Do I move from UC to ESA I have been off sick for six months.

[EachandEveryone]

It will happen in Junes pay. I rent in London. I have cancer and I am hopefully responding well but still have a long way to go. MacMillan have been fantastic. I am week 23 and Im clueless. I am already registered with UC and receive the payment for work capability assessment through that and about £40 from UC. I have had a letter advising me to claim ESA. I cannot afford to drop fill in the difference while it is sorted out as it pays two weekly. If I stay exactly where I am with UC will I get paid from them automatically when my salary drops? Do I inform them its dropping or just hope that it kicks in? Ive paid NI for 25 years and really do want to go back to the job albeit, a different role to start with. I will have to pay an extra £250 towards housing.

MacMillian can help with that too - they have a support line.

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/impacts-of-cancer/benefits-and-financial-support

Sorry about the cancer.

Are you getting SSP at the moment (£109.40/week)? That can be paid for 28 weeks before it stops so I am guessing that's what is stopping. You can and should claim ESA (new-style ESA, to be precise) in advance. See Claiming new style ESA (EWS) § If you’re getting sick pay from your employer

I assume your UC includes the housing element ie money towards your rent. If you're in private rented, it probably won't cover all the rent (as it's limited to the LHA). However, you can apply to your local council for a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) to cover the difference - have you done that? And are you claiming council tax reduction (CTR)?

if there is a gap between your SSP stopping and your ESA starting, your UC will go up automatically. The amount you get is calculated based on the earnings that your employer reports to HMRC (in their usual payroll submission), so when they report 0 (after your sick pay stops) you will get the maximum UC.

Hope that helps. Any more questions, post here or contact Macmillan or Citizens Advice.

Thank you. So am I better off claiming the Znew ESA or not? Will I have to go through the whole rigmorol of going through interviews again and filling out forms if UC will pay it anyway? Does the incapacity to work payment get swallowed up or is it extra? (Will o pop tobsnkh pop at the difference in rent) it’s so confusing and Si only gave myself to worry about.

People confuse contributions based ESA -which is not means tested -with new style ESA which is. OP, ESA is an overlapping benefit which means it is deducted pound for pound off any UC entitlement. The point in claiming it, is that you get a different class of NI contributions paid on your behalf and that it is paid fortnightly. However UC can also be paid fortnightly upon appeal
You have a benefits advisor in Macmillan, use them. Your priority should possibly be a PIP ,or Personal Independence Payment,claim as your incapacity is ongoing it seems. Discretionary Housing Payments are a temporary solution and are not guaranteed to be paid. Also councils often run out of funding for such
So you don't need to apply for ESA necessarily as under the UC regime you will see no financial benefit, however your advisor will be able to check your National Insurance history to see if the different NI class credits will be sensible given your previous payment history. If you do apply for ESA, you will not need to undergo a new work capability assessment and you will keep that LCWRA element on your UC claim regardless
All the best with your treatment

Thank you that’s what I needed to hear. No I won’t be claiming rent from the council I’m a private tennant and don’t want to be going there as they have no money.

it’s reminding me of when the NHS were obbsessed with us swapping to the newer pension and I stuck to my guns thank goodness. The wording is very similar so I’m not shifting. Do I write on my journal that it will be dropping 16th June?

"People confuse contributions based ESA -which is not means tested -with new style ESA which is."
This is wrong. New-style ESA is not means-tested. It's the same as contributory ESA (which was the name under the legacy benefits system) i.e. eligibility is based on NI contributions.

You are correct that nsESA payments are deducted from UC, though.

OP, I would still advise claiming nsESA. You won't have to do another WCA:

If you get Universal Credit and already have LCW for Universal Credit, you’ll automatically have LCW for ESA as well.
(from Fill in the ESA capability for work form - If you don't get a form )

You can apply in advance of SSP ending, it will be paid every 2 weeks (so you won't be dependent just on a monthly UC payment) and if you have any increase in income or savings for any reason, your nsESA won't be affected. However, as it is deducted pound for pound from your UC, you won't be better off overall.

No you are confused new style ESA is the new maje for contribution based it's not means tested.

OP, do you know if you have LCW or LCWWRA?
If you have LCW, you won't get any extra UC.
If you have LCWWRA, you will get the LCWWRA element which is £390.06/month. You would see it on your UC statement in your online journal.

