Universal Credit Assesment period - Bank Holiday NHS

redting82

Hi there,

I'm new to Universal Credit, I'm a single mother of 2 and I work part time. My initial assesment period for my new claim is between 27 April and 26 May.

I work for the NHS and get paid on the 28th of every month however due to the Bank Holiday UC have now registered that I've been paid twice in this period and I don't have anything due for my payment.

IS there anything I can do? I've been waiting 4/5 weeks since the start of my claim to receive payment and now I've got nothing incoming, stress is off the charts!

Thanks for any advice in advance.

huckster

UC will take into account earnings reported in the assessment period.

There is nothing you can do about this. If your pay from NHS is not enough to meet your outgoings, then phone the UC helpline 0800 328 5644 to ask whether an advance payment is available.

Everyone who works with similar employment payment date and assessment period is going to be affected in a similar way.

redting82

Thank you for your reply.

Essentially because the NHS have paid me 3 days early due to the bank holiday I won't be paid the £524 I was expecting. Next assessment period I will likely receive £826.57 when I should've received another £524, overall £224 down over two months.

Government and the Job Centre's have advised to budget for monthly payments and yet how could I budget for this type of thing? Now I won't receive payment for another 4/5 weeks on top of a 5 week initial wait and £224 down.

It seems wrong.

huckster

You might have the same issue at Christmas, if the NHS pay you before Christmas.

Can the NHS pay you on a different date ?

If not, I wonder whether if you closed your UC claim and then reopened the claim so the new assessment period ran from say 29th of one month to the 28th of the next month, that it will solve the problem. Perhaps speak to UC helpline about this.

Raven2020

Hi folks looking for some advice
Me and my partner have moved in together on the 26/9/2020 and because I was on UC and ESA we had to make a joint claim for UC as change of circumstances etc.
She is a NHS worker and has been paying wages into a saving club with the nhs since last year. She get its paid out this month but goes on her wage slip, tax free etc as was taken out from her take home pay. With it being on her wages lip and added onto her wages will UC take this as an earning and deduct our claim for that money ?? 
Many thanks in advance for any advice

poppy12345

Raven2020 said:

Hi folks looking for some advice
Me and my partner have moved in together on the 26/9/2020 and because I was on UC and ESA we had to make a joint claim for UC as change of circumstances etc.
She is a NHS worker and has been paying wages into a saving club with the nhs since last year. She get its paid out this month but goes on her wage slip, tax free etc as was taken out from her take home pay. With it being on her wages lip and added onto her wages will UC take this as an earning and deduct our claim for that money ?? 
Many thanks in advance for any advice

Please start your own thread, Your question is not related to the original posters question and causes confusion.

tomtom256

redting82 said:

Thank you for your reply.

Essentially because the NHS have paid me 3 days early due to the bank holiday I won't be paid the £524 I was expecting. Next assessment period I will likely receive £826.57 when I should've received another £524, overall £224 down over two months.

Government and the Job Centre's have advised to budget for monthly payments and yet how could I budget for this type of thing? Now I won't receive payment for another 4/5 weeks on top of a 5 week initial wait and £224 down.

It seems wrong.

There was some new guidance issued on this and I think is live now. Send a journal or call the national number from your registered number to speak with a local case manager, asking if they can look at using the correct pay date, explaining why it was paid early.

They may not be able to do in these circumstances, but worth asking.

Spoonie_Turtle

^ Just FYI the original question was posted in May 2018. Good to know there is some guidance to deal with that situation a bit better now though.

calcotti

Spoonie_Turtle said:

..Good to know there is some guidance to deal with that situation a bit better now though.

That's because the government have passed new regulations to deal with the two payments in a month problem for those paid monthly after the courts found the previous treatment to be irrational.

Alice_Holt

New regulations have been issued in relation to reallocating a calendar monthly payment of earnings to a different universal credit assessment period.

In force from 16 November 2020, the Universal Credit (Earned Income) Amendment Regulations 2020 (SI.No.1138/2020) amend the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 to provide for a calendar monthly payment of earnings reported via the Real Time Information service to be reallocated to a different universal credit assessment period where it is necessary to maintain a regular payment cycle.

The explanatory memorandum to the regulations clarifies that this is in order to ensure that only one set of earnings will be taken into account in each assessment period for people who are paid calendar monthly, rather than two, and will 'smooth entitlement to universal credit and help maintain a regular payment cycle'.

Explaining the background to the amendment, the DWP adds - 

'On the 22 June in the case of Johnson and Others, the Court of Appeal found ... that the Department’s lack of adjustment for those who have two calendar monthly salaried earnings taken into account in one assessment period due to a 'non-banking day salary shift' was not rational.

These regulations therefore provide a solution to that judgement. The policy intent is to ensure that ordinarily no more than one set of calendar monthly salary payments from a single employer are taken into account in each assessment period. This will also enable certain claimants to benefit from any applicable work allowance in each assessment period.'

SI.No.1138/2020 is available from legislation.gov.uk

calcotti

Alice, thanks for the much fuller post than my earlier one - I hadn’t the patience to provide that level of detail at the time!