DWP says it is staggering the cost of living payment qualifying periods to ensure people do not miss more than one payment due to the frequency of their earnings

Universal Credit Senior Responsible Owner tells Select Committee that Department has modified payment dates so they are not in a 13 week cycle

The DWP is staggering the cost of living payment qualifying periods to ensure people do not miss more than one payment due to the frequency of their earnings, Universal Credit Senior Responsible Owner Neil Couling has told the Work and Pensions Committee.

As part of its inquiry into the cost of living support payments – which is exploring whether the level of support was adequate, and whether some people were prevented from accessing the payments – the Committee heard evidence yesterday from Mr Couling as well as DWP Minister Mims Davies and other officials from the Department.

Addressing the issue of claimants missing out on a cost of living payment because an extra pay packet in the qualifying period (five lots of weekly pay or three lots of fortnightly pay) meant they were not entitled to universal credit, Mr Couling advised –

'… we staggered the qualifying periods for later payments, so they are not in a 13-week cycle. That means that if people who are paid either fortnightly or weekly miss one of the payments because their earnings have accrued in that month and they don’t qualify for universal credit in that month, they qualify for the next two.'

In addition, in order to catch other claimants who have missed out, for example because entitlement to a relevant benefit in the qualifying period was only established at a later date because of an appeal, the Department's Nagesh Reddy advised the Committee that there are two ways that payments are picked up –

The transcript of the Work and Pensions Committee's evidence session is available from parliament.uk