Dates of payments from employer

Cl. claimed UC after his job ended. The employer owed him some pay and made one payment during the waiting period ( still in force when claim was made) and another in the first week of the assessment period. UC seemed to have added them together and said that he wasn’t entitled to UC in the first assessment period as he had too much income. ( I remember that I posted about this early in the new year)

We have now discovered that the employer didn’t report the payments until the second or third day of the assessment period and when they reported them to HMRC they added the two together.  UC simply assumed that this payment was made on the day it was reported and counted it as one payment which was large enough to take the client out of UC for that month.

Cl is taking bank statement and payslips to DWP today so they can look at the actual dates that the payments were made and, we hope, reconsider the decision that the cl. wasn’t entitled.

I was wondering if anyone else has come across this and if the recon was successful.

I haven’t dealt with it myself but CUC/166/2017 might be helpful if you have any problems

Thanks Daphne, that should settle the matter if it comes to a dispute

Won at FtT this morning in an appeal where - based on HMRC information - client was paid twice in an assessment period. Except that information was incorrect - the information provided by the employer to HMRC (and the claimant’s wage slip) might have shown she was paid 28/12/2016, but she was actually paid early for Xmas on 22/12/2016 and bank statements confirmed this. Reg 54 UC regs is clear that it is earnings actually received in an assessment period that count and reg 61 (3)(a) and (b) makes clear that whilst RTI and HMRC information is what is normally used, the Secretary of State can disregard this when there is reason to believe it is wrong.

DWP maintained its position that it can only go by the RTI/HMRC info throughout the MR and appeal stage, at a previously adjourned hearing and today. The judge was unimpressed, to say the least….

Unfortunately, I can’t see that this says anything positive about the prospects of UC seeing sense in your case, but good luck!

Unlucky client has an assessment period 15th to 14th of each month with a pay date of the 15th of each month that can change slightly if the 15th is a weekend or bank holiday.

Is there any basis at all to challenge a UC decision where she is paid twice in a month as a result and as such loses out on a work allowance?

There is no HMRC RTI information error - just bad timing.