Universal Credit advice............

Jiggysaw1111

Hello everyone this is my 1st post!
Ive been on/off universal credit for a couple of years in between short term posts and am wanting some advice if possible. As anybody thats on it will know its a really bad system
in that the 30 day "cycle" can very much work against you depending on dates you get paid. If you recieve final wage on 1st day of new cycle whether its 600 or 2000 it will eat up your payment for the following month meaning a staggering 9 weeks till any more cash. Ive already been badly hit on it twice. I find myself coming up to this situation again unfortunately. My contract ends next month and typically my final wage falls on the 1st day of my new cycle. What i want to know is if i asked my employer to pay me 1 day early with me getting 2 salaries in 29 days will there be any comeback from universal credit? I doubt my employer will pay me early but think its worth an ask but if its going to create problems with universal credit i will just leave it. Obviously i will be trying to secure something else when my contract finishes but its doubtful. Im sure anybody gonna struggle 9 weeks with no cash unless they are on astronomical money. If anybody has been in this boat id be grateful of any advice.

calcotti

Your earnings are taken into account on the day your employer reports as your payday to HMRC. UC have no interest in why the payday is when it is. However if you are normally paid monthly and two payments fall within one assessment period you can now ask UC to reallocate one of the payments to the 'correct' month.

Jiggysaw1111

Thanks calcotti technically im wanting 2 payments to fall within 1 assessment period so i can get another UC payment in 5 weeks rather than 9. I will ask my employed if they can pay me 1 day early but im not confident. Living on a months wage for 9 weeks is just crazy. I can get an advance but they will take it back. I just wish the system was fairer.

Spoonie_Turtle

Jiggysaw1111 said:

Thanks calcotti technically im wanting 2 payments to fall within 1 assessment period so i can get another UC payment in 5 weeks rather than 9. I will ask my employed if they can pay me 1 day early but im not confident. Living on a months wage for 9 weeks is just crazy. I can get an advance but they will take it back. I just wish the system was fairer.

I don't understand.  Surely you have a UC payment a week into your new AP ('cycle'), unless your previous wages ate all of that up in which case I don't see how UC is helping at all if your wages are high enough to reduce your UC to nil?

Jiggysaw1111

Ive worked the last 2 months. My final pay will be end of april roughly 1200. It falls on 1st day of my new cycle which will mean i get zero in june and wont get UC till july. If i get paid 1 day earlier i will get UC in june. Been here before and its that brutal. Roughly 600 earned in a cycle ensures you get nothing for that cycle. As i say its a ridiculous system if the dates fall badly which they are. Could you last 9 weeks on 600 let alone 1200?

NedS

Jiggysaw1111 said:

Ive worked the last 2 months. My final pay will be end of april roughly 1200. It falls on 1st day of my new cycle which will mean i get zero in june and wont get UC till july. If i get paid 1 day earlier i will get UC in june. Been here before and its that brutal. Roughly 600 earned in a cycle ensures you get nothing for that cycle. As i say its a ridiculous system if the dates fall badly which they are. Could you last 9 weeks on 600 let alone 1200?

Unfortunately that's just the way it works. In cases like yours, you benefit at the 'other end' when you start a job as you get paid at the end of the first month of work and then receive a full payment of UC a few days later as if you had not worked that month because your salary was reported a day or two after the end of the AP. Next time you start a job, bank that months UC for when the job finishes, or more generally, try to build yourself a small emergency fund so you don't spend your whole life struggling living month to month then it all becomes irrelevant.

Spoonie_Turtle

Jiggysaw1111 said:

Ive worked the last 2 months. My final pay will be end of april roughly 1200. It falls on 1st day of my new cycle which will mean i get zero in june and wont get UC till july. If i get paid 1 day earlier i will get UC in june. Been here before and its that brutal. Roughly 600 earned in a cycle ensures you get nothing for that cycle. As i say its a ridiculous system if the dates fall badly which they are. Could you last 9 weeks on 600 let alone 1200?

Oh I see, sort of.  In theory the UC payment for the AP just before you got your first wages should have helped tide you over slightly, if you worked a month, got paid your wages then the last full UC payment in quick succession, but I know in reality UC isn't always enough.

On a practical note you should probably start preparing now, in case your employer can't pay you a day early (or if it's still reported to HMRC as the usual date).  Food may be the easiest place to pare down spending, especially if you are at all able to batch cook and/or stock up on reduced tins.  Jack Monroe's recipes are amazing for extremely inexpensive, decent meals https://cookingonabootstrap.com/
Also look at *all* of your outgoings - see if there is anything you can do without for 2 or 3 months, anything at all.  If you can, buy some of the things you normally use in bulk now, while you have some money, to make that money go further.  Other parts of the forum will have better, more specific ideas if you need them.

It will be difficult if your hope for payday doesn't work, there's no denying it.  But as you have some money now already, and time to plan, it should hopefully be doable.  I'm not sure a UC advance would cover this type of situation, but I suppose there's no harm in looking into whether one might be available.  Plan for the worst, and then if things turn out better it will be a pleasant surprise.

Jiggysaw1111

Thanks for your comments guys.
Nedc do you agree my situation is absolutely ridiculous? Like i say anything above 600 for a final wage will eat your entire payment for the next month. And also if i do manage to get my wage a day early do you think UC will make damn sure i still get zilch in june? Hopefully il get a post but in all honesty i would doubt it.
Spoonie i did get an advance in exactly this boat 2 years ago. Even my work coach was amazed that it could last 9 weeks if the dates fall badly.

Sure ive a few quid at moment with a wage to come but the 9 weeks is crazy. Id get an advance of 150 or so prob mid june but then they just drain it back off future UC payments. All im saying is jobseekers was fairer when you come out of a short term contract you get right back on with not too long before before a payment. 

calcotti

Jiggysaw1111 said: All im saying is jobseekers was fairer when you come out of a short term contract you get right back on with not too long before before a payment. 

In this situation yes the JSA rules would be better, in other situation they are worse. For example someone on JSA has their claim stopped as soon as they get work and then have to wait for the employer to pay them, on UC when somewhen gets work the UC claim remains live and a further UC payment will in many cases be made before there is an earnings payment.