THOUSANDS of Brits on Universal Credit should no longer lose cash because of the bank holiday weekend.
People on a low income claiming the benefit could find that their usual monthly pay date changes because of the extra day off.
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This could mean that two pay days fall into one assessment period for calculating Universal Credit entitlement, reducing the amount they get because it looks like they’ve earned more.
The the more you earn in an assessment period, the less benefits you get the following month.
But now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have said that the benefit computer systems will now flag this automatically.
Work coaches can then move the payment so it doesn’t fall into the same time frame.
Previously anyone in this situation needed to tell coaches themselves. If they didn’t they could lose out on cash.
It’s the first bank holiday where this will be flagged automatically and claimants don’t have to – although it may still be worth checking, just in case.
The DWP have said the system now recognises when anyone gets two monthly salaries in a single month.
Will Quince, minister for welfare delivery, said the change means “monthly-paid claimants already in work don’t have to worry about unexpected changes to their payments”.
Last year the loophole was fixed for around 85,000 employees on a monthly payroll after a court ruled it “irrational and unfair”.
Since November 2020, the DWP has been able to manually move one of the pay cheques into a different assessment period so Universal Credit can calculate payments normally.
But it was up to the person claiming Universal Credit to tell their work coach that this needed to be done.
Martin Lewis warned claimants before the last bank holiday that their payments could drop to nothing because of the flaw in the system if they didn’t say anything.
Now work coaches should see two payments in one month flagged for workers on a monthly salary, and can then make the change.
But thousands of employees are still missing out because they’re not on a monthly payroll.
While the fix helps those who are paid multiple times in a month as a one-off, for example because payday would normally fall on a weekend or bank holiday, those who are paid every four weeks, fortnightly or weekly are still missing out.
The problem affects thousands of workers who are paid by their employers more regularly causing their benefits to drop to £0 in some cases.
The DWP argues that those paid by their employer every four weeks will be paid more frequently than those who are paid monthly and Universal Credit is designed to reflect this.
The Sun has called on the government to fix errors in the system, as part of our Make Universal Credit campaign.
Boris Johnson doubles down on vow to slash Universal Credit by £20 a week for millions of families next month
