Any benefits advisors about? Need help so confused

[BenefitsTimingHelp]

I posted before re pip review I also have a move to UC to manage which actually needs done before that

I keep trying to get advice and help from places like cab but every advisor I speak to even within the same organisations and even the same office or branch is giving me conflicting advice and I have no idea what to do and time is running out as I have to report changes let dwp know stuff etc within a certain time period

Before boring the whole of mn with too much detail I will just give a brief outline and hopefully someone with suitable knowledge can help

I am on ESA support group at the moment when I started looking into everything for this move to UC I discovered I was eligible for but hadn’t been receiving severe disability premium. So applied for that and I’m now officially got that on record although not actually received a payment yet.

Need to start a claim for UC as just moved house (apparently this is classed as my choice even though it really wasn’t cos of it was due to landlord issues)

I don’t know how claiming UC works and I can’t get anyone to really tell me other than that it’s done online. I want to be prepared properly for making the claim and I don’t know what I will need to hand.

I also (great timing! Not!) have a pip review form to do with deadline fast approaching and I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing with that either never done one before as I was on DLA before.

A couple of people from thread on that were in touch and gave advice but I still feel muddled and confused and out of my depth on that one too. I get enhanced for both at the moment and I’m terrified I’m going to lose what I’m getting as my health situation has changed slightly to what was going on when I first claimed in some ways I’m doing a little better but in others worse.

I have tried looking at guidance online but again different sites seem to give conflicting advice so I don’t know what’s right

Can anyone help? I hope so feel like I am drowning here!

I thought it was me! I seem to really struggle to find stuff online these days I put in what is a perfectly sensible search term to me and a load of nonsense comes up! Not just cab. Argos is particularly bad! I think I was searching throws recently and I got paddling pools! I mean wtf!

And now my laptop has gone belly up on me and I can't access either old or new forms as they're on there! Argh!

I hope your laptop stops being a bellend so you can have a look at your old form. It's good that you kept a draft of it, and that you were awarded on the back of the form (and any assessment) without having to challenge, because it shows you filled it in well.

I always write a lot for each answer as well, and my last review was assessed by the DWP on paper only, without even being sent to the assessment provider for them to produce a report. It's hard to believe it would have been as quick and painless as that if I'd written next to nothing on the form because nothing had changed, because I never have medical evidence to include, only my own description of how things are for me. Advice from the CAB can be inconsistent in content and quality: when I first moved from DLA to PIP, the person I initially spoke to said I should answer the questions in as much detail as I could (while keeping things relevant to the descriptors), but then when I went in to have them complete the form for me, as suggested by my support worker, it was a different person and he wrote, in answer to every question, "Due to (my main condition) claimant is unable to (perform this activity) without prompting" (or supervision for some activities). That was it!! He said it would be enough and offered to post the form for me from there, but I took it home and scribbled his writing out and redid it properly (in my opinion). I've never had to challenge an award either.

Anyway, good luck with it

Now have new charger for laptop which appears to be working.

So now I dunno whether to follow the advisors I spoke to in real life or my instincts and you guys and be fulsome in my answers. One advisor said to maybe include their summary of why I have received points for the sections where I have.

I think I’m leaning towards as much info as poss to be honest

today I have another issue. I already had an appointment for UC for ID checks but now they’ve also sprung a claimants commitment appointment on me with little notice which I am not happy about.

I am in esa support group at the moment and get sdp too so I thought it would be a smooth ish transfer wasn’t expecting this.

any advice/tips from you guys? Dreading this like you wouldn’t believe, mainly because of precious bad experiences of this kinda thing where they’ve lied through their teeth or “lost” paperwork etc I really don’t trust them at all!

seriously dreading this

Bumping for after 5pm people

would very much appreciate advice on this

It'll be fine. Just tell them you've been on ESA in the support group. You will automatically have LCWRA (limited capability for work-related activity) which means you won't have to work or prepare for work.
See www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/claiming/getting-universal-credit-if-youre-sick-or-disabled/#h-you-already-get-employment-and-support-allowance-esa-
And
www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-your-claimant-commitment-quick-guide/universal-credit-and-your-claimant-commitment

I do hope you are right I am so so nervous about this. As I said I’ve not had the best experience with this kind of thing before

thanks for the reply I’m going to look at links now thank you

Hating all this if I'm honest. Read so many awful things about UC and work coaches and the attitude to certain conditions. Been avoiding this for as long as I could.

I've just seen they're asking for a fit note note too which I don't know if I'll be able to obtain before Friday!

I didn't think I would be asked for that given I'm on esa support group.

I really thought it would be a much smoother transition than this!

So your appointment is on Friday? Can you call the GP in the morning? Usually if you call first thing you can talk to a GP the same day. I'm not sure but I think they can issue fit notes electronically.

