Benefit error leaves mum with just £24
ASINGLE mum faces having just £24 for Christmas because of a mistake with her Universal Credit payment.
Helen (not her real name) found out earlier this week that she would only receive £598 this month, instead of her normal allowance of £998. After paying her rent, which is £575 a month, this leaves Helen, 38, from Swansea, with £24 to live on until mid-January.
The mistake in the payment came after her employer submitted her hours from October and November in one go, Helen said, but her pay slips and bank statements – which she says she has shown to staff in her job centre – clearly show they were different payments.
A Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) spokesman said it has apologised to Helen for the service she received, adding that an advance payment has been offered to her.
The mum, who is due to receive the benefits payment on Monday, said she has now been told the issue has gone to dispute and could take up to 28 days for the rest of the money to be paid.
She said: “When I saw it, I was really shocked and my stomach flipped, but I tried to keep as calm as possible. I started panicking when I got to the job centre – there is a really nasty atmosphere there.”
Universal Credit, which has now been fully rolled out to all the job centres in Wales, replaces six other benefits with a single monthly payment.
At the moment, 68,136 people receive Universal Credit in Wales and by the end of the full roll-out – scheduled for 2023 – Citizens Advice estimates that more than 400,000 households in Wales will be in receipt of the new benefit.
Helen, who has an eight-year-old son, said she rang the DWP straight away and was told to go to Swansea job centre with all the evidence, such as bank statements and pay slips.
She claims she wasn’t given the right information – she says was told she would receive the payment by 6pm that evening. However, when she rang the DWP, Helen claims she was told the issue had gone to dispute and it could take up to 28 days for the rest of the money to be paid.
She has had a job in a local care home since the beginning of October, but it is a zero-hours contract and her hours vary. Some weeks she works 25 hours, but others it is 14 or 16 hours.
Helen, who estimates she will get paid £300 this month from her job, said she bought her son’s presents last month but hasn’t done her Christmas food shop yet. She says she will probably end up preparing a buffet because it is cheaper.
Helen said: “Universal Credit is affecting single mums more, especially working mums on zero-hours contracts. I feel we are being bullied by the Government – something has to change with the system. I have a kid and it is Christmas. They are really nasty – they need to have a heart.”
Having been on Universal Credit since she moved to Swansea in September, she described the process as “smooth” until now. The first payment took five weeks to come through, but they gave her a loan.
She feels that, when things go wrong with the benefit, the consequences are very serious because the payments are now monthly rather than weekly.
She added: “I just hope and pray that none of the [utility] bills come through this month. I will just have to be really cheap this month but, as my sister-inlaw said, December should be a month filled with joy and happiness.”
A DWP spokesman said it has apologised to Helen for the service she received, adding: “An advance payment has been offered to her while the error made by the employer is resolved with HMRC.”