Self isolation grant want their money back!

[Realitea]

I’m a cleaner and had to cancel work for ten days due to having to self isolate.
I have evidence showing the communication with the people I had to notify so they could arrange cover.
I lost quite a bit of money but my universal credit statement says I still made £33 more than the previous month
Due to this, they’re saying they want the grant money back.
Am I being thick? I did lose money by not going to work so even if it shows I made more than the previous month as a whole, I still lost income. I would have made more.
I’m trying to rebuild my finances here after having no work for so long (I only clean holiday homes so they were closed) and it was a blow having to stop for ten days.

Eligibility criteria for low income are set by your local authority. Are you able to say which local authority you're in, because the specifics may vary slightly?

It may be worth appealing on the basis that you have proved loss of income even though your income is variable. Do you have older statements showing higher income, that your normal wage is higher similar to the period when you isolated and not the month before when it was lower due to less work? (Your actual overall income might have put you outside the eligibility criteria, which would be annoying, but if you're on universal credit that sounds unlikely.)

Yes I have statements to show my normal income before covid which still put me in the universal credit bracket but I was doing really well and almost ready to get off it completely. I feel I’m back at the beginning now but I’ll get there.

I did email them again just now to say my income is variable and to look at one statement the month before doesn’t really give a clear picture. Also that holiday lets opened in April so obviously it would be higher as I did work after isolating.
I hope they will look at it again and see sense as it’s so worrying! Thanks for your reply.

That's good. Maybe try calling the helpline and talk to them about the evidence you have that your income is variable. Do you also have something you could show them as proof that you worked on different properties than were listed in the original claim, or that they would have needed cleaning during isolation and later? If they aren't working with you on it then ask them for a copy of the appeals process, and if you still struggle ask your local councillor to help you.

Good luck!

Thanks! I was thinking of a local councillor to help too but will ask for the appeals process if they don’t listen. Hopefully I’ll be ok!