Still waiting for the first half of the cost of living payment

BrianMcFaddenfan07

Myself and my fiance are still waiting for our first cost of living payment.
My fiance's twin and oldest sisters have had theirs, but us and his middle sis are still waiting for ours.
I think my fiance is getting a little too impatient though as he was hoping to be able to use some of it so that he can get a few things from our local ASDA or Iceland.
Sometimes my fiance reminds me of how my middle sis used to be before she had my 2 nephews (who are 21 and 19) as my middle sis was that impatient our mum used to say that even a saint would run out of patience with her.

poppy123456

There's lots of people who haven't received it yet but it can be anywhere up to around 31st July. I live with my daughter, she claims UC and i claim ESA, i had mine last Thursday but she hasn't had hers yet.

BrianMcFaddenfan07

I've lost count of how many times I've had to remind my fiance of that Hun, but it's like he either isn't listening to me or he just wants the money to hurry up.
The thing is that myself and my fiance get our UC twice a month as we struggled getting it monthly, so we spoke to the welfare advisor at the housing team we had our flat through (we lived in the Northeast for about 7 years (and we regretted it) and when we were put on UC we struggled with everything,but when we spoke to the welfare advisor at the housing team she was really nice and helped us to get our payments changed from monthly to fortnightly, which has helped us a lot.
We had to go and speak to a benefits advisor (I think that's what the lady at the council said she was) to see if we could have it changed and she said that we could as we had loads of evidence and people like our UC work coach and the welfare officer and our housing officer backing us up. When we go home later that day, my fiance discovered that we'd got a message on our UC from the lady at the council saying that our request had been approved.

Biblioklept

I don't see why they've not just made it so people can select the payment frequency they'd like. Suddenly going from weekly or fortnightly pay to monthly will be so hard for many people.

I hope you and your fiance get your cost of living payment soon so she can stop worrying  

calcotti

Biblioklept said:

I don't see why they've not just made it so people can select the payment frequency they'd like. Suddenly going from weekly or fortnightly pay to monthly will be so hard for many people.

In Northern Ireland payments are I believe fortnightly by default.
In Scotland I believe it is easier to change the frequency.
The UK government says UC is paid monthly by default in order to mirror the world of work - completely ignoring the high percentage of people on low incomes who are not paid monthly (25% of all employees not paid monthly according to ONS 2017 statistics, reasonable to expect that the percentage is higher for lower paid). As usual, policy with evidence.

Biblioklept

calcotti said:

The UK government says UC is paid monthly by default in order to mirror the world of work - completely ignoring the high percentage of people on low incomes who are not paid monthly (25% of all employees not paid monthly according to ONS 2017 statistics, reasonable to expect that the percentage is higher for lower paid). As usual, policy with evidence.

That makes it all the more infuriating and highlights how out of touch they are. As you say lots of low-income jobs are paid weekly or fortnightly!! They just don't have a clue. 

They also don't warn people when they change to fortnightly payments that it means your next payment is halved so you wait an entire month and then get less than expected. I understand there are limited ways but that first month is such a struggle for so many people. 

BrianMcFaddenfan07

My fiance's brother-in-law (my fiance's middle sister's partner) works for Iceland and he gets paid weekly I think it is. 
I've added a photo of me and my fiance.

BrianMcFaddenfan07

Ty @Teddybear12

Biblioklept

Beautiful photo @BrianMcFaddenfan07

BrianMcFaddenfan07

Ty @Biblioklept

poppy123456

Johnmduk1 said:

How long have u had UC, in the period between 26th Apr to 25th May you must have been paid UC on any of those days, government changed criteria bout 5 times since they announced it at start anyone with an active claim upto and including 25th May was entitled to it now it you must have been paid it by 25th May.

That's not what the criteria is and it hasn't changed at all since the CoL payments were announced. The criteria is...

 To get the first Cost of Living Payment of £326, you must have been entitled to a payment (or later found to be entitled to a payment) of Universal Credit for an assessment period that ended in the period 26 April 2022 to 25 May 2022.

This means providing you received a payment for an assessment period that ended between those dates then you'll be entitled to the first payment.

Just noticed another thread from you that your UC started on 29th April. This means that your assessment period would have ended on 28th May, which is outside the criteria for the first payment. https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/93884/lcwwra-whats-the-pay-would-there-be-a-high-chance-of-pip-being-awarded#latest

poppy123456

Johnmduk1 said:

I know, but rishi said in Parliament all eligible folks in receipt of UC by 25th May active claim would get it nothing bout it being paid that day, hopefully I will get it backdated, but I won't complain much

When it was first anounced the criteria wasn't published until shortly after. Since it was published it hasn't changed at all. It was updated to include more information for clarity more than anything else.

I'm starting to get rather confused here because you're asking the same questions on various thread. It's better to keep to the same thread.

calcotti

Johnmduk1 said:

How long have u had UC, in the period between 26th Apr to 25th May you must have been paid UC on any of those days, 

Incorrect. A UC assessment period has to have ended during this period.

Johnmduk1 said:

government changed criteria bout 5 times since they announced it at start 

The criteria have not changed.

Johnmduk1 said:

If during 26th Apr to 25th May your payment is nil award then no payment due.

That is not necessarily correct. The payment can be nil but still qualify, it depends on why the payment is nil. There has to be an entitlement and you would qualify even if you received no payment because, for example, the landlord was paid direct.

Johnmduk1 said:

If your assessment period was after 27th Apr, to 26th May no payment, but if your assessment was 26th Apr to 25th May then you should get it

That is true if this was the first claim. For an ongoing claim eligibility would be established because of  an assessment period ending early in the eligible period.