Should I cancel my universal claim and then reapply?

[Mumog]

hi, im getting myself really worked up over this so hoping someone can help me out. Basically my pay day falls on the first day of my assessment period (I applied 2 weeks ago for the first time) from what I’ve read this is going to cause me trouble for ever more due to the fact I will sometimes be paid early (weekends etc) this will mean that I would be paid twice in some assessment periods and 0 times in others. It seems I can put in a rti payment dispute each time this occurs to ask for pay to be allocated to another assessment period, but the thought of doing this alone is stressing me out and the thought of possibly having to wait days/weeks for a response each time with a delay in pay would be so stressful. Should I just cancel the whole claim now and reapply?? Any advice?

It doesn't matter which day of the month your pay day is. The assessment period always ends 7 days before the UC pay date.

If you receive 2 wage/ income payments within the assessment period they will be used to calculate your UC payment.

Unfortunately this can negatively affect any UC payments if you are weekly paid, 4 weekly paid, or pcm due to employers reporting of wage payments to HMRC for NI and tax purposes which are then fed to DWP to use to calculate benefit payments.

It's the '4,4,5' week accounting periods not lining up with calendar months that the problem. Most problematic during '5 week' months like July and August.

Thanks for the reply. I am paid monthly and my assessment period runs from the 10th August - 9th September, if my payday was say the 16th it would be unlikely for me to ever get two pays in a month….

You have the opportunity to plan ahead for the inevitable 2 pay days in an assessment period scenario - this takes many people by surprise so take that as a positive that you understand how it works!!

I have pretty bad anxiety so do overanalyse everything 😬I rang up the universal credit advice line this morning and spoke to an advisor about the situation, she actually advised that I do cancel otherwise as I mentioned to her I would have approx 5 months with double / no wage per year which although can be disputed as 2 pays in one month can also be a lot of hassle every time it happens with possible late pay etc.

I think I did read somewhere that Universal Credit will move one of the pay dates into the next period so you aren't sanctioned for having 2 pay dates in one assessment period.

If you can work out the dates you are paid and when the month falls for 2 payments. Can you ask your employer to hold the pay date. We get paid early in Christmas. I get mine held back until after the assessment date and get paid on the usual date. It's not difficult for pay role to organise