Working and on Universal Credit? Check you're getting the right amount of UC

MSE_Rosie

If you work and claim universal credit, you could be one of thousands who may be getting paid the wrong amount each month due to flaws with the automated universal credit system. It's more likely to affect you if you're paid weekly or irregularly, our new guide explains what the issue is, how to check if you're affected – and how to get back what you're owed if you've been underpaid.

Read the full guide here.

Please let us know your experiences, and any feedback you have. 

And if you haven’t already, join the forum to leave a comment.

calcotti

Although errors do undoubtedly occur I'm not convinced this is correct.

This is because DWP uses the date it receives the earnings info to decide which assessment period it applies to – NOT the date you actually got paid.

My understanding is that UC uses the payment date reported by the employer.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

And the article seems to be about people whose earnings are reported without a National Insurance number so I suspect a tiny minority.

MSE_Rosie

calcotti said:

Although errors do undoubtedly occur I'm not convinced this is correct.

This is because DWP uses the date it receives the earnings info to decide which assessment period it applies to – NOT the date you actually got paid.

My understanding is that UC uses the payment date reported by the employer.

Hi Calcotti, 

Thanks for your comments!

We looked at a range of government guidance and spoke to both HMRC and DWP.  In most cases it is the date that DWP receive the information that's used - because it's an automatic system, and a lot of the time it does work in real time (if employers submit the right information at the right time).

Generally manual adjustments are only made for those who are paid monthly, and find that a bank holiday or shorter month mean that they get two payments in one assessment period. 

MSE_Rosie

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

And the article seems to be about people whose earnings are reported without a National Insurance number so I suspect a tiny minority.

Hi Dazed & Confused,

You're right, as a proportion of employees across the UK, earnings info submitted without a National Insurance Number tends to be quite low - roughly 1%. This amounts to approx. 20,000 of working UC claimants each month. 

However, there's a much higher likelihood that employers of low pay, and casual workers submit earnings information without NINO, and also those starting a new job are particularly at risk - with HMRC confirming that circa 1 in 15 of earnings info for new starters reported to the RTI system without an NINO.

While the problem might not affect millions - it's more widespread than one might expect, and can have a huge financial impact on those impacted.

Icequeen1

calcotti said:

Although errors do undoubtedly occur I'm not convinced this is correct.

This is because DWP uses the date it receives the earnings info to decide which assessment period it applies to – NOT the date you actually got paid.

My understanding is that UC uses the payment date reported by the employer.

MSE are correct, it is the date that DWP receive the information from HMRC. My understanding is there can be a mismatch where an employer does their submission late on a night, because it doesn't go to DWP until the next day which can be problematic if that falls on the change of a UC assessment period. 

One thing that i'm not sure is correct in the article is the MR route. I think there is something in the regulations that you have to ask for a decision to be issued where it is an earnings dispute before submitting a MR but i'd need to check the Regs. 

calcotti

MSE_Rosie said:

Generally manual adjustments are only made for those who are paid monthly, and find that a bank holiday or shorter month mean that they get two payments in one assessment period. 

That’s because the law allows UC to make manual adjustments of monthly payments to make sure each monthly payment is only allocated one payment to an assessment period. For weekly, fortnightly or four weekly payments cannot be amended (but should still be taken as paid based on the RTI information).

calcotti

Icequeen1 said:

calcotti said:

Although errors do undoubtedly occur I'm not convinced this is correct.

This is because DWP uses the date it receives the earnings info to decide which assessment period it applies to – NOT the date you actually got paid.

My understanding is that UC uses the payment date reported by the employer.

MSE are correct, it is the date that DWP receive the information from HMRC. 

Thanks Icequeen. My understanding Is that normally the employer is supposed to reported ‘payday’ and that is the day UC are supposed to use. 

Is this only an issue if the employer is late - although even then I thought employer was supposed to report the regular pay day.
https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/reporting-to-hmrc
https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/fps-after-payday

Icequeen1

calcotti said:

Icequeen1 said:

calcotti said:

Although errors do undoubtedly occur I'm not convinced this is correct.

This is because DWP uses the date it receives the earnings info to decide which assessment period it applies to – NOT the date you actually got paid.

My understanding is that UC uses the payment date reported by the employer.

MSE are correct, it is the date that DWP receive the information from HMRC. 

Thanks Icequeen. My understanding Is that normally the employer is supposed to reported ‘payday’ and that is the day UC are supposed to use. 

Is this only an issue if the employer is late - although even then I thought employer was supposed to report the regular pay day.
https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/reporting-to-hmrc
https://www.gov.uk/running-payroll/fps-after-payday

The employer is supposed to report to HMRC on or before pay day. The FPS submission an employer makes has a box for the payment date. There is a concession for christmas and holidays that allows the employer to pay early and report on the normal pay day. 

But the UC RTE system gets data from the HMRC system a few times a day and it is the date that they get the data that is used for UC. Which is why i explained above that an employer can report on time but late in the evening and it doesn't go to UC until the next day. 

Late submissions are a problem even if the pay date is correct on them because it isn't the paydate that triggers which assessment period it falls into. So if it is reported late, it goes to DWP late which means it is in a later assessment period no matter the pay date

IQ

Numberwang_2

Dora and her husband should have checked their payment statement, I don’t believe they didn’t realise they had been paid an extra £2000. They knew and thought they may get away with it.

calcotti

Found this useful (but inconclusive in part)
https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/rti-and-universal-credit/

Guidance here

https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2022-0452/118-Real_Time_Information_V11.0.pdf

Says

The calculation of a claimant's earned income for an assessment period is based on the actual date and amount reported as paid by the employer.

Also information here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-employers-frequently-asked-questions/universal-credit-and-employers-frequently-asked-questions

Icequeen1 said:

One thing that i'm not sure is correct in the article is the MR route. I think there is something in the regulations that you have to ask for a decision to be issued where it is an earnings dispute before submitting a MR but i'd need to check the Regs. 

I agree with you that an RTI dispute should be raised and responded to before an MR should be considered.