If there is anyone who is familiar with universal credit please can you help me with a situation I’ve found myself in. This is the first time I’ve ever used universal credit so I don’t know the ins and outs of it all. I was in my last job for 7 years but had to leave, I won’t go into the reason why so please don’t judge. I have a new job starting in February but for now I need help from Universal credit just to keep me afloat until after Christmas.
I submitted my claim on the 21st of October and it runs from the 21st to the 20th of November. I was paid by my previous employer on the 28th of October, this was my last wage from them. I used my wages to pay my bills and rent at the beginning of this month. I was expecting to receive money from Universal Credit on the 27th of this month which I would of then used to pay my rent and bills at the beginning of December.
I received my statement from UC today which saids I’m not entitled to anything as I had money from my previous employer on the 28th of October. As it falls after the date I submitted my claim I’m not entitled to anything. To me, it seems I’m not entitled to any financial help due to a technicality. I’m wondering, if had I submitted my claim after the 28th, would I be entitled to something?
As I said above I was paid on the 28th of October and that money was then used to pay my bills at the beginning of this month as my rent and most of my bills go out on the 1st of each month. I’m not really sure how UC can expect me to somehow stretch one months wage over two months, as I won’t be paid from them now until the 27th of December, and that’s if I’m entitled to anything anyway. (They can’t actually tell me, I have to wait until the end of each month to receive a statement).
I’m really panicking now as I have no money to pay my rent and bills at the beginning of December. Their basically expecting me to go a month without any money. I’ve tried applying for an advanced payment but this is the message I received when I tried to do it online this morning (Pic attached).
I’ve put a message in my journal for my work coach but I doubt she’ll see it until Monday. I can’t help but feel quite frustrated as I’ve been attending meetings with them once a week for the last 3 weeks. Had I known I wouldn’t be entitled to anything I probably wouldn’t have wasted money on transport as I could have put that money towards my bills. I did report I would be receiving my last wage at the end of October when I submitted my claim, and I also told my work coach. Had I been made aware that I wouldn’t receive anything I would have waited until after the 28th to submit my claim so I do feel the communication has been quite poor in this instance, although I’m not surprised as I’ve seen threads on here before about how useless they are.
The only reason I put my claim in before the 28th was because I was told I had to wait 5 weeks to receive any money, but had I known it would then mean I didn’t receive anything at all I would have just waited instead, as obviously some money is better than no none at all.
Please can someone shed some light? Is there anything I can do? I might have to email my landlord and ask if I can pay my rent in a month but I’m not sure how well that will go down so I’m really worried and scared. I have no family to help me financially either or savings as I was in hospital at the beginning of the year and had to use most of it to cover my rent/bills whilst off sick as my sick pay didn’t cover it.
Thank you