53 week rent year - Universal Credit will not pay

[Lougle]

Just a reminder that this coming year (April 2024-March 2025) is a 53 week year. Universal Credit is calculated on multiplying your rent by 52 and dividing by 12, so the 53rd week will not be covered by Universal Credit.

If you don't want to get in arrears and you receive Universal Credit, you will have to cover the extra week by paying a little extra each week or making a one off payment for the weekly rent amount.

Bumping because this is really really important.

One for @mnhq to publicise perhaps?

Sorry this is news to me - what does it mean in practice? That for that month my total payment amount will be lower than usual? By about 25% of our months rent? If so, that’s really shit no idea how we’re going to cover it tbh

Sorry if I’m being dense here, but is only affecting SH tenants/those who are billed weekly? My monthly rent is £1500 but only £1195 is covered by UC. Can anyone tell me how short we will be?

Am worried this is seriously going to screw us as we’re only just getting by and losing £200 will mean visiting a food bank for the first time.

can’t believe I’ve never heard of this either, as I’m generally pretty clued up about UC

Following

For tenants who are charged weekly rents, the way universal credit is calculated is to take the weekly rent and multiply it by 52, then divide by 12 to give a monthly figure.

However, there are 53 Mondays in 2024, so there will be 53 payments due. Because Universal Credit works out rents by multiplying the weekly rent by 52, they won't cover the last week.

Example:
Weekly rent £100
Monthly rent used by DWP (£100×52/12) £433.33
Total yearly rent used by DWP: £5200
Because there's a 53 payment year, the actual yearly rent will be £5300 and there will be a £100 shortfall.

I think if you were quoted your rent as a monthly figure (common in private tenancies) you'll be unaffected because there are still 12 calendar months in the year.

Anyone who is quoted a weekly figure, even if they pay monthly, is affected.

It generally only affects people who are charged a weekly rent - so mainly council and HA tenants

Due to there being 53 rent weeks in the year - one week will be short if you receive UC

so if your rent is £150 per week you would need to be increasing the amount you pay each week by £3 or £13 per month extra - or thereabouts. This will then cover the extra week. Obviously we are now at the end of march therefore there are 9 weeks gone so the maths needs to be 43 weeks or 10 months

Some LAs are doing 5 rent free weeks so willwork out ok. Definitely worth checking the resnt announcement letter.

My HA put this in their leaflet that came with my rent increase letter

Thought it was quite cheeky especially as it came right under a section about money worries. Essentially divide a week’s rent by 12 and add that to what you pay monthly.

Not sure why you think its cheeky? Its making people aware of the situation and how to work a solution.

Many people regularly overpay there rent, so that in the event of them not being able to pay they have 2/3 months rent already paid - ive even come across 8 months up front by a woman who was on tax credits and terrified about being changed to UC and it all going wrong and her being evicted

Thanks for the clarification. I hate that there are so many hidden hoops to jump through though.

Some ha's charge rent monthly so this won't affect those tenants, and not everyone has the same billing dates. Perhaps with a years notice people can have improved their financial position?

@MikeRafone that’s not everyone though.
Those with money worries aren’t going to have that much built up

I think it's important that people are aware, especially for those who get a partial rent allowance in their UC. The impact of rising rents (ours is going up £50 per month this year) and this anomaly could cause problems for some.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce7xled8zx3o.amp

Just reminding people about this. There's a brief BBC article on it.

So if people put by £2 a week that will cover the shortfall. Presumably next year will only be a 51 week year, so tenants will be quids in!

No, there are always at least 52 Mondays. The year is 52 weeks and 1 day long (52 weeks and 2 days on a leap year), so every 5 or 6 years you get a year with 53 Mondays, but you never get a year with 51.