2nd COL Payment Refused Due to Going From Joint To Single Claim

poppy12345

calcotti said:

xxxxxxxx said:

OK, so we are all (hopefully including the OP) agreed, the advance is not a financial loss.  

This is a common misunderstanding, I hear so often on the radio, "I had to take an advance and now I have to pay it back"  or politicians saying the same thing about claimants, as though it is the crime of the century.  

DWP should just pay back the advance out of the arrears, before paying the arrears.

Pay back out of what arrears? The argument against the advance as loan is that the amount of money a claimant receives each month is supposed to reflect the amount they need each month to maintain an adequate standard of living. Paying back the advance each month means that their monthly come is then below that amount deemed as adequate. 

Not only that, the advance payment offered is their maximum UC entitlement and doesn't take into consideration and possible deductions for earnings or any other income. In my opinion, this is even worse.

ladyandthetramp

What was the date of the assessment period when you were claiming with your partner? This question was asked but you didn't answer. If you don't know the dates of this, what date did you usually receive your payment each month?

I am not sure, I can probably look at my UC homepage but not sure where to find it, payment is usually on the 6th of the month.

So I have just had a look, I can not go back to look at anything from the joint claim.
So ex partner and I split on the 28th Aug
Told UC a few days later
First assessment period as a single person 31 August to 29 September 2022 with first payment being 6th Oct
I was expecting a payment as usual on the 6th September but when there was nothing in my payments section I had to ask for an advance (which I have to pay back each month from my UC award)
So I assuming I told them about the split on 31st Aug ( cant remember exact dates), I then was unable to fill in a income and expenses as it all disappeared from my to do list, all journal entries had gone etc,
I had no assessment period from 31st June - 30th Aug, as I split up with my ex 2 days before that ends? Seems so unfair and has left me in a really poor position financially. 

xxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxx said:

What was your AP end date on the joint claim?  

What is your AP end date on your current claim? 

Did you have to complete a new online claim when you separated? or was it all done by the UC? 

Did you raise a challenge in your UC journal? 
If you did raise a challenge in your UC journal did the journal reply tell you to raise it on Gov.uk?

Did you report the missing COL payment through Gov.UK? 
https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/report-a-missing-cost-of-living-payment/welcome

What happened next? i.e. how did they communicate their reply to you? 

What period did your fist UC payment on the single claim cover?

Was the letter saying "No col" in your UC Journal?

Who is the refusal letter headed from ?  Does it say "UC - Universal Credit" at the top?  

What does the letter say?

What is the code number on the bottom right corner of the first page of the letter?  eg "UC70" ?

OP these are the questions.

ladyandthetramp

xxxxxxxx said:

xxxxxxxx said:

What was your AP end date on the joint claim?  Looks like 30th Aug

What is your AP end date on your current claim? 30th Nov

Did you have to complete a new online claim when you separated? or was it all done by the UC? No new claim, it was all done by UC

Did you raise a challenge in your UC journal? 
If you did raise a challenge in your UC journal did the journal reply tell you to raise it on Gov.uk? No, I assumed it was standard practice

Did you report the missing COL payment through Gov.UK? 
https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/report-a-missing-cost-of-living-payment/welcome Yes

What happened next? i.e. how did they communicate their reply to you? Got a letter in my UC journal

What period did your fist UC payment on the single claim cover?  31 August to 29 September 2022

Was the letter saying "No col" in your UC Journal? I cant see that anywhere, there is a code that says UCDCoLP1

Who is the refusal letter headed from ?  Does it say "UC - Universal Credit" at the top?  No it says DWP

What does the letter say?  You told us you have not received the £324 Cost of Living Payment for Universal Credit, but think you should have done. We have looked into your enquiry and can see you were not entitled to a Universal Credit payment for an assessment period ending on or between 26 August 2022 and 25 September 2022.To receive the Cost of Living Payment, you must have been entitled to Universal Credit during this qualifying period. Because you were not entitled, you did not receive the payment. If you want to know more about why you were not entitled to Universal Credit, find the decision details in your journal. This information includes how to ask for a mandatory reconsideration or appeal for our decision about your entitlement to Universal Credit. (not been given this) This means you will not receive the £324 Cost of Living Payment. If this decision changes in the future, and you were entitled to Universal Credit during this period, you will automatically get a payment. You do not need to call us.

What is the code number on the bottom right corner of the first page of the letter?  eg "UC70" ? UCDCoLP1

OP these are the questions.

