Universal Credit Payment

[Sst]

Hi,

 

I started a claim on the 23rd December 2013 and was paid £164 late January. I phoned them today asking for information, and they said that I had earned during this time, which I hadn't. Looking back at my bank statement the company that I was working for over the Christmas period which in this case was Royal Mail only paid me 4 days wages in my last week. Then paid me the Friday's wage early January.

 

So, today I'm £80 - £95 down because of a wage error over Christmas and they said they cannot do anything about it. The amount it has cost in transport to and from the Job Centre, The Work programme, the job clubs and actively seeking work has cost me dearly. That is without dipping in and paying rent on top, which isn't covered by the benefit system, because I'm still at home for the foreseeable future.

 

Is there anything I can do about this? The claim sheet initially said that I would be getting around about £250 ish for the month. By the time next Monday rolls that has been 6 weeks and £164 in total.

 

I don't really understand Universal Credit all that much but the woman on the phone said they count any earnings from the 23rd December to January 23rd as earnings no matter the circumstance. Anything over £111 is 35p to the £1. Should I really be losing out because Royal Mail decided to pay me my last weeks wage before Christmas apart from the Friday? For one days wage which should have come in before Christmas I have lost £80-£90 just on a month and a few days, not including it all.

[Sst]

I hope one of the experts can wade in at some point, I really need help on this. I'm seriously skint right now. I was relying on this payment heavily for weeks, and then I get it, and it's way below what I was expecting. 23rd December 2013 to January 29th 2014 paydate. It's a long time, to only then receive half a payment.

 

I'm meant to be getting Holiday Pay at some point as well. Are they really punishing you for working now? You work, get laid off, then get less benefits because you worked weeks before? I don't see how that works. Any earnings should surely come under when you weren't claiming?

[Mr.P]

Many companies work on a Mon-Sun period when calculating pay, but over Christmas this often gets changed. I'm not sure what Royal Mail's schedule was, but I wouldn't be surprised if they moved the cut-off dates around.

 

The excuse to not pay benefits for payments received in relation to employment when not claiming sucks, especially when you get paid in arrears. I would strongly suggest writing to your BDC pointing out that the payments received are for hours worked when not claiming UC (basically appealing the decision not to pay UC) - It needs to be in writing so that you have a paper trail.

 

If it isn't done automatically, you can also reclaim any tax paid from HMRC in April (assuming your tax liability is low).

[antone]

In benefit-speak this is known as "attribution", and while I don't know much about UC, I suspect the BDC may be making a mistake. Earned income should be attributed to the weeks in which the hours are worked, not to the date on which payment was made. I strongly suggest a polite but firm letter of appeal.