Are you getting the housing element or not? I'm confused that you've said you only get £40/month UC which doesn't seem like much?

What about PIP (Personal Independence Payment), have you claimed that? If not do consider whether you might be eligible:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/before-claiming/check-you-are-eligible/
and https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-self-test

"No I won’t be claiming rent from the council I’m a private tennant and don’t want to be going there as they have no money."

As I already said, if you're a private tenant, the UC housing element probably doesn't cover all your rent (it's capped at the LHA).

You need to be aware that when your SSP stops, whether you claim nsESA or not, you will be about £420/month worse off, I'm afraid. This is why it's important to consider other benefits you can apply for including PIP (which will take a long time to get, so it's not a quick fix) and DHP. Why don't you want to apply for a DHP? You might not get it, but you might, and it would help - even if it's just in the short term.
Get help with renting costs - If your benefits don't pay all your rent

Im waiting to here about a phone interview for PIP.

as far as I can see I get very little towards my rent which is fair enough as my salary hasnt dropped yet! I have only two years of NI to pay. I have never had abreak in it. I do get LCWWRA which started this month and that will make up any difference. I am expecting to be £300-£400 worse off and please let it only be for afew more months.

i just want it to be smooth and straight forward that is why Im reluctant to upset the applecart and start asking the council for grants. I have so much psper work to plough through plus I will be having HR on my back anytime soon. I need as little stress has I can. Thank you so much for the advice.

You can check the maximum amount you can get towards rent at https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx (it would be the one bedroom rate) and/or look at your UC statement and see what it says for housing element.

It's good that you are now getting LCWWRA element 👍 Hope you don't have to wait too long for your PIP assessment. I know it's all pretty stressful (on top of everything else you are going through) but once the PIP assessment is done that is hopefully the last major hurdle.

You will be £421.79/month worse off after your SSP ends, I'm afraid. The reason for this is that on UC, SSP is treated as earnings so they let you keep most of it before reducing your UC. SSP works out as £474.07/month but they should only be taking £52.28 off your UC.

According to my calculations, atm your UC should be £706.52/month plus housing element, and when your SSP stops, your UC will go up to £758.80 plus housing element.

I wonder if the housing element is being paid directly to your landlord?

If you need any more help making sense of it all, please do contact Macmillan or citizens advice.

No need to pay directly to the landlord I’ve privately rented for many years from my own bank account and I’m very lucky the rent has barely increased. We rub skins five. I don’t even really need to tell her about this “blip”

If your salary is ending then you will just get the UC elements without any deductions for earnings, so presumably your standard element and LCWRA element, unless you have rent element on there also in which case you would get that too. So if no rent element it will be around £750 form Uc a month. If you then choose to claim new style ( contributions based ESA ) that is apid separately fortnightly but then deducted in full from your UC. So you would get the ESA fortnightly and then deducted at an averaged monthly rate from UC, so you'd get a small amount of UC and the ESA paid seperately.

Sorry just saw you get rent element as well so will be more than £750 obviously.

As you have already been awarded LCWRA on UC, you should not need a further medical/ work capability assessment for ESA, you should automatically be awarded the support group/LCWRA rate of ESA. Whilst you are no better off claiming ESA, there are some benefits in that if for example you inherited money, or met a partner who earned enough that you no longer qualified for UC, or won the lottery you could still get ESA as it's non means tested.

Thats quite incredible. So if I cashed in my pension it wouldnt be affected? I dont know that wouldnt be right at all.

this welfare system is really fantastic compared to anywhere elste but, goodness me, it doesnt leave an inch of movement for bills does it? How do people survive? My gas an electric is £250 a month and that's just me on my own. Its terrible really. I mean, Im not complaining but I will be returning to work albeit part time.

Well, it's not particularly generous compared to most European countries.
It's going to be important to make sure you are getting your full UC entitlement, including the housing element, because even with that it will be a struggle to pay all your bills. That's why I've suggested the DHP - if you get it, it could make it slightly easier for you to make ends meet until you can return to work.
There is also some extra help available if needed such as the Household Support Fund (HSF) and other things.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/get-help-with-the-cost-of-living/

ESA will stop when you reach pension age, btw. At that point you'll get the state pension instead.

A private pension would affect contributions based ESA if over £85 a week. A private pension would be deducted from any UC pound for pound.