Friend has paid off last advance payment and needs to apply for another

poppy12345

Standingstrong said:

flower77g said:

There is no scope for the agent to override this - it's either available or it is not.

Indeed, an agent can't change their own UC role.   It can still be overridden: hence some DWP staff can over-ride this.

How can they over ride this ? I need to let my friend know as she’s in a right pickle 

As neds has advised, if it's greyed out they can't override it. All your friend can do is ring UC on Monday.

poppy12345

You said your friend is working. How much earnings do they receive each month and how long have they been working?

tomtom256

It cannot be overriden by anybody.

Even managers and senior leaders cannot override it. It's built into the system to both prevent adance abuse and fraud both internal and external.

Trust me, many a time I have wanted to issue an adance to someone in dire need, especially with the current cost of living crisis, but it cannot be done. As Neds and other have already stated, it's either selectable or it's not, there is no option to override it, no matter what system access you have.

Service Inovation Leads can do it via an ACT, but that would only be where there is a system error and only in very extreme circumstances and that takes about 3 working days to get sorted.  I have only ever know it to be allowed once and that was only because wrong information had been provided via the earnings feed.

If it's paid back via the ongoing award claw back, it will allow one more or less straight away after that assessment pay date, but if paid back via debt management, it can take 7 days to feed thorugh to the system to show it's been paid.

Anybody ringing UC about an advance will probably be told to send a journal message, as that is the current telephony lines to take.

OhWow

Grumpelstiltskin said:

 Is she paying any debts?

What I am thinking is a SOA on the DebtFree Wannabe board and people could suggest if something like a DRO would wipe her debts out and she would be able to budget better.

Please get your friend to post on the above board https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

I read some posts on that board the other evening and continued to read one thread until the early hours of the morning: the relief from the poster was visable as he eventually realised that he could take control. There is some amazing advice available on there.

I hate to think of a single mother on an endless spiral of struggling with debt: having to borrow to pay debt.

huckster

Agree with tom-tom and ned. The advance system on UC is now subject to much stronger protection to stop dwp agents issuing advances when the Governments legislative restrictions have not been met. And I can see further restrictions being implemented,  as the Government reduce the amount of interest free money they are lending, due to interest rates rising on Government borrowing.

Local Council Authority welfare teams have grants and other support funds available, but these can only be applied for once a year or once every 2 years depending on what fund is accessed.  But they will want to see evidence of financial hardship.

Alice_Holt

I would echo the suggestion that OP's friend should seek debt advice - a DRO (if appropriate) could rid her of existing debt repayments.
LA hardship fund worth investigating, as are any available grants via Turn to Us (occupational or local charity).
Constant UC loans (reducing ongoing UC payments), doesn't seem a sustainable solution IMO.

TELLIT01

Alice_Holt said:

I would echo the suggestion that OP's friend should seek debt advice - a DRO (if appropriate) could rid her of existing debt repayments.
LA hardship fund worth investigating, as are any available grants via Turn to Us (occupational or local charity).
Constant UC loans (reducing ongoing UC payments), doesn't seem a sustainable solution IMO.

I was about to post something very similar.  Having to constantly get advances is not sustainable and the underlying cause of the problem and methods of addressing them are required, and required urgently.

Standingstrong

Hi all had her on phone to me this morning it shows as repaid but they said got to wait 5 days to re apply ? Cant she just phone up today ? 

Standingstrong

poppy12345 said:

You said your friend is working. How much earnings do they receive each month and how long have they been working?

Hi all had her on phone to me this morning it shows as repaid but they said got to wait 5 days to re apply ? Cant she just phone up today ?  

elsien

Standingstrong said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

If your friend is on Universal Credit she shouldn't be using that money to pay vultures like Lowell.

Start hereDebt-Free Wannabe Sticky - Provit & Statute Barred Letters, Defaults, Help and Guidance, All Here... — MoneySavingExpert Forum

She should stop paying them and use her money for important things like Rent, Utilities food etc.

OK That won't solve her immediate problem but if she does sort her debts out it hopefully will stop the vicious circle of advances..

She is not paying her Lowell’s with her uc money she pays her rent through it. 

You are missing the point. 

If her universal credit money pays the rent, then that implies that the food and heating money that she is currently lacking would normally come from her wages. Is she not expecting her wages to come through this week as many places are paying early before Christmas? 

Either way if she hasn’t got food because she’s paying Lowell’s it really is academic whether the money is coming from her universal credit or her wages. Either way she can’t afford to pay them and she needs to re-look at how she is managing her money. 

Your friend is coming across  as someone who is consistently in debt and relying on advance loans but not being willing to do anything to address the problem and its root cause as already suggested by other posters. 

If you can get her to focus on proper budgeting and some sort of debt management  solution rather than when she can get her next advance payment he would be doing her a favour in the long run. 

And to answer your last query, if she has already phoned them and ask the question and they have said no, I’m not sure what else you expect posters on here to advise?
If she needs food so urgently then can she get a referral to a food bank?