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Assessment period on UC

7 replies

Md94 · 18/10/2024 20:55

Hi I've started a new job where the last day of the assessment period is pay day. Sometimes it's earlier depending on if its the weekend or bank holiday etc.

This means some months I will get paid twice and some months I won't be paid at all by work. I'm getting really stressed uc are going to harass me to work more because I get paid a day early. It really is mentally destroying me they are going to be in my case every few months. Any tips or advice please? Many thanks

OP posts:
Bromptotoo · 19/10/2024 08:34

If you're working and can show a monthly salary that's exceeding the relevant threshold then an attempt to get you to do more work is a fool's errand and doomed to fail. You will however have problems if you have a Work Allowance as it could be lost in the AP where notionally you're not paid.

When UC first started and 'banking day shift' gave the sort of problems you have with two salaries one month and none the next UC said tough titty them's the rules. They were taken to court where their defence was that the computer was set up that way and nothing could be changed. The 'computer says no' defence was laughed out and they had to concede.

If you report that one of two pay cheques in the same AP actually relates to the next one they have to untangle it. I understand this is a manual process and a pain in the neck for UC staff but they have to do it.

Detail here:
https://askcpag.org.uk/content/205719/uc-and-double-payment-of-wages-new-rules

8dayweek · 19/10/2024 15:26

Your employer should use your contractual pay day as the "paid" date on their fps submission, regardless of whether you're actually paid earlier due to weekends / bank holidays etc.

If they don't, and this crops up a lot (which UC should untangle yes - because the UC system should flag the potential two Wages in one Assessment Period) then point your Employer towards this...

Link: www.gov.uk/running-payroll/reporting-to-hmrc

When to send your FPS
Send the FPS on or before your employees’ payday, even if you pay HMRC quarterly instead of monthly.
You must enter the usual date that you pay your employees, even if you pay them earlier or later. For example, if you pay your employees early because your usual payday falls on a Bank Holiday, you should still enter your regular payday.

Bromptotoo · 19/10/2024 16:30

@8dayweek interesting. My employer pays me my monthly salary on the 20th of the month (or last working day before) but my payslip refers to the last day.

I'm not on UC but if I were and my AP ended on the 25th how do you think they'd treat my payment?

bows101 · 19/10/2024 18:24

They won't harass you but they will question you via the journal. Just say due to the assessment period it's how it falls.
I go through this with so many cases, especially at Xmas time when pay is usually earlier.
On the months you are paid twice in a month you won't get any UC, but in the next month you will get full UC, so it does all even out.

8dayweek · 19/10/2024 19:44

@Bromptotoo Ooh interesting. I would say it sounds like your contractual pay day is 20th (but maybe it's the wage period that's to month end, if you get me) so I'd expect 20th to be the date.

I've seen it before though where people are paid like yourself on a specific date in the month but the employer always reports pay date as final day of the month.

They're difficult ones to unpick, because it's not an issue until it is (think someone claiming on 21st after final wage and then suddenly employer reports the wages you were paid on 21st as being paid on 31st).

Those ones, in my experience, tend to not get corrected at RTI dispute stage, but get invalidated at MR stage instead if it's a "final wage" kind of issue.

If not, and it's something that will go on moving forwards, then it tends to be HMRC escalation to the employer for clarity on their pay day. In a lot of contracts the pay day is "by the end of the month" so reporting contractual pay day as end of the month isn't "wrong" per se and the Employer just picks an earlier date to pay to give them breathing room / time to correct and reconcile etc... so in those cases it tends to be "you may get paid on X date but your employer states your pay date is end of month so that's what we'll receive".

This usually wouldn't be an issue with any kind of doubling up - it's more an issue if your pay date is close to AP dates and your then behind. For example, AP that runs 21st to 20th - and you assume your wages paid on last day of the AP (20th) are taken into account but it's actually the wages paid 20th of the prior month as they've been reported as being paid on 30th/31st etc.

For this kind of thing it would either be RTI dispute and MR each month, or just being aware of it so you can plan accordingly.

It's a bit of a minefield.

8dayweek · 19/10/2024 19:45

*You're then

Bromptotoo · 20/10/2024 09:07

bows101 · 19/10/2024 18:24

They won't harass you but they will question you via the journal. Just say due to the assessment period it's how it falls.
I go through this with so many cases, especially at Xmas time when pay is usually earlier.
On the months you are paid twice in a month you won't get any UC, but in the next month you will get full UC, so it does all even out.

Hmm, not really,

If you've got a Work Allowance, and you will have if there are kids on your claim, you lose that for the zero pay months.

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