Changes to payment dates for universal credit have been announced due to the Queen's Jubilee weekend.
On Monday, January 10, Buckingham Palace unveiled the full programme of events to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Celebrations will include the 95-year-old monarch opening her private estates to the public and some of the world’s biggest stars performing outside Buckingham Palace. There will also be a four-day bank holiday weekend. The spring bank holiday will take place on Thursday, June 2, followed by the platinum jubilee bank holiday on Friday, June 3.
Read more: Full details of Queen's Platinum Jubilee events including four days off
While this will be good news for millions of people in the UK it will also mean changes to payment dates for those in receipt of universal credit.
If you're one of the 22 million people in the UK receiving universal credit (UC) you will receive your usual payment on a different date.
Because of the nature of UC, payments are given at different times of the month for different people.
UC is paid in arrears and your benefits are calculated each month based on an assessment period the previous month. This assessment period depends on when you first applied for UC.
The time between sending off your application and getting paid is made up of a month-long assessment period and up to seven days for the payment to reach your account.
For example, if someone made a claim for UC on February 1, the assessment period would run until February 28. After this point, a new assessment period will begin in March for seven days which means claimants would get paid on March 7 and the seventh of each month after that.
For benefit claimants who are expecting their UC on June 3 they will see their payment dates changed to accommodate the Jubilee. Usually this means benefits being paid the day before they expect it to arrive. For example if someone’s payment date is on a weekend they will receive their UC on the Friday before.
However, due to the extended Bank Holiday weekend from Thursday, June 2, to June 5, the Department for Work and Pensions will pay claimants their UC on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
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