Help and advice! Moving from weekly pay to monthly on universal credit

[Surfskatefamily]

Any advice appreciated..here's situation.

Husband is in full time work. I do a couple of hours but also at home with small toddler. Always pay our bills but are literally on the bread line every month due to very high rebt and council tax in our area. So no savings.

Hubby weekly paid. We normally pay groceries put of his weekly pay.

Hes started a new job and its monthly paid. And instead of paying him the first week of his work which would have fallen before payroll cut off it's going into end of feb.

So were seriously scint. We get a universal credit as well so thankfully will get enough to pay our bills rent etc. Will be left with about 160 afterwards. Once fuel for commuting is taken we are looking at about 15 a week left for food nappies and any other expenses.

I've asked UC and they wont give an advance as weve earned too much for an advance 🤨 we have been paid 513 in this calculation month

They say we should go to the food bank.
Honestly I'm annoyed as a working family surely an advance we pay back would be better than food bank. We've been there before in the past when hubby was self employed and a contractor didnt pay for 3 months 😪

Any advice of alternatives? The job change happened very quickley so we didnt have time to prepare

Its not ideal, I would use the food bank this month, and his pay will be slightly higher next month, although will that affect your UC?

that's rubbish but assuming they can actually do a food bank referral and if you qualify for enough help from the food bank to get you to the next time you get income then it's probably sensible to save your energy and accept that. you can always pay back the food bank gradually at the same rate you would have paid back a UC advance. or do you actually need cash for something other than food?

Hi yes it's just food nappies etc..it just seems rubbish to have to rely on food bank again.
Once his February pay is in we will be totally fine. It's really tricky going from weekly to monthly pay

Is there a utility bill or something that you can not pay for a month? If you ring them, you'll be surprised at how accommodating some companies can be.

We could but are already making overpayments from last time we did this so its just gonna push it up more. I'll find out what the water and energy would want as overpayments. I've got no tv license, just watch Netflix. So not package or anything I can get rid of.
It's just a uc advance would let you have a whole year to repay. Personally I think it would be better than just sending people straight to the food banks. The ones near us are giving away record amounts this last 12 months

Yeah it is a ridiculous system, but that's what food banks are for, no shame, it means your family can eat and saves you the stress of trying to figure something else out which probably won't be possible. As a PP said, if you feel like you want to then just maybe donate a few items when your money does come through.

Is your council tax or water payments free for February and March, or do you pay over 12 months?

Can you get a short term loan or overdraft?

Your local credit union should do a family loan of up to 500 pounds which is paid out of your child benefit. It also gives you an option of saving weekly or monthly.

There is a feed yourself for a pound a day account on Facebook , most of it isn't a pound as the site got very popular , but there are specific threads on eating and managing extremely low budgets . You might find some inspiration and it will make any food bank supplies go further .

How many weeks are you looking at now?

Please go to Ur local council website and look for welfare grants or just call them they will advise u the can give u a grant x

Thank you all this is really helpful, will look at credit union welfare grants pound a day etc etc and figure put what plan to take with hubby when he gets home later. Basically I have enough for this week and then it will be 5 weeks we are struggling for.
Sorry for delay in replying. Playgroup!