Cost of living £299 February payment.help

lynsey122

I applied for UC On the 14th September 2023 as I was starting maternity leave and moving to SMP. My first assessment/ payment on the 20th of September was a  zero award for period 14th September to the 13th October due to me starting my maternity leave and taking annual leave as pay. I then had a 2nd zero award from the 14th of October to the 13th November 2023z my 3rd award from 14th Nov to 13th Dec 2023. Was also zero ( I will say add I was on smp income only if £172 pw as I am weekly paid). My daughter was born on the 14th nov and I updated my change of circumstances to Uc on 1st dec 2023. Therefore my award for 14th Nov to 13th Dec was backdated to include the children element, and my November award of zero was recalculated to show the child element of UC along with a small potion of standard allowance due to my SMO earnings being just above the earnings threshold.  is it right I don’t qualify for 1 day ?
Do they not take into account full earnings at the start of the month. ?

my income went down due to smp to £172 pw should i have been giving the grace period due smp earnings and benefit cap checked. Any advice I can get would be great 

poppy123456

The criteria for this payment is you must have been entitled to a payment of UC for an assessment period that ended between 13th Nov and 12th Dec. 

For this reason your assessment period between 14th Nov and 13th Dec is not the qualifying period because that assessment period ended after 12th Dec.

For you the qualifying period will be 14th Oct to 13th Nov. Based on the information you have given you will not be entitled to this payment because your entitlement for that period was reduced to zero due to earnings.

Unfortunately, you are correct and you miss out by one day but sadly, there’s nothing you can do. 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAuNGuBhAkEiwAGId4ag_MMH7eM0h-SHDUSzCNiK35J_Eujt-adh-3yt3ojjPpJONAYt_C2xoCgPoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#low-income-benefits-and-tax-credits-cost-of-living-payment-eligibility

lynsey122

Should the grace period of been applied for earnings threshold 

poppy123456

The benefit cap won’t apply for 9 months  if in the last 12 months you or a partner were earning at least £722/month. 

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/benefit-cap/am-i-affected-by-the-benefit-cap

Are you saying you had deductions because of the benefits cap? If so are you sure it was for this? 

Before your baby was born if you didn’t have children on your claim then you wouldn’t have had the work allowance. Once they were born you would have then been entitled to this, which means a certain amount of earnings can be received each month before deductions apply. This is not the benefit cap.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-earnings