Need help figuring out earnings

WelshPaul

Hi, Looking for some advice...

We moved over from child tax credits to UC on the 20/01/2024. My wife works two jobs totalling 38 hours a week and is paid monthly by two different employers. Employer 1 pays on the 25th of the month every month and employer 2 pays on the 28th of the month (sometimes a bit early depending on what day the 28th lands on). I am a carer in receipt of carer's allowance.

We had to wait until today to find out how much our payment would be. It's as follows:

Standard allowance: £578.82

Housing: £372.77

You said per month the total rent for your property is £476.84.

You have 2 rent free weeks a year. This means per month we will adjust your rent to £458.50.

You will have to pay your housing costs to your landlord.

Monthly, we can pay you £372.77 towards your housing costs. We cannot pay the full amount you told us about because:

1 adult living with you who is expected to pay towards the rent: -£85.73

Children: £584.58

Disabled children: £146.31

Carer: £185.86

Transitional protection: £157.89

Total entitlement before deductions: £2,026.23

Carer's Allowance: ‑£332.58

Money, savings and investments: ‑£34.80

Your total payment for this month is: £1,658.85

I contacted them today because:

1. We should not have a housing deduction of -£85.73 because the adult is in receipt of Universal Credit with LWRCA and is in receipt of PIP (Enhanced daily living and mobility rates). They are sorting this out.

2. They have not taken into consideration my wife's earnings

The problem I have now is that they want to know what her earnings were for the dates 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024. Sounds simple right? But...

We have worked out my payments.

20/01/2024 - 25/01/2024 Employer 1 £178.26 (Net)

20/01/2024 - 26/01/2024 Employer 2 £120.07 (Net)

I cannot provide an amount for the date period 26/01/2024 - 19/02/2024 for Employer 1 because she hasn't been paid for that time period yet. She gets this on the 25th February 2024.

Again, we cannot provide an amount for the date period 27/01/2024 - 19/02/2024 for Employer 2 because she hasn't been paid for that time period yet either. She gets paid for this time period on the 28th February 2024.

We could enter a figure of £298.33 because as of right now that's all she has received but by doing so we are implying that these figures are for 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024 because that is what is requested and displayed on screen. Can you please advise?

My wife's salary isn't the same every month, it varies by around £100, so we can't just use previous payslips to provide an exact figure. I have asked in the Journal this afternoon, but nobody has replied and the to-do instructs us to provide this information today.

HillStreetBlues

UC is about what you get paid in the AP  so it's what your wife was paid 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024.
So if your wife gets paid about the 25th & 28th  then   it would be based on the  paid wages around the 25th & 28th Jan.

TheShape

If your wife was paid on 25/01/2024 by one employer and 28/01/2024 by the other employer, both of those payments fall within the assessment period of 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024.

Those are the payments that UC should have taken into account.

I deleted my previous comment as this is a simpler explanation.

WelshPaul

My wife was paid by EMPLOYER 1 on the 25th January 2024. This covers work done from 26th December 2023 to the 25th January 2024. So only five days of this salary counts towards the UC claim.

My wife was paid my EMPLOYER 2 on the 26th January 2024. This covers work done from 27th December 2023 to the 26th January 2024. So only six days of this salary counts towards the UC claim.

We don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 1 from the 26th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 25th February 2024 payslip.

Again, we don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 2 from the 27th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 28th February 2024 payslip.

Am I making sense?

TheShape

WelshPaul said:

My wife was paid by EMPLOYER 1 on the 25th January 2024. This covers work done from 26th December 2023 to the 25th January 2024. So only five days of this salary counts towards the UC claim.

My wife was paid my EMPLOYER 2 on the 26th January 2024. This covers work done from 27th December 2023 to the 26th January 2024. So only six days of this salary counts towards the UC claim.

We don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 1 from the 26th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 25th February 2024 payslip.

Again, we don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 2 from the 27th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 28th February 2024 payslip.

Am I making sense?

You simply report what your wife was paid on 25/01/2024 and what your wife was paid on 26/01/2024.

When the work was done that resulted in these payments is irrelevant.

WelshPaul

TheShape said:

If your wife was paid on 25/01/2024 by one employer and 28/01/2024 by the other employer, both of those payments fall within the assessment period of 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024.

Those are the payments that UC should have taken into account.

I deleted my previous comment as this is a simpler explanation.

Ah, ok...

So to clarify. My wife received the following pay in January 2024:

• 25/01/2024 My wife received a Net payment of £1105.20 from Employer 1
• 26/01/2024 My wife received a Net payment of £580.35 from Employer 2

So we declare earning of £1,685.55 for requested period of 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024.

poppy12345

WelshPaul said:

We don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 1 from the 26th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 25th February 2024 payslip.

Again, we don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 2 from the 27th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 28th February 2024 payslip.

Am I making sense?

Yes, you are making sense but it's just you're not understanding the advice you're given.

The dates of her pay for 25th and 28th Feb will be treated as earnings in assessment period 20th Feb to 19th March. They are not treated as earnings in assessment period Jan/Feb. 

WelshPaul

TheShape said:

WelshPaul said:

My wife was paid by EMPLOYER 1 on the 25th January 2024. This covers work done from 26th December 2023 to the 25th January 2024. So only five days of this salary counts towards the UC claim.

My wife was paid my EMPLOYER 2 on the 26th January 2024. This covers work done from 27th December 2023 to the 26th January 2024. So only six days of this salary counts towards the UC claim.

We don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 1 from the 26th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 25th February 2024 payslip.

Again, we don't know what her Net pay will be for Employer 2 from the 27th January 2024 because that will be paid on and shown on 28th February 2024 payslip.

Am I making sense?

You simply report what your wife was paid on 25/01/2024 and what your wife was paid on 26/01/2024.

When the work was done that resulted in these payments is irrelevant.

Thank you. Sorry for sounding thick!

TheShape

WelshPaul said:

TheShape said:

If your wife was paid on 25/01/2024 by one employer and 28/01/2024 by the other employer, both of those payments fall within the assessment period of 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024.

Those are the payments that UC should have taken into account.

I deleted my previous comment as this is a simpler explanation.

Ah, ok...

So to clarify. My wife received the following pay in January 2024:

• 25/01/2024 My wife received a Net payment of £1105.20 from Employer 1
• 26/01/2024 My wife received a Net payment of £580.35 from Employer 2

So we declare earning of £1,685.55 for requested period of 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024.

That's correct.

TheShape

Hopefully they will be able to set up an earnings feed so that each month from now on they will receive the data automatically and you can just check each statement to ensure it is correct.

WelshPaul

We were told this would happen @TheShape.

In fact, yesterday we provided net earnings for both jobs starting with the month of Jan 2023 right through to Jan 2024. So we actually gave them the correct figure of £1,685.55 yesterday. 

I happened to mention it today to a friend and I explained to them that UC hadn't taken my wife's earnings into consideration, and they advised me to let them know via my journal, so I did. Then UC asked for her total income for the period of 20/01/2024 - 19/02/2024 and my friend told me I had to declare just the five days as her pay is in arrears and covers a period when we were not claiming. It threw me off!