Universal credit paying too much!

Cheechee

Hello,

I've just received my UC statement and my earnings haven't been added in this month.

Any ideas why?

I get a regular salary paid on the last day of each month. My assessment period is from the 16th to the 17th of each month and UC gets paid on the 23rd of each month.

Normally they deduct money from my UC payment for my savings and earnings, but nothing has changed.

Could my work have made a mistake and not reported my earnings?

Bit confused and not sure if I need to report the mistake.

Thanks

Dazed_and_C0nfused

First thing you could do is check your Personal Tax Account to see if the earnings are showing up as having been reported by your employer.

calcotti

Post a message in the payments section of your UC journal.

Cheechee

I've just checked my bank statement and and my salary that was paid on 29th January was used to calculate my January UC payment which was paid on the 23rd. (My salary changes sightly each month).

I'll add a note to my journal, thanks

calcotti

Cheechee said:

I've just checked my bank statement and and my salary that was paid on 29th January was used to calculate my January UC payment which was paid on the 23rd. (My salary changes sightly each month).

I'll add a note to my journal, thanks

That doesn't make sense unless your employer reported the payment date as earlier than the 29th January. Are you sure the salary take into count with your payment on 23rd January is the January salary and not the December salary?
Your AP runs from 17th month to 16th month. Any salary recorded as paid during this period will be taken into account. 

Unless you have a work allowance having the salary taken into account in a different month is unlikely to make any difference to your overall UC payments

Cheechee

I agree, it doesn't make any sense. It was definitely the January salary and maybe my employer did report it earlier than normal because of Christmas and New year. 

Will this have any affect on next month's universal credit. Could it be a case I don't get universal credit next month?

I've added a note to my journal so hopefully they can sort it out. I don't want to take anything i6n not entitled to.

Thanks

calcotti

I suggest you look back over the last few months just to check the earnings figures on each statement. Logically, if only one month has been taken early there must be an AP in which two payments have been taken into account.

Numberwang_2

I know some people had to advise UC of there earnings for January as they had not been passed on by HMRC after been submitted by employers, but they received notification from UC at the end of there AP, as no income had been recorded.

Cheechee

Hello, an update and more advice please.

What has happened is that payroll didn't inform HMRC of my January earnings. They have now reported the missed earnings from January and February's earnings in the same assessment period.  I've been chatting through my journal to a very helpful man from universal credit but he has advised that my next UC payment may be zero due to the 2 earnings being reported in 1 month.  Would I still be entitled to child element even if my earnings were 'double'.

I have been overpaid this month and happy to pay it back if I have to but if next months UC payment is zero, the over payment this month is a lot less than a normal months UC payment, I'd be down a few hundred pounds (ISH). 

Seems very unfair due to payroll making an error.

Is there anything i can do, what would you do?

I'll have to wait till next month to see exactly what the payments would be.

How much would I have to earn in 1 month for UC payment to be zero?

Thanks

calcotti

Cheechee said: Would I still be entitled to child element even if my earnings were 'double'.

The child element is just part of the calculation - you can’t separate it out.

Cheechee said: How much would I have to earn in 1 month for UC payment to be zero?

That entirely depends on how your UC claim is made up. There is no standard answer.
How much is your maximum UC entitlement and how much are your January and February earnings figures? Does the UC include help with rent (this affects the size of the Work Allowance)?

You can ask UC to reallocate the payment to the correct AP and recalculate the two UC payments accordingly. It doesn’t necessarily follow that you will get more UC this way.

Cheechee

Thank you, that's really helpful.

I'm going to put a note in my journal to see if they can reallocate the payment to the correct AP.

I'm not looking for more UC, just want it to be fair and what I'm entitled too.  Just for info, I own my home so don't get help with rent.

Thanks for your help