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!

Case manager seems to expect me to be on top of journal communication while not being themselves - at one point i'd sent 4/5 messages over a few days asking for reassurance about something and no reply - still haven't had a reply to those - but they have added stuff they want me to do.

That initial appointment if I'd been on my own and hadn't had the guts to request a supervisor I think I would have been right stitched over!

I'm concerned that the supervisor said they would be checking with esa re support group, I've also now uploaded the esa letter I used as part of ID interview to journal too. Yet I've received no assurance that I will be in LCWRA group or that they've communicated with esa department or anything. I've very little faith in this woman in terms of competence or integrity.

I'm due to be notified of how much I will be receiving 14th may with payment due 18th may.

Should I be asking on journal about esa before then? I'm very nervous about rocking the boat or getting anyones back up BUT I'm also not wanting to receive less than I am supposed to get

They could be waiting on ESA responding. I think they have to send a form to Uc confirming support group status. The case managers have huge caseloads.

I get that they have huge caseloads but if they're on the journal anyway adding stuff surely a brief sentence that they've read mine and will get back to me or something isn't asking too much?

It may be different people though. Work commitment appointments will be generated by a work coach wheras it will be your case manager sorting the ESA I would imagine.

@babyroobs where is the sense in different people dealing with me at that level ?

Ok just had my statement appear on my journal.

Happy to give exact figs by pm rather than here.

I have :

Standard allowance
Housing based on lha
LCWRA (I think)

But I don't see anything relating to transitional protection, it's not the amount I was expecting

Deducted :

Advance payment plan - which I expected

Deduction for the esa I received the comment is :

"As you received benefits you were not entitled to"

Do I say something on the journal? If so what and do I do so now? Or do I wait until I have received the payment and raise it then? (In case raising it now would delay payment?)

I don't want to be greedy but I do want to make sure it's correct.

And ultimately I need enough to live on!

Yea just did a calculation on turn2us (which I know is only an estimate but gives the gist)

And it looks like they haven't included the transitional protection element that's worth £120 approx a month

Nothing on there obviously re the claimed esa overpayment

Can anyone help/advise?

I'm basically getting £150 less than I thought I'd be getting

This is a lot to be short by

Hi OP

Obviously I don't know exactly how much your housing element should be, as it depends on the LHA, but the other elements should be:
Standard allowance £334.91
LCWRA £354.28
Transitional element (SDP) £120

If there is anything missing (you say you don't have the transitional element?) then send a message via your online journal to query it. Sending the message now won't delay the payment.

I don't understand this bit:

"Deduction for the esa I received the comment is :
"As you received benefits you were not entitled to"

Have you received a letter about ESA overpayments? Usually there should be a 2 week run-on, if you were on income-based ESA. So your ESA should stop 2 weeks after you started your UC claim.

For more advice about the deduction for ESA, I suggest you contact Citizens Advice Help to Claim service or your local Citizens Advice. If I was advising I'd want to see recent ESA letters and a screenshot of your UC statement if possible.

Thank you

They've awarded full lha amount (I need to call council about council tax and possible dhp)

I could pm you full breakdown if ok with you?

The part re esa says :

As you received benefits you were not entitled to
Employment and Support Allowance
minus ‑ £29.25

Received last esa payment last week of April

Also now I'm looking back at old posts and there seems a slight discrepancy maybe from start of claim to when I will receive payment is 5 days more than a month. They advanced me standard rate + housing of one months worth so they haven't backdated the LCWRA nor covered that gap.

Is this normal and will be rectified later or do I need to raise it with them?

I think I will contact cab Monday, also council again - I called them before about council tax and dhp and they were supposed to get back to me and this reminds me they haven't

Ok so they've only deducted £29.25 for ESA, that's fine. It was probably because your final ESA payment was slightly too high. I don't think they will deduct that in future.

I think you have misunderstood how the payments work. UC is paid in arrears. So you won't get anything extra backdated apart from the transitional element if that's missing.

If you claimed UC on 12th April, your assessment period is 12th April to 11th May, and your first payment (for one month) will be on 18th May. The next assessment period is 12th May to 11th June, and you will be paid for that on 18th June. And so on and so forth....

You should have received the 2 week run-on of ESA from 12th to 25th April. ESA is usually paid fortnightly on Mondays (?) so if you got paid on 18th April for 2 weeks worth, that would explain why there is an overpayment (your payment covered 18th April to 2nd May, but you were only entitled until 25th April, which means 26th April to 2nd May was an overpayment of 1 week.

