is down to individual work coaches or case managers.

Mind you, there are 2 job centres out of the 9 or so that I deal where staff are noticeably less willing them others to put themselves out to help claimants. I'm compiling a little set of case studies that my manager will be raising with the partnership manager when we have enough to demonstrate a pattern.

My god you've just solved a massive problem for everyone who lives below the poverty line! Hear that everyone, just get a better-paid job! Well shit! Why didn't us minimum wagers think of that?

Must be.

I'm imagining the blue rinse brigade all intoning "let them eat cake".

Are the 'dickheads' the government then? Because 'universal credit' isn't people or staff, it's a system. The dwp are made up of lots of different roles, none of which actually decide how the system works

I got one wage at the end of March and one at the end of April. I haven't had extra wages, or anything paid early. I've been paid one wage each month. Not sure how much plainer I can make it for you, sweetie.

It's not "they" that are awful, it's the system.

And in your case, if the payrise had been paid from when it started, you would have received less for every one of the months since then. It's effectively clawing back an overpayment that has arisen from a retrospective pay award.

Sweetie you said you have been paid twice calm down and read the thread you started

Are the 'dickheads' the government then? Because 'universal credit' isn't people or staff, it's a system. The dwp are made up of lots of different roles, none of which actually decide how the system works

Certainly the task force put together to design, create and implement this system. I can't imagine it was a huge group when placed alongside the rest of DWP. There are massive holes in UC, much like everything else it was fast tracked, rolled out before it was finished, over budget. It has never worked properly because it was poorly designed and implemented. The people generally put in place to design these systems rarely have an idea of what it's like to be an end user.
So, yes. Dickheads.

I didnt. Maybe you should read the thread, or if that's beyond you, go away.

Employers will never be able to keep up with the increase in rent. Employers will go out of business very quickly and people will be made redundant and need more support for the government.

the worst thing this country ever did was introduce the right to buy scheme and not use the money made to build more houses - landlords are making a killing and everyone is paying for it. That is legacy of the Tory party.

It's not a good system if it can't cope with when a worker is paid, It isn't just staff who are paid every 4 weeks who are affected, I do the payroll at work and we usually pay early for Christmas due to the office closing but that means that an employee may have their UC stopped due to receiving "extra" pay within a pay period even though this is not the case.

So that's a yes to the government then and not the staff with no sway in the way the system is designed then 👍🏻

An assessment period for universal credit is not one month, it’s 5 weeks. I used to have this a few times a year where they claimed I got paid twice that month but I didn’t, I got paid every 4 weeks, it is a crap system.

I’ve only voted YANBU because I love overuse of the C word on here & how much it triggers some users 🤣

An assessment period for universal credit is not one month, it’s 5 weeks

An Assessment Period is 1 calendar month not 5 weeks.

Yes, certainly not to the people working there!

Probably low paid, claiming UC and getting screwed over by moving pay dates...

This is why they ask you to report it as paid on the correct date. Same when payday is brought forward for a BH or a weekend. If its reported correctly it shouldn't affect the payment.

That first bit should have been in quotes

I am sorry to hear of your struggles OP, having no money is soul destroying.

This is not a bug in the system. This is by design. When the Conservative government promises to deliver billions of pounds worth of cuts to working age benefits, OP's example is just one of the many ways in which they achieve it: off the backs of the working poor.

The Tories protect the rich at the expense of everyone else. It it what their party is for. The crying shame is that so many less well off people fall for their bullshit and vote them in time and time again.

Op have you thought of buying a magical oil lamp and rubbing it until a genie appears?

I just figured this suggestion was about as useful as some of the ones on here which have included just earn more money 🙄

I hope you get a resolution soon.

But you've been paid twice in one UC assessment period, and it's the assessment period that is the relevant timeframe for the calculation. For UC to take account of the myriad of different pay dates and periods employers use, it would be so massively complex it'd go wrong even more often.

Yours is a relatively unusual pattern of pay dates, I've only come across one similar since UC started. I also think it might be resolved if your employer followed the HMRC guidance with regard to always showing the pay date as the last day of the period the wages cover, rather than the actual date of payment.

I wonder what would happen if you closed your UC claim for a few days and reclaimed? It may be that if were canny about it, you could reclaim on a date earlier in the month, so that there would never be an assessment period where this happened. If so, it might be worth forgoing a few days of UC to prevent this happening if it's so difficult to manage.

It might be worth looking into. It's possible that there's a rapid reclaim process that reverts to the previous dates, though I think that's unlikely as it would involve paying you for days when you didn't actually have a live claim.

When I asked them about it they told me it was 5 weeks 🤔 well either way it is still crap system

Really? You don't see the problem with bills going unpaid, stomachs going empty but it's ok because it will sort itself next month?!?! We don't all have money to fall back on! Some people actually have ZERO safety net through NO fault of their own.

My god

Rude. So won't listen. You may or may not have a point...

So you actually speak on behalf of op are you actually related or know op personally …I’m on uc and live month to month so your point is …..l