State Pension Paid Four Weekly

Spoonie_Turtle

ABea said:

UC is paid monthly in order "to help jobless people prepare for going back to work where they will likely be paid monthly", I quote. Ergo whether you've been claiming UC or working, you'll likely now have to make this transition  to  4 weekly and be out of step with the rest of the population.  Do the government think that once we are retired we are too feeble minded to cope with monthly payments?  I really would like to know their reasoning behind this ridiculous decision.  But for now I'll have to rebudget

There no particular reasoning behind it, almost all benefits were paid weekly / fortnightly / 4-weekly until UC (except maybe Tax Credits?  Not sure there).  The benefits UC replaces are all still paid weekly / fortnightly / 4-weekly, along with Carers Allowance, disability benefits (PIP/DLA/AA), Maternity Allowance, Child Benefit, Pension Credit, and contributions-based ESA and JSA, and probably some others I've missed. 
So the reason your pension is in weekly amounts not monthly is that's simply the way it always has been, and probably always will be.

They claimed not to be able to alter the legacy income-replacement benefit systems to increase them by £20 per week; changing from multiples of weeks to a monthly system would be FAR more complex than that.

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

ABea said:

UC is paid monthly in order "to help jobless people prepare for going back to work where they will likely be paid monthly", I quote. Ergo whether you've been claiming UC or working, you'll likely now have to make this transition  to  4 weekly and be out of step with the rest of the population.  Do the government think that once we are retired we are too feeble minded to cope with monthly payments?  I really would like to know their reasoning behind this ridiculous decision.  But for now I'll have to rebudget

There no particular reasoning behind it, almost all benefits were paid weekly / fortnightly / 4-weekly until UC (except maybe Tax Credits?  Not sure there). 

Tax credits can be weekly or 4 weekly. I always received mine weekly. https://www.gov.uk/how-to-have-your-benefits-paid

Bigwheels1111

Murphybear said:

I asked the council a few years ago why housing benefit couldn’t be paid monthly instead of 4 weekly as some of our tenants were struggling.  The verbal response I got was something along the lines of “our computer won’t let us”  

That happens to my friend, Housing association bill 4 weekly and housing benefit is paid monthly.
3 weeks £500 in credit and 1 weeks £300 debit.
They keep writing threatening letters and say they will take her to court to clear the areas.
She was worried to death.
I calmed her down and said I would happily go to court with her and fight the case.
The ace in the whole is she still has her original tenancy agreement.
Rent to be paid weekly.
Can not wait for court date.
I send copy of tenancy to housing association, suddenly gone all quiet on the western front.

rangout

Bigwheels1111 said:

Murphybear said:

I asked the council a few years ago why housing benefit couldn’t be paid monthly instead of 4 weekly as some of our tenants were struggling.  The verbal response I got was something along the lines of “our computer won’t let us”  

That happens to my friend, Housing association bill 4 weekly and housing benefit is paid monthly.
3 weeks £500 in credit and 1 weeks £300 debit.
They keep writing threatening letters and say they will take her to court to clear the areas.
She was worried to death.
I calmed her down and said I would happily go to court with her and fight the case.
The ace in the whole is she still has her original tenancy agreement.
Rent to be paid weekly.
Can not wait for court date.
I send copy of tenancy to housing association, suddenly gone all quiet on the western front.

Had a similar letter from my HA a couple of years ago. I called them and before I has a chance to explain, they asked me if I was on UC. They updated their records then and there and I've had no problems since then

There's no excuse for an HA to go that far, they should accept some tenants will be on UC

Murphybear

Bigwheels1111 said:

Murphybear said:

I asked the council a few years ago why housing benefit couldn’t be paid monthly instead of 4 weekly as some of our tenants were struggling.  The verbal response I got was something along the lines of “our computer won’t let us”  

That happens to my friend, Housing association bill 4 weekly and housing benefit is paid monthly.
3 weeks £500 in credit and 1 weeks £300 debit.
They keep writing threatening letters and say they will take her to court to clear the areas.
She was worried to death.
I calmed her down and said I would happily go to court with her and fight the case.
The ace in the whole is she still has her original tenancy agreement.
Rent to be paid weekly.
Can not wait for court date.
I send copy of tenancy to housing association, suddenly gone all quiet on the western front.

My HA will take the rent weekly, fortnightly, 4 weekly or monthly.  I used to pay 4 weekly but they let me change it to monthly, no questions asked.  

Newcad

My rent is also due weekly, on each Monday.
Which was fine when I was on Housing Benefit and paid that 4 weekly, but does cause a slight issue when you move to UC HE paid monthly. (Weekly rent amount x 52/12).

Housing Associations are well aware of the issue and if you talk to them about it things can be arranged to cope with the difference and both of you are happier.
It's when you don't talk to them, so they don't know about your situation, and then you keep going into arrears every month, that they follow standard procedure and send letters for those arrears each time that you go into arrears.

What I did when I moved into UC was talk to my HA about it and we agreed that I would pay a little bit more than the rent needed each month to eventually get to the point where once I make a monthly payment the account is 5 weeks in advance and so there is enough to cover the times when there are 5 Mondays in a calendar month.

Once at that point then you still need to check each year when the rent goes up, to see if you need to pay a bit extra to cover the 5 Monday months without going into arrears for a couple of days.
(Currently I still end up a couple of quid in arrears for one or two days in some months but the HA is fine with that).
That bit extra that you pay accumulates on the account and so should reduce what you need to 'top-up' next year.
eg. in my first year on UC I was topping up £18.75 a month above the rent, this year it's been £5, and from April 2024 onwards I shouldn't need to top up. (but that will depend slightly on how the Mondays fall in relation to the months).

Flugelhorn

State pension paid to each individual on one of 20 specific days in a 4 week cycle according the their NI number. Must be huge number of payments going out on each of those days - changing some to monthly would probably blow a fuse. 

poppy12345

My HA also allow the rent to be paid weekly, fortnightly, 4 weekly or monthly. Rent is payable 50 weeks of the year with 2 rent free weeks, Christmas and New year. That worked out well for me because i'm still liable for the rent on my current property until i move on 13th Jan. (i've applied for a DHP for that)

luvchocolate

I get my state pension weekly every Monday. 
When I moved into housing association property I requested to pay weekly on Mondays..no problem at all. 

murphyslaw2020

I also get my pension weekly from March 2024. Read somewhere to phone and request paper application came in the post quick. Fill it in and wrote on the form please pay weekly. Got a reply 2 weeks later with dates of when pension starts and amounts.