Universal Credit Change of Circs not being actioned

cybertortoise

I have had similar recently. My son is 18 and finished college - i had received a letter telling me he will come off my claim from July 31st as that's the date college said he would finish. I recently had to attend to take my daughter's adoption certificate so they had her correct surname on my claim. While there I asked do I need to change my son from a dependent to a non-dependent living with me, he said no it will happen automatically. I don't 100% believe him so I have added a message on my journal, I always put everything under 'message for my work coach' and tend to get an answer quite quickly.

Northern_Wanderer

cybertortoise said:

I have had similar recently. My son is 18 and finished college - i had received a letter telling me he will come off my claim from July 31st as that's the date college said he would finish. I recently had to attend to take my daughter's adoption certificate so they had her correct surname on my claim. While there I asked do I need to change my son from a dependent to a non-dependent living with me, he said no it will happen automatically. I don't 100% believe him so I have added a message on my journal, I always put everything under 'message for my work coach' and tend to get an answer quite quickly.

I wouldn't trust everything/ anything a work coach tells you, they are not benefits advisers. It is always your responsibility to inform UC of changes in circumstances, best to do so in writing (under "report a change" in UC online account) and keep copies.

Thisisthelife

is uc paid in arrears so even if i child left in june you would still get a paymernt in july

poppy12345

Thisisthelife said:

is uc paid in arrears so even if i child left in june you would still get a paymernt in July

Yes it's paid in arrears but UC entitlement Is based on your circumstances on the last day of each assessment period. This means they may not be entitled to child element in July. For example, if someone's assessment period is 15th to 14th of each month and the child left school before 14th of the month, there would be no entitlement to the child element that month. 

Marsha2007

So an update. My new assessment period for this month started on the 9th. The old assessment on the 8th still had the child element on it, despite completing the change of circs. So I now have 2 over payments of the child element. I have messaged them again on the 8th and several times since and have not yet had a reply. I have redone the change of circs as it was still showing him as a child (which is why I assume the CE is still on there).

I rang the helpline and spoke to someone who was obviously in a foreign call centre. She was very difficult to understand if I'm honest and I don't think she quite understood what I was trying to say either. She thought I wanted to make a claim for my son in his own right now he's an adult 🤷 in the end she told me I needed to remove him as a child and add him as anither adult living with us, which I did. I've sent 2 messages since to see if I've done it right, but again, no reply.

I've always sent the message through the "payment" tab as Id heard that as my husband is in support group/Lcwra then we wouldn't have a work coach. I supposed we have to wait for someone to reply or for this assessment to end to see if the CE is removed. I have to admit I'm not entirely filled with confidence that it'll be done right, I just hope it's just the CE that comes off and everything else stays the same!