Universal Credit said I can't get anything?! Even though we are earning little to no money.

MikeyPetrice

Hello,

Just a quick one regarding Universal Credit. Me and My girlfriend are both of work with her being on maternity with our 12 week old daughter and me being furloughed. I am getting around £800-£900 a month (I get paid the last friday of every month) and she works for the NHS as a HCA and gets paid last working day of each month and pay varies every month.

We have checked our UC accounts and they are stating as 27th March to 26th April being the assessment period for payments. I got paid on the 27th March and the 24th April they are saying because I had 2 work payments within their assessment period I don't get the payment this month because they class it me being paid twice in 1 month. Which causes me problems as I obviously didn't get paid twice in 1 month and can't really afford to live already right now. I worked out if April was 1 day longer (Friday 31st April)  I should have got UC as I would of been paid out of their assessment period.

We decided to call them and explain our situation they said well it's not really our problem as you have been paid 2 times in one month and it was the law.  I have a 5 week month to wait for a pay and we are trying to move out as our landlord will not take a mortgage break so we can't have a rent break and we cant afford our current rent as it is, so we are moving because of this because we can't afford to live in our current house.

It just seems no one wants to help. Could really do with some advice on what we can do for a bit of extra help.

Jeremy535897

They are correct. Did you ask whether you could get an advance? See guidance:

How often you’re paid can affect your Universal Credit

If you’re paid once a month on the same date and nothing changes in your earnings, then your Universal Credit amount should stay the same.

Your Universal Credit can be affected if you receive more than one set of wages during some assessment periods. This could happen if:

• you’re paid weekly, every 2 weeks or every 4 weeks
• your monthly payment date changes, for example you get paid on the last working day of each month

This means your earnings might be too high for Universal Credit. You’ll be told if they are and whether you’ll need to reapply to continue to get Universal Credit.

How often you’re paid by your employer	The impact
Every 4 weeks	Once a year, you’ll get 2 sets of wages in one assessment period
Every 2 weeks	Twice a year, you’ll get 3 sets of wages in one assessment period
Every week	Four times a year, you’ll get 5 sets of wages in one assessment period

[Deleted User]

What a crock of !!!!!! Universal Credit is!

So will OP ever get this money back?  Or is he just cheated out of it by the system?

Jeremy535897

That's just the way it works.

maisie_cat

Presumably you will be paid again on 29th May, so in that month you will  have no payments and the UC payment will go back up. Because your payday is so close to the cutoff this is likely to happen again.
Not much you can do about it now but for others it might to understand how the assessment period works when they first claim UC.

poppy12345

Yes unfortunately that's the way it works. Next month if you will receive more UC if you don't receive any wages during your AP. How much you will receive will depend on your circumstances.

[Deleted User]

It will never be as much to compensate for the month of not receiving anything!

poppy12345

Poster_586329 said:

It will never be as much to compensate for the month of not receiving anything!

It's the way UC works and there's nothing that can be done about it.

MikeyPetrice

Thanks for the replies.
Thank you for explaining this to me, as we weren't sure how universal credit worked before we applied for this. It's a shame they don't tell you about these assessment periods when you first apply. We do feel a bit cheated, however if that how it works nothing can be done about it. We feel discriminated against because of the date i get paid. 

Jeremy535897

MikeyPetrice said:

Thanks for the replies.
Thank you for explaining this to me, as we weren't sure how universal credit worked before we applied for this. It's a shame they don't tell you about these assessment periods when you first apply. We do feel a bit cheated, however if that how it works nothing can be done about it. We feel discriminated against because of the date i get paid. 

People who are just about to start a claim for UC are advised to do it just after a wage comes in, rather than just before.

MikeyPetrice

Jeremy535897 said:

MikeyPetrice said:

Thanks for the replies.
Thank you for explaining this to me, as we weren't sure how universal credit worked before we applied for this. It's a shame they don't tell you about these assessment periods when you first apply. We do feel a bit cheated, however if that how it works nothing can be done about it. We feel discriminated against because of the date i get paid. 

People who are just about to start a claim for UC are advised to do it just after a wage comes in, rather than just before.

Maybe if we were told this by them before applying our outcome would be different. It looks like if we would of applied one day later, we would of received universal credit.