UC claim closed on wrong date

dagsky1

I’m a bit confused with the date my claim has been closed. I had agreed with my coach that when I start my job all I needed to do was send a journal message saying please close my claim. I did this on 21 May but when I have checked my journal it says closed on 30 April. 

I rang the helpline & was told that it’s probably a technical error someone would call me back, nobody has called me & it still shows closed as 30 April. 

Additionally I would usually get paid on 6th of every month, but apparently I will NOT get paid anything between the period I was still signed on 6 May - 21 May. When I asked why I was told if you sign off halfway between payment periods you get nothing. 

Not sure what to do now or who to contact.

Spoonie_Turtle

If you close your claim partway through an assessment period then yes, you get nothing because there is no payment at the end of that assessment period as the claim is closed, there is no claim to pay.

What you should have done is leave the claim open until you've had your first wages and UC becomes nil payable, then close it after that.

The good news is I think you can rapidly reclaim because it's within six months.  If you reopen your claim before the 30th you should probably get the May/June payment, as presumably you haven't received wages yet, or at least not enough to have no UC payable.

Edit: you did need to tell them you were starting work, you just didn't need to close your claim.

dagsky1

Hi, thanks for the reply, i was not aware i could leave it open whilst i wait for first pay from job, coach didn't tell me this. I've logged back in to my account and i don't see anything about about re-opening my claim (perhaps i'm looking in the wrong place).

What i do see though is Make A New Claim and a bit further down it says "If you make a new claim before 30 October 2022 you will not need to enter all your details again."

On another sentence it says if i disagree with my claim being closed i can ask them to reconsider. 

Which should i pick? New claim or reconsider?

calcotti

I don't think you can ask them to reconsider because they have simply done what you asked them to do (even if you didn't realise). I think you'll have to do a new claim.

Lots of people on UC are in work. Your UC will not be affected util you receive your first earnings payment, whether or not at that point there is any UC entitlement will depend on how much you earn and what you maximum UC amount is.