Universal Credit refusing to pay

David1992

Hi everyone,
Hoping for any advice from those who may have experienced a similar issue or those familiar with how this confusing system works.

So, I work full-time, my wife is self employed and for the past 2 years we have been in receipt of universal credit to occasiinally top up our earnings. Never had a problem with receiving payments and they've always been on time and proved reliable.

Heres my problem. I began a new job at the end of August, I missed the payroll cut off so my new employer paid me an advanced payment, on 29th September, which roughly coincided with the day my regular salary would be paid.

This payday just gone, (31st Oct), my pay slip included last month's advance as well as this months salary. Last months advance was then deducted along with the usual tax and ni. Payroll let me know that they had to do this as the payment had to go through HMRC.

Problem is, UC are now saying that I will not be receiving a payment this month as my earnings for this period exceed the threshold for payment eligibility.
This is despite me explaining that the payments shown on my pay slip were paid separately over 2 seperate months, not in one go. Effectively, my income for the last 2 month's has been exactly as it would be over 2 months, and I have not earned any extra.

I have spoken to several advisors at UC, who unfortunately have been very unhelpful and the general consensus is that I have earned above a certain amount according to my pay slip, so I will not be paid UC this month. This is despite September's pay advance clearly being deducted from my gross pay.

I'm really confused, I'm not sure if my employer has messed up by issuing September's advance on October's pay slip, or this was genuinely something they had to do as they say.

Has anyone been in this situation before? What do I need to do to get the payment which I'm surely entitled to? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Sorry for the length.

Thanks
David

Icequeen99

David1992 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
Hoping for any advice from those who may have experienced a similar issue or those familiar with how this confusing system works.

So, I work full-time, my wife is self employed and for the past 2 years we have been in receipt of universal credit to occasiinally top up our earnings. Never had a problem with receiving payments and they've always been on time and proved reliable.

Heres my problem. I began a new job at the end of August, I missed the payroll cut off so my new employer paid me an advanced payment, on 29th September, which roughly coincided with the day my regular salary would be paid.

This payday just gone, (31st Oct), my pay slip included last month's advance as well as this months salary. Last months advance was then deducted along with the usual tax and ni. Payroll let me know that they had to do this as the payment had to go through HMRC.

Problem is, UC are now saying that I will not be receiving a payment this month as my earnings for this period exceed the threshold for payment eligibility.
This is despite me explaining that the payments shown on my pay slip were paid separately over 2 seperate months, not in one go. Effectively, my income for the last 2 month's has been exactly as it would be over 2 months, and I have not earned any extra.

I have spoken to several advisors at UC, who unfortunately have been very unhelpful and the general consensus is that I have earned above a certain amount according to my pay slip, so I will not be paid UC this month. This is despite September's pay advance clearly being deducted from my gross pay.

I'm really confused, I'm not sure if my employer has messed up by issuing September's advance on October's pay slip, or this was genuinely something they had to do as they say.

Has anyone been in this situation before? What do I need to do to get the payment which I'm surely entitled to? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Sorry for the length.

Thanks
David

So did UC know about the advance payment when you got it on 29th September? If so, was it taken into account in that earlier award period?

If it was, then it seems they have double counted it, but if they didn't then you would have received too much UC in the earlier period?

IQ

calcotti

Earnings should be taken into account on the day they are received but DWP rely on information supplied by HMRC which in turn relies on information supplied by employers. If you show DWP your bank statements you should be able to get them to revise the award. However as per icequeen does this simply mean your earlier UC payment will be reduced because your earnings were not taken into account then when they should have been.

huckster

If the earnings have been counted only once during Universal Credit, then there is no issue. It does not matter if the wage slips don't align with UC statement periods.

If however, UC have counted earnings you received twice, because your employers reported your income twice, then your employers need to admit their mistake in writing.

UC relies on accurate earnings information from employers via HMRC. If it is wrong, then look to your employers to resolve this.

David1992

Thanks for your responses.
I presume they knew about the advance last month as the UC I received seemed correct, judging by previous payments.
The problem seems to be that the advance is showing on my current pay slip, so UC are saying I have earned far more than I have.
I will call them again and see if my bank statement can clarify everything.

Ineededaname

If your employer included the advance on the most recent payslip because it had to go through HMRC.. that seems to suggest they did not report it the previous month?. Which means the DWP would not have had those earnings information last month and you got paid more UC than you should have previously.

Check the dates of your Assessment periods and check all of your (and your partners!) income between the relevant dates. Compare this to the earnings UC have registered on your payment statements. As you have changed jobs it could be that your previous employer paid you within last months assessment period.. final wages or holiday pay?

The only way this is a mistake is if they have made the deduction for the advance earnings more than once, which seems unlikely to me if your employer has only just reported it to HMRC this month.