Clients getting paid monthly sometimes get paid twice in one assessment period due to their employer paying slightly early due to non 'banking day'.
From 16 November a new law (changing regulation 61 of the UC regulations 2013) comes into force affecting the way monthly earnings are treated for Universal Credit calculations.
Paragraph 6 allows for a reallocation of a calendar monthly payment of earnings reported via the Real Time Information (RTI) service to a different Universal Credit assessment period where it is necessary to maintain a regular payment cycle. It will allow then to benefit from their work allowance(earnings disregard if applicable, each month.
The new law implements the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Secretary of State v Johnson & others [2020] EWCA Civ 778. The government think it will affect less than one 1% of clients working and claiming UC.
Note- others who might get paid weekly, fortnightly or 4 weekly might experience a similar fluctuation in UC but the new law does not cover those situations.
Book now for our updated– Universal Credit Overview 2021, Universal Credit – The Tricky Parts 2021 and Universal Credit and Housing Costs 2021 courses.