Dad has just 30p after Universal Credit mix-up

DAD-of-five has been left with just 30p in coppers to live off until the end of the month after a “mix up” with his Universal Credit payment.

Adrian Keal, 48, says he can’t afford to put the heating on so instead has to wrap himself up in a duvet to keep warm, reports HullLive.

The unemployed dad from Hull was expecting to be paid £600 Universal Credit on December 27 but instead received nothing for his welfare payment.

Instead, he’s been told he’ll have to wait until January 27 and now he believes that he is at risk of losing his one-bed flat.

Adrian said: “I’m probably going to lose everything. My 15-year-old son has even offered to give me money, which I have obviously refused, it’s embarrassing.”

The Department for Work and Pensions had warned him two days before Christmas that he wasn’t likely to receive any extra cash because he’d earned “too much” that month.

Adrian was paid holiday pay worth £265 on top of his wages of £215 on December 4 from his former employer, where he worked a powder coating job earning £300 a week.

But the DWP say that they have evidence Adrian received £1,337.99 in total between November 20 and December 12, including an advance payment of £620.

He was let go from his job a month before Christmas and signed on to Universal Credit to help him get by.

But critics of the new welfare system say that it has pushed thousands of households further into debt.

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The Sun is campaigning to Make Universal Credit Work by making sure Brits are paid faster, they get to keep more of what they earn and get childcare costs paid upfront.

Adrian says that he told the DWP that the extra holiday pay he’d received from his work wasn’t enough to get him through the festive season.

Now, he’s relying on emergency gas and electric but reckons it won’t last him the month. He only has enough food to last him a week.

“I’ve asked my landlord for an extension [on the rent], but he’s probably going to kick me out and then I’ll be homeless,” Adrian said.

Adrian, who has no savings to fall back on, used his severance pay from work to cover the bills, a new phone and Christmas presents for his son.

He says he tried to get help from the council and the DWP but wasn’t able to get anywhere.