Claiming and reclaiming UC

Just a quick one.

I understand that you have the same AP applied to your claim if you reclaim UC within 6 months of the claim closing, but can I just clarify, does this mean you do not have to serve another 5 week wait for payment? 

EKS

Depending on the dates, it could mean another 5 week wait. If they reclaim on the first day of the AP, they will only get paid 5 weeks later. If they reclaim on the last day of the AP, they should get paid 1 week later.

EDIT TO ADD: A new claim advance can be applied for, I believe.

Thanks Charles.  So in this case, the AP is from 3/9/19 to 2/10/19.  The claimant has made the claim today.

Are you saying that the client needs to respond as soon as she receives the first notice of the claim being closed which will be around 5 weeks from the 3rd September (8th October), then she will only need to wait a week?

Basically I am advising her to put the claim in now as she is having a baby on/around 13th October and would really prefer to get this all out the way before the chaos of the baby comes.

Nowadays the rule about the same AP dates being used for a reclaim only apply if there actually was entitlement to UC in the original award. (It used to be different under the live service.)

My advice would be to withdraw this claim, and reclaim 2-2.5 weeks* before the due date. As UC works on a “whole month” approach, if the baby is born before the end of the first AP, they will treat her as having had the baby throughout the whole AP.

* Generally doctors do not allow births to be delayed by more than 2 weeks beyond the due date, so claiming 2-2.5 weeks before the due date should hopefully ensure the baby is born during the first AP.

It could be indUCed.