Universal credit and starting work

patchey1000

Had a final apt at the job centre today.

Finished Uni in June and started claiming U.C

First payment was on the 26th July and I'll get another this month

I start my graduate job earning well above the threshold for U.C. on sept 1st

I explained this to my advisor who seemed to think I could wait until I'd been paid to tell them and still get some U.C payment for September.

Surely I am not entitled to any money fro September and I need to tell them as soon as I start?

Robbie64

patchey1000 wrote: »

Had a final apt at the job centre today.

Finished Uni in June and started claiming U.C

First payment was on the 26th July and I'll get another this month

I start my graduate job earning well above the threshold for U.C. on sept 1st

I explained this to my advisor who seemed to think I could wait until I'd been paid to tell them and still get some U.C payment for September.

Surely I am not entitled to any money fro September and I need to tell them as soon as I start?

UC is based on what you earn and unlike JSA there is no upper limit of hours you can work before payment ceases. You will need to tell UC that you have started work as your claimant committment will need to be amended to take account of the fact that you are in employment. I assume you are required to spend 35 hours a week looking for work? If the job you start pays at 35x National Minimum Wage then this requirement will be dropped to zero. But until you are actually paid your first wage you will still get UC.

When you do get paid your UC will be affected for the whole of your assessment period so there's no part month payment. But depending on when your assessment period falls and when you get your first wage you may find you can get UC for not only September but also October.

For example:

First assessment period: 16th June - 15th July

Start work: 1 September
First wage: 30 September

then the UC assessment period for 16 August to 15 September is based on nil income so you'd get full UC

If in this example your first wage wasn't paid until after 15 October then your next assessment period will be based on nil income too.

As I mentioned there are no part month payments so the assessment period in which you receive your first wage will take full account of any wages you receive and if this is much higher than your UC, after the work allowance has been applied, then you won't receive any UC at all for that assessment period.