Universal credit

[Ineedaholibob]

I lost my job mid August.

Applied for UC at the end of August after final pay. Will I be entitled to anything after 5 weeks wait in October time?

0 income in September

I got 4200 after tax on 25th August for partial worked month if that helps. I have no idea.

I think you can request an emergency loan which then gradually comes off future UC payments. This is probably your best option. It's an option on your portal.

My ds tax credits stopped because he's left college.

I applied for universal credit and will be informed of I'm entitled on 7th October and first payment will be 11th (if I'm getting any!).

It should say on your application what dates are for entitlement etc.

I just wasn’t sure if they would take my august earnings into account.
the statement period is 1 September to 30 September. I finished work on 11 august and got paid 25 august final salary bits. UC is not very clear . I don’t know how it all works

Neither do I to be honest!

I assumed once ds tax credits stopped ( I got disability element and sole parent element) that's it. Means tested benefits stopped.

Someone advised me to apply as ds and I now count as separate people now he's 18. He can't apply as a student on uni course. But apparently he doesn't count in my income because he's not a dependent .

I've no idea if I'll be entitled or not to anything. And I didn't have a wage stop iyswim? I just had my text credits stop.

"Surplus earnings
If you’re claiming Universal Credit, your earnings from previous months may affect how much you get.

If you earn more than £2,500 over the amount you can earn before you receive no Universal Credit payment, you are said to have surplus earnings. These surplus earnings will be taken into account in the next monthly assessment period. This may reduce the amount of Universal Credit you receive, or perhaps mean that you don’t get any Universal Credit payment that month.

Surplus earnings will stop being taken into account once you start receiving Universal Credit payments again, or 6 months after the original surplus was created – whichever is earlier.

If you are part of a couple that has surplus earnings and you separate, the surplus earnings will be divided equally between the two of you. Your half will usually be taken into account if you make an individual Universal Credit claim." www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/new-to-universal-credit/universal-credit-and-work/

If your excess income reduces your UC to nil, and there was more than £2500 left over, you won't get UC the following month. I think that the next month, they recalculate, taking into account the amount that would have been awarded, and again, calculate whether there is more than £2500 left.

Hi thanks for your advice

I claimed UC for few months during Covid when I was not able to work. I then closed the claim in November 21. This is now a new claim (over 6 months). On this basis the information on the link indicates the surplus won’t count . Am I reading this right? It’s not clear to me at all

That's not how I read it. I read it that they look at past months to assess whether they impact the current month. That means that August may impact September. I think.

I’ve recently been here , I had to give up work feb due to a separation and childcare over night would of been 3 times what I earned

my final pay check was feb £1453 , uc claim put in feb I received no payment until end of may

If you log on to you UC account, it will tell you your ‘cycle’. The payments tab/section, would be helpful as it will tell you when your statement is. On statement day, it will tell you how much you are to be paid. Statement day is generally 4 working days before payment day, for instance statement on 22nd, potentially paid on 26th. If you have no income for your cycle dates, I believe you should get paid benefit.

I used to work for the local council, and this is what I was led to believe anyway. Mostly because of the housing and council tax benefit aspect. I am not a UC expert by any stretch of the imagination.

Thank you all for your feedback

Hi, I'm claiming UC as a top from work, I get paid the 19th of every month from UC but I get paid every 4 weeks from work. I got paid the 14th of Oct the then 11th Nov so because I got paid 3 days before the 4 weeks was out (14th>11th) I got a nil award because its registered as being less than 4 weeks by 3 days, I've messaged them on my portal with evidence both pays being 4 weeks apart with wage slips and they said my award is still correct, ice called and told them too and even mentioned I've already had my twice pay before I applied with them in May. I am now worried that I'm will not get paid next month as I get paid the 9th of December which will be 2 days inside the 4 weeks from the 11th of Nov, will it register as getting paid twice within a month again or reset? I was also advised that I can change the date I get paid my UC so it doesn't mess with my 4 weeks but I'm unable to calculate a date or if it can even be done.
Next dilemma is my oldest daughter (17) isn't working or in college as there wasnt enough places against applicates so shes not doing anything right now will I lose money for her as they've stated I will lose money for both my kids if I cant prove her education. PLEASE HELP!

