I was migrated from tax credits onto universal credit last year.
I have a 24 hours a week job but there's often overtime going so my income varies depending on how much overtime I do.
I also have a small business from home making and selling jewellery. Again my income from this varies depending on how many orders I get or if I go to any craft fairs etc. I am registered as self employed and do a tax return for this income.
When I first claimed, I claimed on the 1st of the month so my UC period is the actual month to make it easier for me to work out the self employed income. I had to attend an appointment to discuss my work. I was told that I must report all self employed income by the 7th of the following month. Eg: I have until 7th Sept to report August's income.
I have usually had my figures done and uploaded by the 2nd-3rd of the month, so well before the 7th.
I've had a letter today to say that my income has been recalculated as they've been looking at the self employed income. I've now been told that I must report self employed income on the last day of the month it's earned. Eg: August figures needed to be uploaded on 31st August.
When I've uploaded on the 1st-3rd, they've applied the income to that month instead of the correct month. They've now gone back through everything and reapplied my self employed income to the correct month it was earned in.
The result of this is that I now have a large overpayment, so my UC is going to be cut until I have paid this back.
Can they do this? I thought UC was supposed to stop overpayments.