cost of living payment

Hi
I may have missed this but as we are are aware people on certain benefits will be entitled to the cost of living payment. The assessment period also is for the period that ended in the period 26 April 2022 to 25 May 2022.

I have a client that because they are paid weekly this ran into a 5 week month and as such nil UC as such may be barred from the payment. See below.
“You will not be eligible for the Cost of Living Payment if your earnings reduced your Universal Credit to £0 for the qualifying assessment period. This is sometimes called a ‘nil award’. If money has also been taken off for other reasons (such as payments of rent to your landlord or for money that you owe), you might still be eligible.”

My question is does anyone know if this is challengeable as people affected like this have at least two periods in a year with 5 week months.

Thank you

This is consistent with the clear terms of the Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022 and as such could not be challenged unless you propose to get a declaration of incompatibility from the High Court.

The additional paymemts work on something of a ‘rough justice’ basis by snapsnotting entitlement on specific days - some people will lose out because they happened not to have an entitlement at that time when they usually do, others will gain because they happened to have an entitlement when they usually don’t.

Whilst your client will not qualify for the first payment, they will qualify for the second unless they are horrendously unlucky. They will therefore receive half of the total amount available which the government will say is broadly consistent with the fact that they sometimes do and sometimes don’t qualify for UC.