Uniiversal credit and early paydays due to weekends.

Coffeecazzy

Can anyone help, my universal credit claiming experience has been a total nightmare.

My assessment period was from the 23rd of may to the 22nd of June.   This is my first month of claiming and my payday is the 23rd but because this fell on a Saturday, they have refused me any payments because I had 2 paydays in this assessment period.  My partner is disabled and has parkinsonism so can not work.  They are aware of this but there is no disability allowance on my payment statement.DO YOU KNOW WHAT I NEED TO DO?  THE SYSTEM SEEMS A TOTAL NIGHTMARE.   I am not sure if I need to appeal, claim again or add a note to my online journal.       

Coffeecazzy

Just to add.  I was paid 23rd of may and then Friday the 22nd of June because we get paid on a friday if paydays fall on a Saturday or Sunday.    

Geoark

@Coffeecazzy was the payment on th 23rd of May JSA?

I know someone who this happened to and the payments were deferred for a couple of weeks and payment dates changed.

poppy123456

Hi,

Yes, you won't be the first person this has happened to. It depends if you're paid monthly or 4 weekly. It sounds like you're paid 4 weekly, am i correct? If so then there will be once or twice throughout the year that your UC will be like this and unfortunately there's nothing you can do.

If you’re paid monthly by your employer on the same date each month, you will get one payment of earnings within a Universal Credit assessment period.

As long as your earnings and personal circumstances stay the same, then your Universal Credit payments should stay the same.

poppy123456

No, it wouldn't have been JSA because the other person is claiming Universal Credit. The payment on 23rd May would have been their pay from their job.

Coffeecazzy

Hi there I am paid monthly however due to my payday falling on a Saturday,  I was paid a day early so received 2 paydays in my assessment period but that will mean that my earning's for next month will be nil.  Does that make sense?      Do I have to claim again now?      

poppy123456

Yes, your next months earnings will be nil, so the money you lost out on for UC this month, will be put right for next month if you see what i mean. No, you won't have to claim again.

Your assessment period always depends on when a claim starts. As you started your claim on your pay day then this problem will happen again in September and December, if your pay day is always 23rd of the month. If you had waited a few days after your payday to start your claim then this issue would never happen.

There won't be any disability allowance paid for your partner through UC. PIP or DLA is paid separately, if your partner doesn't already claim this then he should look into claiming PIP. Providing your partner is not over 65, if so then it will be Attendance Allowance

Geoark

Hi @Coffeecazzy sorry for my previous post as I did not realise you work.

I know how Universal Credit was supposed to work, ie that the DWP would have real time information on earnings and so the amount of benefit due would be flexible depending on earnings. So in theory if your earnings for the next period is zero you should get the maximum amount allowed on UC. That was the theory.

@BenefitsTrainingCo can you confirm what will happen?

poppy123456

Geoark said:

Hi @Coffeecazzy sorry for my previous post as I did not realise you work.

I know how Universal Credit was supposed to work, ie that the DWP would have real time information on earnings and so the amount of benefit due would be flexible depending on earnings. So in theory if your earnings for the next period is zero you should get the maximum amount allowed on UC. That was the theory.

@BenefitsTrainingCo can you confirm what will happen?

That's exactly what happens.

Geoark

Hi @poppy123456 thanks for  the confirmation. Sorry your post wasn't showing when I started my post.

Coffeecazzy

Thanks everyone.  That has really helped.  If I had understood the assessment prriods etc when I was claiming then I would have left it a week or so.