I gave Universal Credit the wrong rent details by mistake, advice please

starwarsfanboy

Hello,

I recently migrated from ESA and Housing Benefit to Universal Credit. My rent is paid per calendar month. By mistake I told Universal Credit it was every four weeks. Housing Benefit is every four weeks which is probably why I made that mistake. I did send them my tenancy agreement and a letter from my landlord with the correct information, but my error wasn’t noticed. 

The application was approved, but as I told them rent was every four weeks I’ve received housing payments which are too high, and as a consequence transitional element which is too low. The overall discrepancy is only £3 though.

I wrote a journal message explaining what happened and asking for the figure to be changed. I got a reply which said ‘…if this is incorrect, you will have to go into your claim & change. Report the change from the beginning of your claim, and we can adjust it.”

I'm feeling a bit stupid and don’t want to make another mistake! - Do I use the ‘Report a Change’ option, followed by ‘Where you live and what it costs’? And how do I report the change from the beginning of my claim as requested please?

Thank you!

Kimi87

Yes you use Report a Change, followed by Where you Live and What it Costs.

There is a section to enter the date as part of the reported change process. You would enter the day you submitted your application.

starwarsfanboy

Brilliant! Thank you very much.

starwarsfanboy

Hi again,

After some thought I have a query, if you don't mind please?

I need to make the rent change using 'Report a Change' but I also need to reply to the person who messaged me on my Journal page explaining I've made the change, and how I made the mistake. - From my experience, Journal messages can take a week or more to be read. Will the same person / office likely deal with both actions? Or might a person react to the 'Report a Change' information without reading my new journal message? Is there anything else I should do please?

I probably sound paranoid, sorry, but quite a lot has gone wrong with my Universal Credit application, usually for a small reason, and I want to get this absolutely right this time!

Thank you.

Kimi87

My advice would be to use the Report a Change feature, then add a Journal note saying you have now corrected your application mistake.

You don't need to worry if it's the same or different person.

Mary_Scope

Hi @starwarsfanboy and a warm welcome to the community from me!

I see Kimi has already answered your question so I won't add much else today but its lovely to have you here and i hope you enjoy your time on the community😊