Waiting for the first UC payment


A major change is that UC is paid monthly (in arrears) and all benefit payments are made directly to individuals. There is a requirement for claimants to have a bank account or equivalent. There is a standard six-week wait for the first payment under UC. However, Croydon Council gave evidence to a Work and Pensions Committee inquiry stating that: “On average it is about 12 weeks before any form of payment is awarded, which is creating considerable pressures”. 


This wait for UC is causing huge hardship for many people, forcing them into rent arrears and at risk of eviction as well as reliance on food banks. A recent Guardian newspaper investigation found that: 


• many UC claimants are going without basic living essentials and turning to food banks and loan sharks;


• eight out of 10 social housing tenants moved onto UC are falling into, or increasing the level of, rent arrears;


• families unable to manage the 42-day wait for a first payment are regularly referred to food banks by housing associations or local MPs;


• some claimants are waiting as long as 60 days for an initial payment; and


• fewer private landlords are willing to take on people in receipt of benefits, even if they are working, because of uncertainty about the system.


In February 2017, the Work and Pensions Committee announced that it was relaunching its inquiry “following compelling evidence of the problems in the roll-out of Universal Credit”. Its chair, the Labour MP Frank Field, said that huge delays in people receiving payments from UC had resulted in debt and rent arrears, health problems and reliance on food banks. 


Claimants who will not have enough money to live on while waiting for the first payment are advised to call the UC helpline to ask for an advance payment. This must be paid back through regular UC payments once they start.


Under UC, there is a standard allowance with different rates for single people and couples, and lower rates for younger people (see pages 93-94). 


There are also additional amounts available for those with: 



• a disability;



• caring responsibilities; 



• housing costs; 



• children; and



• childcare costs.



All these payments are subject to a Benefit Cap (see Chapter 2).