APA and delayed UC payments

WhatThe

Summarised from anth22's post..

Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) will not be put into place until after your first payment. Once it starts you'll be waiting longer than a month and then you will only receive half of your usual payment, the (rest) 2 weeks later.

poppy, do those delayed payments of UC contribute to rent arrears? Thank you.

poppy123456

Their payment is only delayed while the payment cycle changes due to the APA. If UC pay your landlord directly then it will continue to be paid as normal. If they don't then it will be paid half on the first payment and the other half 2 weeks later.

WhatThe

So for a new UC claim and new APA request it's paid when?

I can't work it out from your answer, I'm sorry.

poppy123456

Your first payment date will be your usual payment date but you will only receive half of your payment. The other have would be 2 weeks later.

For example, if your assessment periods are 24th to 23rd of the month and your payment date is 30th of every month on the 30th you would receive half your money, then around the 14th you will receive the other half. Which means when it's first put in place the first month can be difficult to manage your finances because you're waiting longer for your usual amount of money.

Whether an APA can be agreed will depend on your circumstances.

WhatThe

Thanks again.

So my HA requested an APA for my rapid reclaim against my wishes. I received half the Personal Allowance 4 weeks and 6 days later (I'm guessing) and the other half a fortnight later. That's 7 weeks of rent overdue but at what point is the housing element included in these awards?

I read that UC issues rent/housing element to the whole nation's landlords on a single day each month which is at odds with the advance rent expected..

Even though mine was a 'rapid reclaim' via CAB, UC pretended not to know my landlord and took 14 weeks to hand over the housing element which is what I'm trying to make sense of here!

poppy123456

No problem. My daughter has a APA for her housing element (totally forgot about that) only because our HA requested it. I’ve just looked at our rent account and her rent is paid on 24th every single month and has been since January. This is her payment date too.

The problem with UC is it’s paid 1 month in arrears and yes landlords usually want rent in advance. For us, this means that every month until her rent is paid our rent account is in arrears.

I still claim housing benefit and they pay my rent directly every week.