Universal Credit - a positive experience

Hi all,

I posted before regarding helping a friend of mine with his Universal Credit application - he decided to do it in the end as his new job was delayed in starting- hearing the horror stories I was expecting it to be horrendous, however....

Applied online Wednesday 9th
Job Centre interviews Friday 11th
He logged in today and been able to apply online for an advance for his rent ( says approved in his journal so assuming nothing else for him to do )

I appreciate this is not the story with the vast majority but thought it was important to bring a little bit of balance in for when its working- certainly at the early stages.

What he did say was strange was that at no times has he been asked to provide his bank statements or even asked why he left his previous job - Gross Misconduct- just to provide evidence of the last 12 months work history

They are a couple with 2 children so not sure if the issues are relating to specific sections of society such as single mums etc but just wanted to give the experience I have seen

Comments

  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696
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    This is not a unique experience. As always bad experiences get a lot more coverage than good ones.

    There are some built in flaws with UC and/ or the way it is being administered. There are also financial losses for particular groups of people, particularly the ill and disabled. Some of the financial losses are due to Treasury intervention under a George Osborne which even Ian Duncan Smith disagreed with.

    The old benefits system is also far from perfect - as many threads of this forum demonstrate.

    Uc is inflexible for people who are not comfortable with computers and isbad at dealing with ill people at the start of their claim because of the inbuilt assumption that everybody is fit and capable of looking for work until proved otherwise.

    Thanks for posting - it’s good to be reminded of the positive.
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • huckster
    huckster Posts: 4,789
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    If you apply online for an advance, the credit will go through 3 working days later. So if done online today, should be in the account on Wednesday.

    In regard to questions about losing last job, they may be asked about previous work history, when they attend a first commitments meeting at the Job Centre.

    In respect to Bank statements, if they had £6k or more savings, they will be requested. Bank details to be used for benefit payments can be automatically verified or at the first appointment, where you need to take in proof that the Bank details are those of the claimant.
    The comments I post are personal opinion. Always refer to official information sources before relying on internet forums. If you have a problem with any organisation, enter into their official complaints process at the earliest opportunity, as sometimes complaints have to be started within a certain time frame.
  • calcotti wrote: »
    This is not a unique experience. As always bad experiences get a lot more coverage than good ones.

    There are some built in flaws with UC and/ or the way it is being administered. There are also financial losses for particular groups of people, particularly the ill and disabled. Some of the financial losses are due to Treasury intervention under a George Osborne which even Ian Duncan Smith disagreed with.

    The old benefits system is also far from perfect - as many threads of this forum demonstrate.

    Uc is inflexible for people who are not comfortable with computers and isbad at dealing with ill people at the start of their claim because of the inbuilt assumption that everybody is fit and capable of looking for work until proved otherwise.

    Thanks for posting - it’s good to be reminded of the positive.

    Thanks for the reply, on reflection you are correct. My friend is very computer savvy and has no problem doing it all online but if you did not have those skills I can see why UC would be very hard and daunting

    Hopefully over time it will improve to be inclusive for everyone and individual needs and situations
  • LocoLoco
    LocoLoco Posts: 420
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    Hi OP, we recently switched to UC and it was okay for us as well.


    Like your friend, I was dreading it as there have been so many bad stories. It didn't seem terribly well organised as a system overall but the staff did a good job of answering questions. I think it can prove to be a complete nightmare if you don't have easy access to the internet and I think our situation is a simple one in the grand scheme of things which probably helped. We also got two weeks extra housing benefit? Which apparently is a run on thing they are doing; I had no idea but it means we've had some extra money through. Our advance came through in three days; I took less than we could have done as I didn't want to be repaying a larger amount each month but it helped to know we could get a bit more if we needed it. But yes, overall, the experience was okay; I still don't quite get the point of it as we're still getting other benefits at different times (Carer's Allowance is paid weekly and then taken off UC which I don't really understand; Child Benefit is still paid four weekly, Council Tax Benefit is still being paid by the council and son's PIP is still four weekly). So I still don't understand the reason for it being changed around but regardless, yes, it was okay and I'm glad it went okay for your friend as well :)
  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696
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    edited 13 January 2019 at 9:28AM
    UC is a means tested benefit so entitlement depends on your circumstances and what other income/savings you have in your household. The other benefits you mention are not means tested, they are payable to anybody who qualifies due to their circumstances regardless of savings and have only limited rules regarding income. What a UC does is bring together all the means tested benefits as one benefit.

    The 2 week run on/overlap of housing benefit was brought in to reduce the problem of tenants getting behind on the rent payments as they transfer to a UC.

    Logically Council Tax Reduction should have come under UC as well. When there was a national set of rules for CTR this would have been possible but the government decided to let every council set their own rules (with certain minimum requirements) which has made it too complicated to incorporate into UC. Absurdly this means that councils will need to continue to run benefits teams to process CTR even when the UCrollout is complete.
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • rjw273
    rjw273 Posts: 36 Forumite
    My OH and I are due our first UC payment in 4 weeks and so far the process has been a breeze and a lot easier than expected. We chose to switch due to being better off on UC than the old system and also we will keep more of any extra earnings.

    The media over sensationalise stories for click bait. In reality the vast majority of claims are trouble free but the press obviously won't report these.
    UC is far from perfect but it is already much better than the old system.
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