The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has warned benefit claimants of changes to payment dates in December. Those claiming Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and more are set to be affected by the changed dates.
In most instances, scheduled payments that fall on a weekend or bank holiday will instead be credited to accounts on the previous working day. Most benefits are paid weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly on the same day of the working week while Universal Credit is paid monthly and goes in on the same date of each calendar month.
For those who have been trying to plan their household finances for December, the DWP has now confirmed the payment changes it will be implementing this month. In total, there are five different dates that will be affected, reports Cambridgeshire Live.
Any benefit amounts that are due on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24, will go into accounts as normal. Payments that would have been due on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25, or on Boxing Day, Thursday, December 26, will also go in on December 24 instead.
If your payment is due on Friday, December 27, it will go in three days earlier on December 24. However, it will be different for those on Universal Credit, who will receive it on the day itself as usual.
All benefits due on New Year’s Day, Wednesday, January 1, will be paid a day earlier, on Tuesday, December 31. Due to extended New Year holidays in Scotland, most payments scheduled for Thursday, January 2, will be deposited into accounts on New Year’s Eve, Tuesday, December 31.
However, Universal Credit claimants, whose payment is due on the 2nd, will receive it as usual on the actual day.
For those receiving Child Benefit, which is typically paid by HMRC every four weeks on a Monday or Tuesday, the only alteration will be on December 30 when recipients in Northern Ireland will get it the following day, December 31. HMRC has already announced the changes to payment dates for those on tax credits.