You could send a message via your UC journal to query it. They might not know you've been on ESA (even if you included that information when you claimed, they might not have joined the dots). Hopefully when you get to speak to an actual person it will all become clearer.

Try not to let the horror stories scare you. Claiming UC is actually very straightforward for many people. If anything goes wrong we can advise you on here and citizens advice can help too. I think I told you about their Help to Claim service before. You can call or do web chat. Maybe try that tomorrow if you want more reassurance?

I tried calling gp last week for one and couldn't get an appointment for this haven't managed it yet. Officially I'm still with my old GP as I haven't yet been able to do all that's required to register with a new GP this is partly as I struggle with certain aspects of doing that.

Old gp knows me better but the surgery can be a bit funny about anything that isn't purely medical appointments I've had to battle them on such things before.

I've stated on the journal several times that I am in esa support group, mentioned it in every phone call with them and included the information in my initial claim as I have been advised to basically hammer this point home!

I've been trying again to get hold of cab very hard to do so. Every time I try the webchat it's too busy to even put me in a queue apparently and similarly difficult with the phone lines.

I appreciate you are all volunteers and with the cost of living price rises among many other political impacts on peoples budgets I know you are extremely busy.

It's just scary when you can't speak to someone and get some kind of reassurance

I apply that to dwp too.

I know everyone struggling with cuts/lack of funding too.

Just wish it all was handled with more compassion and understanding.

Hi,

I've done a million of DLA and PIP forms for myself, my children and other children and adults. It's been awarded everytime.

With the income based ESA. You said that they realised recently that you're entitled to SDP. THIS CAN BE BACKDATED TO THE START OF YOUR ESA CLAIM or the point where you did not have a carer (sorry for the caps but I really wanted you to see it) and they will have to pay you the back dated sum of money.

I'd be happy for you to message me and I'd be more than willing to help you.

Sorry to hear that it's been such a struggle to get through to anyone, it shouldn't be that hard
Citizens Advice advisers are not all volunteers, there are paid staff advisers too. I'm pretty sure that all Help to Claim advisers are paid (they certainly are in my local office and across the region). Usually any specific projects plus specialist advisers

Gah sorry the new site is bugging for me! Had to hit post before I'd finished writing to escape an infinite loop 🤦🏻‍♀️
Anyway I don't know if there's much more that anyone here can say to reassure you, it sounds as if you want reassurance from a more official source. So just keep trying and if you can't get through you'll have to take a deep breath and tell yourself it will be fine.

@Coolcreature I'll pm you in a min but won't expect a reply until a more reasonable time of day (I'm a night owl due to my health stuff) they've so far only backdated it to when I chased it up. I became eligible when my dc moved out a few years back but I didn't know this affected anything as they were an adult and so I wasn't claiming anything for them and I didn't know I needed to report this as a change. They were never my carer it didn't work like that when they lived at home

@AnotherEmma I thought all were volunteers. Certainly it's a charity? My point was I understand cab are dealing with an awful lot just now so many of us are worried about money getting into debt etc

My mum keeps saying "it'll all come out in't wash"

But lovely as she is she has no experience at all with benefits and has frequently been shocked at the nonsense I've had to deal with!

Missed payments, lies, lost paperwork etc

I am seeking reassurance you are right. I won't really feel confident it's all as it should be until it's been running however it will for a while. I like certainties and not having them throws me completely off balance.

Thank you everyone

Ugh! Can't pm cos the site update has messed it all up! I will pm as soon as I am able apologies

Pm sent but unfortunately no paragraphs or good punctuation because the update has really messed up the website hope you can wade through it ok @Coolcreature no idea if I'll be able to read any reply though I hope so

I've replied, I done it as several messages as there was no way to break it down and I didn't want to bombard you. Let me know if you don't get them and we can work something out, bloody update, it's rubbish!

All the best op, with it all.

Posted on another thread in error this format change is throwing me right off!

I've received and replied @Coolcreature

Attached is pic of form with identifying stuff obscured

I managed to do paragraphs by writing in notes app and copying and pasting across

@Hawkins001 thank you need all the luck I can get!

Back again!

@Coolcreature ive pm’d you again

everyone else I had appointment at job centre today it did not go well

work coach tried to get me agree today to providing a fit note (which I am having real trouble organising!) weekly face to face appointments (again a major problem for me) and 35 hours work search!

I wasn’t happy to accept that as it was not what I was expecting to happen and wasn’t what I could agree to

she kept insisting and repeating that if I didn’t agree TODAY I wouldn’t get any money

those were pretty much her words

i ended up asking for a supervisor and then things changed very slightly by supervisor to I could have 7 days to agree, that they would be contacting their medical dept to check on the esa next week, but that it would be best to get a fit note still and now 0 hours work search

I really don’t agree with the commitment they are asking of me as I thought as I was coming over from esa support group it would be a straight transfer more or less?

what do I do now?