Backdated pay rise affects universal credits

auntsallys

Hi
I am about to get a backdated pay rise of 8 months.  I work in a school and the unions have been fighting all these months for a better increase for support workers.   Because I will get this next month, I have been told it will cancel my universal credits payment the following month.    This seems unfair to me.  If I had received the pay rise back in March then the monthly increase would not affect my payments. My co workers are all looking forward to their payout but for me and some others like me won’t benefit at all.
Does anyone else have an experience of this nature? And is there anything I can do about it?

calcotti

Fair or not that’s how UC works. It is based on what you receive within the month. There is nothing you can do about it.

Had you had the increased pay earlier you would have received less UC each month because the earnings deduction would have been higher (unless you have unused Work Allowance) so it doesn’t follow that you are worse off - it depends on the figures.

auntsallys

I understand that had I had the payment monthly it would affect my monthly payment but it would not have cancelled it altogether.
But thank you, I kind of thought there was nothing I can do about it but was just hoping! 

tifo

Wouldn't the backdated pay cancel the current month's UC and from next month it's back on your earnings? 

calcotti

auntsallys said:

I understand that had I had the payment monthly it would affect my monthly payment but it would not have cancelled it altogether.

That doesn’t mean you are worse off. indeed if your UC is reduced to nil for one month only you may actually be better off than if you had a reduction every month.