Cost of living payment complete mess! Help??

Feduplady

Hi, I’m on Universal credit single claim over 25, and have lcwra and have a right mess with the cof l payment.
the qualifying period is 24th April to 26th May.
I had a joint claim ongoing and from 24th April until 17th May when it changed to single as my ex and I separated.
The c of l payment has been made to our old joint bank account which I have no access to anymore as I changed to my Tsb account when we split.
so my ex has had full payment and I’ve had nothing and can’t get any money from him.
i contacted uc and am told that it’s been paid and that’s it.
even though we were a joint claim for 23 days of qualifying period and the remaining 10 days I have a single claim….so not the full qualifying period the eligibility states firstly.
And now I’m told it’s been paid in full to the old joint account…so I have to ask my ex!!!?? 

Well we aren’t on good terms for one I don’t have a hope in hell of getting a penny off him.
so can I do anything???
it’s so unfair that he’s had £324 and I’ve had nothing despite being entitled…no other help has been offered! It feels so unfair I’m really fed up with it all
Laura 😔

poppy123456

It may seem unfair but as it's been paid, regardless of which bank that payment went into then there's really nothing anyone can do. As a couples claim during the qualifying period then you would only be entitled to 1 payment.

Ringing UC isn't going to help because payments were made by the Government and not UC.

The next payment of £324 is due sometime in the Autumn. The criteria hasn't yet been announced for that so maybe you'll qualify.

calcotti

The qualifying claim was a couples claim and therefore the CoL was correctly paid to the normal recipient for that claim. Nothing to be done.

Feduplady said:

..even though we were a joint claim for 23 days of qualifying period and the remaining 10 days I have a single claim….so not the full qualifying period the eligibility states firstly.

That isn't what the criteria states. You have to have been entitled to receive UC for an assessment period ending within the time period (26th April to May). There is only one day that matters, the assessment period end date and whether that date lies within the date range.

racyguy

calcotti said:

The qualifying claim was a couples claim and therefore the CoL was correctly paid to the normal recipient for that claim. Nothing to be done.

Feduplady said:

..even though we were a joint claim for 23 days of qualifying period and the remaining 10 days I have a single claim….so not the full qualifying period the eligibility states firstly.

That isn't what the criteria states. You have to have been entitled to receive UC for an assessment period ending within the time period (26th April to May). There is only one day that matters, the assessment period end date and whether that date lies within the date range.

I am surprised that the 'old' joint account was still live. Surely it should have been closed with the balance divided between them. The payment would then not have been accepted by the old bank account giving both parties the option as to which of the new accounts it should have been paid into.
No help to the poster but a warning that when separating get all of the bank accounts closed down and set up new ones for each party.

racyguy

Biblioklept said:

If you both have individual bank accounts I can't see why many people would think to shut down their own personal accounts when splitting from a partner. If it was a joint account, sure, but that isn't the case here.  

Absolutely correct. If even though there are two separate accounts you cannot blame the DWP in making the payment into the one account that has been used in the past to pay benefits.