Lost temporary job due to Corona Virus lock-down - only got £18 for a MONTH of Universal Credit

makara

tomtom256 said:

But you could have possibly claimed new syle JSA if you meet the eligibility, have you looked into that?

I wasn't aware - I thought UC did away with most of the "old" type of benefits in order to make things simpler.
I guess I've missed the boat now, but might call the DWP to enquire.

poppy12345

makara said:

tomtom256 said:

But you could have possibly claimed new syle JSA if you meet the eligibility, have you looked into that?

I wasn't aware - I thought UC did away with most of the "old" type of benefits in order to make things simpler.
I guess I've missed the boat now, but might call the DWP to enquire.

New style JSA has replaced the old Contributions based. The only issue here is that the JSA will be deducted £1 for £1 from your UC entitlement.

tomtom256

makara said:

tomtom256 said:

But you could have possibly claimed new syle JSA if you meet the eligibility, have you looked into that?

I wasn't aware - I thought UC did away with most of the "old" type of benefits in order to make things simpler.
I guess I've missed the boat now, but might call the DWP to enquire.

You should be able to backdate, just state that you had been given bad advice regarding what benefit to claim. I believe they have also done away with the 7 waiting days owing to covid19, but this may have changed again.

UC did away with the means tested benefits, the old contributions benefits i.e. JSA and ESA still exist, just under the new style moniker.

makara

tomtom256 said:

You should be able to backdate, just state that you had been given bad advice regarding what benefit to claim. I believe they have also done away with the 7 waiting days owing to covid19, but this may have changed again.

UC did away with the means tested benefits, the old contributions benefits i.e. JSA and ESA still exist, just under the new style moniker.

Thanks again - I will call them in the morning and advise whoever I speak to that I wasn't made aware of pending payments affecting the month in question.

Nannytone

It may sound harsh but it is up to the claimant to look into the conditions of the benefit they are claiming.
If you had read the conditions before you claimed you would have known that the assessment period starts from the day you put the claim in and any money received during that time would count towards that assessment

poppy12345

Nannytone said:

It may sound harsh but it is up to the claimant to look into the conditions of the benefit they are claiming.
If you had read the conditions before you claimed you would have known that the assessment period starts from the day you put the claim in and any money received during that time would count towards that assessment

To be fair, UC isn't the easiest benefit to understand and looking at information before claiming is probably the last thing on peoples minds, especially when they have no money to live.

calcotti

poppy12345 said:

Nannytone said:

It may sound harsh but it is up to the claimant to look into the conditions of the benefit they are claiming.
If you had read the conditions before you claimed you would have known that the assessment period starts from the day you put the claim in and any money received during that time would count towards that assessment

To be fair, UC isn't the easiest benefit to understand and looking at information before claiming is probably the last thing on peoples minds, especially when they have no money to live.

..and are being encouraged by the government to claim

JessicaF_2

makara said:

Fuming here...after losing my job (full-time temporary) on March 24th, I applied for Universal Credit on March 27th (as I knew the DWP's phone lines would be busy, so left it for a few days).

Come May 3rd, I was given a measly £18 for the WHOLE MONTH of March 27th to April 26th...why?  Because I was not made aware that as I am paid a week in arrears, my last work payment being paid to me ON March 27th itself subsequently got declared by my employers to the DWP...pretty much cancelling out the £400 of U.C. I was due to get, bar that pi$$ing £18.

I phoned the DWP to complain, and the lady said it's not just me   - they are getting calls ALL THE TIME from people who lost their jobs due to Covid, then put in a U.C. claim, waited over a month - and then found they got ZILCH like I did   - all because the U.C. claim system isn't set up properly to warn of this when applying.

The "right" thing to do I was told was to have waited one day later (March 28th) - and THEN put in the claim.  But it's not my (or others') fault   - it's the pathetic system.

When I asked if anything could be done to recover the balance of money, I was told no   - and that the DWP MIGHT address the concerns that she and her colleagues have told their chiefs need addressing to stop people losing out on what they are rightly owed.

Pathetic.  I now see why people who can do so avoid paying taxes by any means.  The government and the DWP should be ashamed of themselves.

Just for anyone else reading this....the 'right' thing to do might still have led to this situation. Lots of people in this thread have said it is the actual amount you receive in an assessment period that counts - which suggests the payment date is the key. That isn't the case. The Critical date is the date that DWP recieve the information from HMRC - that is what sets the assessment period that income falls into. That date is driven by either the date of payment and (if different) the date and time of submission of the data to HMRC. In some cases, HMRC tell employers to put the contractual pay date on the submission and not the actual payment date. 

calcotti

JessicaF_2 said: The Critical date is the date that DWP recieve the information from HMRC - that is what sets the assessment period that income falls into. That date is driven by either the date of payment and (if different) the date and time of submission of the data to HMRC. In some cases, HMRC tell employers to put the contractual pay date on the submission and not the actual payment date. 

I don't think that's right. Surely the relevant date is the date advised by HMRC to DWP that payment was made by the employer.

JessicaF_2

calcotti said:

JessicaF_2 said: The Critical date is the date that DWP recieve the information from HMRC - that is what sets the assessment period that income falls into. That date is driven by either the date of payment and (if different) the date and time of submission of the data to HMRC. In some cases, HMRC tell employers to put the contractual pay date on the submission and not the actual payment date. 

I don't think that's right. Surely the relevant date is the date advised by HMRC to DWP that payment was made by the employer.

No, it is correct. See Reg 61 UC regs:
the amount of the person’s employed earnings from that employment for each assessment period is to be based on the information which is reported to HMRC under the PAYE Regulations and is received by the Secretary of State from HMRC in that assessment period; 
Data is sent over to DWP from HMRC 4 times a day. The last time around 9pm. So if an employer pays someone on the 23rd and sends their submission to HMRC the same date, showing 23rd in box 43 of the submission, but does so after 9pm, it is sent to DWP on the 24th. The DWP will use the 24th as the date to determine which AP it falls into. 
The only date HMRC have is box 43 'the payment date' - that date might be the actual payment date, but in some cases it will be the contractual pay date. HMRC guidance, for example, states that where a contractual pay date falls on a Sunday, the employer pays on a Friday, they should still put Sundays date in the box. 
I could go on, the point being it isn't as simple as saying it is the amounts actually received in an assessment period that are relevant for UC. These examples are just the tip of the iceburg - there are so many variations possible, especially now with disruption to payrolls. Also Reg 61 does have some rules that allow DWP to overrride the RTI data - but the intial feed is set up as described.