UC -£500 this next month. Trying to get advice for a friend..

[dustybluebell]

My friend messaged me today. She is going to try and speak with the benefits people tomorrow, but she said she looked at her statement this morning as due to get her UC payment tomorrow and she has got a figure of -£500.
She is sick with worry as she will not be able to pay any bills. She works Self employed working for herself cleaning and gets help so she can privately rent a 2 bed flat for her and her school age children.
She has no idea why they would be stopping that level of the money. She said she thinks it's some kind of cap. Can anyone advise just on the face of it why they have done that?
She is really worried about debt collectors coming to the house as she said she just hasn't got the money to pay her bills any other way this month. Thanks for reading.

Hi. Has she looked closely at her statement? I have had issues a few times where they have missed off part or all of my childcare element. Could it be that she earned significantly more last month?

I have learnt that to get the issue resolved (if it is a mistake on their part) it is quickest to make a formal complaint as they have to respond within 48 hours.

I know exactly how stressful this situation can be. I hope she gets a quick resolution.

If she is self employed then it may be that she has been hit by the minimum income floor. I believe this has been suspended during covid so may have just started to apply, or if she has only recently become self employed , it would have not applied for the first 12 months of setting up so that grace period may have ended.
The minimum income floor means that she would be treated as earning a certain amount even if she hasn't actually earned that amount in her assessment period.
If both her children are school aged she would likely be expected to earn 25 x nmw per week and if the minimum income floor now applies she will have deductions from her UC to that effect.
There is no point complaining if the minimum income floor has been correctly applied as no mistake has occurred.
It would be best for her to speak to someone tomorrow or leave a message for her case manager under payments on her home page.
How much self employment income has she declared for this last month?

Also as mercury has said - she should look closely at her statement. She should see a standard element, a rent element and childrens elements, she needs to check they are all there correctly.
It should say on her statement if a minimum income floor has been applied - it will say wat earnings have been taken into account for deductions.

If she cannot pay her rent she can try applying for a discretionary housing payment from her local council to cover rent shortfall. She will need to provide detailed income and expenditure information though.

Your friend needs to check her journal, if there are major changes, like introduction of minimum income floor there would be a journal message and a notification letter to download explaining it.

Thank you all for taking time to reply. I will.pass on your messages. She said she will.be messaging on her page, and will call them today. Thanks.again.

I passed on your messages. Thank you.she is grateful.
She said it's an income cap. Does that mean shes earning more so they've taken that £500 away this month, but shes really.woriesd it will.be every month. She said she is finished if so.

Yes, it seems as though they've introduced the minimum income floor. This will be every month. As a self employed person the answer is to increase income by working more or to find a job with more hours through an employer.

She should have had journal messages about this and plenty of notification.

Thank you for the reply.
She said she has to have a meeting with them every so often (the last one was 2 weeks ago, and that her appointed case worker' didn't tell her there would be any changes..
she is going to try and see them today. I have suggested CAB as think she has some debt as well. Thanks again for everyones input.

I believe it's mentioned on payment statement about minimum income floor and also any benefit cap and when they will be implemented.

Pleading ignorance and saying she's not been informed won't cut it unfortunately as there will have been multiple notifications on her journal, not just from her work coach.

Didn't mean to sound harsh. I'm sure this is very worrying for her, but it is within her power to resolve it.

No thank you. I totally understand and appreciate you taking the time to message on here.

It will be the minimum income floor. It’s to stop people pretending to be gainfully self employed in order to avoid job search commitments and work focused interviews etc

If she isn’t actually earning a decent wage she might be better off stopping the self employment and reporting this change on universal credit.

All the information needed is on the journal under ‘how to manage my universal credit claim’. No-one reads it.