I think you are misunderstanding how Uc works or maybe I'm just not understanding what you mean.
You have your assessment period dates and these always stay the same. Any earnings reported by your employer in your assessment period will be counted. For 11 months of the year you will get just one four weekly wage reported in your assessment period but for one month of the year there will be 2 paydays reported because when you are paid four weekly you have 13 pay dys in the year but only 12 UC assessment periods. So for one month of the year 2 paydays are reported in your assessment period meaning you likely get quite a bit less Uc paid as there are more deductions for earnings. in some cases depending on what the total amount of Uc is, this may wipe out your award altogether. It works out fairly overall because for the other 11 months of the year you get slightly higher UC than someone on the same annual income who got paid monthly because your salary is divided by 13.
Regarding your daughter then yes you will only get paid if she is in education, although if she is waiting to start another course I would explain that on your journal and see what they say.

Sorry I just re-read your post. If you are saying your employer paid you earlier than the four weeks because for example it fell on a weekend date or something then you can ask your employer to report it correctly as they should report it as the day it should normally be paid. Then UC can re-assign it to the next assessment period. I think it is called raising an RTI dispute.

Also you cannot change the dates of your assessment period. Well you can but the only way to do this is to close the claim and then re-open a new one but it would not make any difference. When paid four weekly there will always be one month per year where 2 paydays fall in one assessment period and you get less or no UC.

Yeah that's correct. I've called my HR and they said there's nothing they can do on their side, how do I raise this RTI dispute please? Thank you so much, been going out my mind its going to happen for the next month too as all my payday falls on a Monday but work only pays on a friday so how will they work it out then?

@ttennisha it doesn't work quite how you think. If you get paid UC on the 19th, then your assessment dates are 16th-15th, I think? You got paid on 11th November, which is before your November assessment period, which runs 16th November - 15th December, so it won't be counted.

Your pay on 9th December will be counted in your November assessment period, but then you'll get paid on January 6th, which will be counted in the assessment period 16th December-15th January.

Are you saying there were no colleges anywhere that could take your DD? That can't be right?

Next dilemma is my oldest daughter (17) isn't working or in college as there wasnt enough places against applicates so shes not doing anything right now will I lose money for her as they've stated I will lose money for both my kids if I cant prove her education.

What do you mean by there weren’t enough places? If DD registers with the careers service there can be a 20 week extension to child benefit. You won’t lose money for your younger DC.

My assessment dates are the 12th-13th of every month but they're saying I got paid twice in 1 month when I haven't that's my main problem and yes the colleges she applied for the course She wanted are full, she's had to apply to another city which we're waiting on a reply. I have attached an image from my account to show what they said.

My twice pay was back in March when I got paid the beginning and end of the month and that is what they are trying to say here but it wasnt the case

Never knew this, thank you so much. Massive help.

Yes, so for Universal Credit purposes, your month is 13th-12th. You did get paid twice in that 'month'. You got paid on the 14th October (pay 1) and 11th November (pay 2). So Universal Credit have to take into account both pay packets. It does all work out though, because you get the extra payment from wages.

Spoke to someone with sense on the phone and they said they've made a mistake and escalated it to get it sorted and a back pay. It wouldn't have worked out as I wouldn't have gotten extra from my wages that's why I'm claiming a top up. It's getting sorted now.

I don't see how they think they've got it wrong, tbh. There is a Government publication that explains the impact of a 4-weekly pay cycle on UC: here

Lougle is correct. If you are paid four weekly and have been paid twice in your assessment period ( which it definately looks like you have) then you will have 2 lots of wage deductions. It will happen once a year .

You were not paid extra but 2 paydays have fallen in your assessment period.

Hi does anyone know why my payment has gone in as a uc faster payment at 9.45 am on Thursday when my payment date is the 11th and is not a bank holiday