The dates might not be quite right (I would have expected a bigger overpayment for 1 week, maybe it was only a couple of days?), but that's the logic. I hope it makes sense.

The advance payment is just a loan to tide you over until your first payment. It doesn't matter that the amount doesn't match what your actual UC payment should be. The important thing is that your first payment (on 18th May) is correct. You said the transitional element (for your SDP) is missing. So that's the only thing that needs to be rectified. Hopefully they will sort it and pay you the extra £120 that you should be getting on the 18th. They probably won't sort it by then but it should be backdated when they do.

As long as the transitional SDP payment is sorted in the next month, from 18th June onwards you should get £809.19 plus your housing element on the 18th of every month.

As for CTR, most councils ask you to apply online, have you done that? It's easier than trying to get through to them on the phone!

Why are you applying for the DHP, is your rent higher than the LHA?

Some links for you

www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit/How-will-I-be-paid-Universal-Credit#guide-content

www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/new-to-universal-credit/how-and-when-youll-be-paid/

Ok that's a relief re the esa it's not gonna be that amount every month?

I don't even get the disability element backdated?

Thanks for explaining the dates thing

CTR I did apply online - twice - because the 1st time it didn't work, called them FINALLY Got through (they're insanely hard to get on the phone) and the person did it their end and had me check it my end and it SEEMED to go through ok but I've heard nothing since and having a lot of trouble logging in

They also told me it acted as an automatic application for dhp too but with all the problems I've had with the council tax I'm not depending on that

Yes rent higher than lha - despite being quite low for the area inc lower than social rent!

Thanks for the links I'll look at them tomorrow as it's quite late now

If by disability element you mean LCWRA element, and it's included in the calculation for the payment you are due on the 18th, that means you have been awarded it from the start of your claim. So there is no backdating required.

I know each council is different, but I have never known an application for discretionary housing payment to be automatic with an application for council tax reduction. A housing benefit and council tax reduction would usually be on one online form but you do not need housing benefit as you have the rent element on your Uc now. Discretionary housing payments are only for some people who have a shortfall in their rent being paid. So I would double check this, it is usually a separate application and they will want detailed breakdown of what money you have coming in and your outgoings.

Sorry I've not been back till now had a weird week.

@AnotherEmma yes that's what I meant the LCWRA but I didn't receive that element in the advance so I haven't received it for that time period is that not supposed to be back dated?

@Babyroobs It was the council themselves that told me this not dwp but I have been trying to get through to them all week to check with no luck so far (very hard to get through on phone and no way to communicate online just see and pay payments!)

Would be happy to provide them my financial info if necessary I don't live a profligate life

Asked on journal re esa and transitional protection

Reply now reviewed says esa deduction a one off, due to slight date overlap. But the transitional protection is apparently still in the hands of a decision maker which worries me.

Should I respond and if so what should I say?

Again don't wanna get their backs up but also don't wanna lose out

The advance is just a loan. So it doesn't matter what was included in it. None of it is backdated, it is a loan which you have to pay back.

Yea I understand it's a loan that's not the issue

Maybe a better way of explaining it is that the advance is meant to have covered the initial few weeks of the claim and the advance didn't include the LCWRA element

The more recent payment the 1st "proper" payment inc LCWRA for the next period of the claim I think but I haven't received a payment for the LCWRA in that payment for the 1st period - unless is uc payed in arrears?

Yes I believe UC is paid in arrears. So I wouldn't matter if they allocated the loan amount as "new shoes and beer money" or if it was £100 or £1000. Whatever they called it and however much it was, it's a loan to tide you over with your living expenses until the first payment comes through, and it has to gradually be paid back. If you've got the LCWRA in the first payment, then you've got it, so there's nothing to sort out with that.

Yes it's paid in arrears. I did already attempt to explain it all, with links... (re)read my last few posts.

"Asked on journal re esa and transitional protection

Reply now reviewed says esa deduction a one off, due to slight date overlap. But the transitional protection is apparently still in the hands of a decision maker which worries me.

Should I respond and if so what should I say?"

No need to respond. Just wait and see what the decision is about transitional protection. You should get it so try not to worry. If you don't get it, request an MR.

Ok if paid in arrears that makes sense and I understand now re LCWRA

@anotheremma I did read the links but my memory isn’t great these days I’ve made a note of that info now

Thanks for the advice re no comment - not even a thanks for the reply?