So sorry totally missed this, I do really appreciate the help, not sure if it posted correctly so have C&P it below:

What was your AP end date on the joint claim?  30th Aug

What is your AP end date on your current claim? 30th Nov

Did you have to complete a new online claim when you separated? or was it all done by the UC? No new claim, it was all done by UC

Did you raise a challenge in your UC journal? 
If you did raise a challenge in your UC journal did the journal reply tell you to raise it on Gov.uk? No, I assumed it was standard practice

Did you report the missing COL payment through Gov.UK? 
https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/report-a-missing-cost-of-living-payment/welcome Yes

What happened next? i.e. how did they communicate their reply to you? Got a letter in my UC journal

What period did your fist UC payment on the single claim cover?  31 August to 29 September 2022

Was the letter saying "No col" in your UC Journal? I cant see that anywhere, there is a code that says UCDCoLP1

Who is the refusal letter headed from ?  Does it say "UC - Universal Credit" at the top?  No it says DWP

What does the letter say?  You told us you have not received the £324 Cost of Living Payment for Universal Credit, but think you should have done. We have looked into your enquiry and can see you were not entitled to a Universal Credit payment for an assessment period ending on or between 26 August 2022 and 25 September 2022.To receive the Cost of Living Payment, you must have been entitled to Universal Credit during this qualifying period. Because you were not entitled, you did not receive the payment. If you want to know more about why you were not entitled to Universal Credit, find the decision details in your journal. This information includes how to ask for a mandatory reconsideration or appeal for our decision about your entitlement to Universal Credit. (not been given this) This means you will not receive the £324 Cost of Living Payment. If this decision changes in the future, and you were entitled to Universal Credit during this period, you will automatically get a payment. You do not need to call us.

What is the code number on the bottom right corner of the first page of the letter?  eg "UC70" ? UCDCoLP1

xxxxxxxx

I wonder if you told UC you had separated on the first day of your new AP.? 

Did you not say in your message I separated from my Parter 3 days ago on 28th August?

I think your previous AP joint claim was  31st July  - 30th August  

And you told UC
31st August: I have separated from my partner"  

The UC payment (joint amount) 31st July - 30th August was paid as usual to your partner's account he or she kept all the money half of which was yours.  And He/she got paid the CoLP.

Have you not asked your ex-partner what happened to the claim and the money, half of which was yours?  

So my advice, is that you need to make UC aware that you did not tell them that you had separated on 28th August. And you now realise why it seems to have gone wrong.  

If this is what happened: put your journal: 

I think I did not tell UC my separation date was 28th August on my previous joint claim.  
I am clarifying this now, please look again at what happened.
My single claim should have been paid from 31st July - 30th August. 
I am asking UC to look again at the facts of this case and pay me a single claim from 31st July 2022.
I believe you should have asked me to confirm the actual date of separation. 

*Please tell me what date did I leave my separation message in the journal and what did I write in the journal?

xxxxxxxx

The problem now will be getting UC to agree to the change.

Arguably, they should have asked you to confirm what date you had separated. 

You are telling them now, but you are telling them more than 1 month after you separated.  

If it does not get fixed you should ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration
and then Appeal.

calcotti

OP, it is now much clearer what happened. You initial statement stating that it was treated as a new claim sent us off in the wrong direction.

ladyandthetramp

Thank you for your help, I will give it a go and see what they say. Edited to add, I doubt it was sent to my ex, it was always paid into my account, and he says he has not received any COL payment either.

xxxxxxxx

Just to clarify, 
You are NOT asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration on the decision in the UCDCoLP1 letter.  

You are asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration on the decision to award your single claim from 31st August.  You believe it should have been a single award from 31st July.  

ADM
Joint claimants – couple split up 
E2156 A joint claim couple will cease to be entitled to UC when they split up; however, each member of the couple will be entitled to a further award as a single claimant without the need to make a new claim. For each, the new assessment period will begin on the same date of each month as the assessment period for the old joint award.

Example

Tom and Katie are entitled to UC as a couple. Their assessment period is the 3rd of the month to the 2nd of the following month. They cease to be a couple on 27th November when Katie moved out. Tom rings up to notify DWP of this on the 27th. The DM terminates the award of UC from the first day of the assessment period in which this change occurs – namely the 3rd of November, Neither Tom nor Katie have to make a new claim to UC and they are each awarded UC as single claimants from 3rd November.

calcotti

ladyandthetramp said:

Thank you for your help, I will give it a go and see what they say. Edited to add, I doubt it was sent to my ex, it was always paid into my account, and he says he has not received any COL payment either.

So neither of you got paid for July to August? That’s clearly incorrect.