Urgent universal credit help needed

carolinemarie

Hi, I applied for universal credit at the beginning of September. I’m not due my 1st payment for another 2 weeks. I was still getting tax credits last week but that’s stopped now and I have no money. I’ve got bills to pay and kids to feed. How long does it take to get an advance on my first payment?
Please don’t give me any nasty replies I’m already feeling really anxious and upset.
Thanks for reading.
Caroline

poppy12345

carolinemarie wrote: »

Hi, I applied for universal credit at the beginning of September. I’m not due my 1st payment for another 2 weeks. I was still getting tax credits last week but that’s stopped now and I have no money. I’ve got bills to pay and kids to feed. How long does it take to get an advance on my first payment?
Please don’t give me any nasty replies I’m already feeling really anxious and upset.
Thanks for reading.
Caroline

I'm not sure if you need to have asked for an advance payment when you first applied. See this link. https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/get-an-advance-first-payment

calcotti

I think you can request an advance at any stage before the first payment, see second bullet point https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-advances

Bear in mind that even if you do ask it's going to take a few days and you will then receive a reduced amount of UC every month for the next 12 months while the advance is paid back.

huckster

Provided there are no outstanding issues that need to be resolved to confirm eligibility to claim the benefit, then you can request an advance. Payment can be made the same day as a faster payment.

You may be able to request the advance on your UC home page if you log in or give them a call on 0800 328 5644.

seashore22

My daughter has just had her first months universal credit, having never claimed benefits before. She asked for an advance after starting the process of getting UC and it came through quite quickly. I can check with her later to see exactly how long it took.

annandale

Mine took five days. But I've heard of people getting it the same day.

Ineededaname

You have until the end of your first month to apply. You wont be able to when its 7 days before your pay date. You should just be able to log into your account and apply on there.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

The bills can wait a couple of weeks and a food bank should be able to help with some food. Also, apply for an advance if you haven't already.

pixeltrasher

huckster wrote: »

Provided there are no outstanding issues that need to be resolved to confirm eligibility to claim the benefit, then you can request an advance. Payment can be made the same day as a faster payment.

You may be able to request the advance on your UC home page if you log in or give them a call on 0800 328 5644.

What kind of issues could there be to stop this option being available, as I have not been told of any outstanding information being required to process my application, but am unable to request an advance as it says my application is still being reviewed? Not claiming childcare costs so should not be any need to verify that.

calcotti

pixeltrasher wrote: »

What kind of issues could there be to stop this option being available, as I have not been told of any outstanding information being required to process my application, but am unable to request an advance as it says my application is still being reviewed? Not claiming childcare costs so should not be any need to verify that.

Examples given here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-advances are

You might be refused an advance if you:
have enough money to last until your payment of Universal Credit
live with parents, relatives or friends
have any final earnings or redundancy payments
have any accessible savings
You can ask for the decision to be reconsidered but you do not have a right to appeal.

I infer that you have not been refused but haven’t been able to apply online.
In truth the only way for you to know what is happening in your particular case is to ring them.

RS21

Hi guys . 
I applied for an advance on Saturday 26th September not expecting anything . And got an immediate response with a fairly generous amount. I said I have an interview needing to buy a new suit and get the bus out of town for this, Also need food and utilities. This seemed to work however I have not received the advance yet , I'm hoping it will be in my ACC this morning. Had anyone else applied for a advance and waited several days for it to go into your bank acc?
Thanks guys good luck with the corrupts