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UC wrong payment!

ancojo

We have recieved the exact same amount of UC since claiming last year but last month they messed things up so I questioned it and was sent some explanation which made no sense to me but it was rectifed before payment so we were paid the exact same amount as usual, however this month we have now been paid less!

Our payments are:-

20 May 2025 £817.21
20 April 2025 £877.20
20 March 2025 £877.20
20 February 2025 £877.20
20 January 2025 £877.20
20 December 2024 £877.20
20 November 2024 £877.20

We have had no changes and made no loans so I'm not sure what they have done! I have checked all the figures in the calculation and nothing has changed, the landlord got paid the exact same so no issue there.

I've messaged them but I had a funny feeling this was going to happen due to what they said when the issue happened last month.

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ancojo

Just to add this is whats on our statement this month? We have had no loans or any changes for this to be deducted, the explanation of the issue mentioned something regarding Carers allowance but it made no sense.

"Debts and loan repayments

Other DWP benefits recovery minus ‑ £74.87

Read more information about Universal Credit payments, including who to contact on the GOV.UK website. Search for 'find out about money taken off your Universal Credit payments'."

This is what was originally sent as an explanation:-

"So when the award rate goes up for Carers allowance (CA), they update their award details and their system tells ours, you may not have actually banked the increased payments yet, but the award has been made ready for CA period date from X to Y - likely to be the next payment you receive from them - as that covers an award period for CA dates of that which fall inside this UC statement period, and as our statement has already processed but based on the old deductions rates, the system is going back to re-calculate now at the updated rates, to take account of the extra deductions that should apply,

So our UC system has already sent your UC payment ready to credit on 20 April, but based on the last known CA amounts as was held on the system at that time, in the gap between calculating the payment of UC and it actually reaching you on 20 Apr, the system has already then picked up that this amount is going to be slightly overpaid now the new CA rates have arrived,

On our payments system (which CA use the same one) we can see the £83.30 paid on 07 Apr for their period 07 Apr to 13 Apr, and this falls inside UC statement period 14 Mar to 13 April, so the higher deductions affect that UC period, we can also see £83.30 paid on 14 April for CA period of 14 Apr to 20 Apr, this will be shown reflected in deductions for UC statement period 14 Apr to 13 May, and so on,

Its the award period covered dates rather than when its banked, in that sense,

Regards

UC"

This was another response:-

"The benefit is assessed each month separately so I cannot guarantee any particular figure(s), what happened in this case was that the system came by an update to the original amount used for carers allowance deductions coincidentally at the same time as the slight update to housing costs came about, so it just means that the one was offset by the other to some extent,

Had the carers allowance system told us to deduct the full £354 in the first pass of the statement then when the housing update landed you/landlord would have benefitted from the extra fully but this was an underpayment at the same time as an overpayment so the system automatically offsets once against the other to pay off the 'debt' so you did not quite see the full benefit of the update in that instance,

But yes in theory if the carers allowance deductions stay the same (if their rate goes up in April then our deduction would go up accordingly next time) and if the payment to landlord amount stays as it now shows, and no other deductions for anything else drop in then yes the £877 figure would be the same again, we ultimately cant be sure until the next statement is calculated, as its an individual re-assessment based on whats known at the time of the last day of the statement each month/period,

So we only know exactly then,

Regards

UC"

Anyone clarify what they are on about would be much appreciated!

ancojo

Just to add, we had 3 statements in April due to the mess up, the first statement was going to pay us £74 to much but by the third statement the correct figures were used and we were paid the correct amount BUT their system this month seems to have used the first April statement in its calculation and thinks we have been overpaid bu that £74 which we wern't?

I've added all this to our journal but why do I get the feeling I wont get any sense from them!?

Kimi87

If you don't get anywhere with the Journal, you have the option of making a formal complaint due to the incorrect deduction for an overpayment which never happened. https://makeacomplaint.dwp.gov.uk/

ancojo

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1028686#Comment_1028686

Thanks Kimi

I didn't get a reply today and we get paid on Tuesday so not sure what happens after that?

If we dont get any joy ill do as you mention.

onlymeagain

In our last payment they didn't deduct the full amount of CA from my hubby that they usually do. So I'm expecting them to claim an overpayment next time.
Seems they are making loads of mistakes when it comes to carers lately.

Hope you get it sorted.

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