The ABC Complains About the Universal Credit Website

Simon Collyer, ABC founder is busy doing battle with the DWP.

The Universal Credit (UC) online account in the Payments section has this statement:

YOUR PAYMENT IS BASED ON WHAT YOU'VE TOLD US AND COVERS THE PERIOD BETWEEN......

This is NOT true. Universal Credit is based on information given by the employer to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) and that information is given to the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions).

The DWP are making the Claimant responsible for information that they have no access to, and no responsibility for, and whose accuracy is the responsibility of the employer, HMRC, and the DWP, NOT [we argue] the Claimant.

It is difficult to see how the Claimant can be responsible for the accuracy of payment information when they cannot have access to the HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) system? This is the system employers use to report payroll information.

The ABC reports that the Irish Claimant Commitment is much fairer and has an equal section on what the claimant can expect from the government.

ABC Note: Unfair Contracts in law: Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) A statute which imposes limits on the extent to which liability for breach of contract, negligence or other breaches of duty can be avoided by means of contractual provisions such as exclusion clauses. It is unfair in our view if claimants are forced to sign a contract or aggrement to assume responsibility for something they have NO control over. We are not lawyers and this is not a legal opinion. However this is hardly fair, one must agree...

ABC Comment: Have your say below: