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AIBU?

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Original poster

To post for attention on universal credit

38 replies

Forkin · 02/05/2019 21:01

My relative has LD, is on DLA/ ESA (support) and HB. Not working

An individual has taken it upon themselves to tell her she has to apply for UC (!!!!). No professional involvement with her and I don’t know why.

First I’ve heard is her bringing letters saying her HB and ESA have stopped because of the new claim. Having LD she didn’t foresee this.

How the hell does this work? How will she pay rent in the meantime? Will she lose money?

I’m feeling overloaded trying to read it all but not feeling clear at all.

OP posts:
Original poster
Forkin · 02/05/2019 21:05

From what I’m reading she’s facing a stint with no money?

OP posts:
alphabetti · 02/05/2019 21:10

Take her to CAB or call CAB Adviceline they will help her

rabbitheadlights · 02/05/2019 22:21

As far as I know it's about 5 weeks with nothing when changing a claim over .... She can apply for an advance though

TheInebriati · 02/05/2019 22:25

Go to the police, if they wont help then sue the nasty piece of work who had her benefits stopped in the small claims court. Angry

Original poster
Forkin · 02/05/2019 22:29

It’s a nightmare, how the hell can anyone go for 5 weeks?

I’m so so cross with the idiot who told her this, she has LD and is trusting/ compliant.

OP posts:
Original poster
Forkin · 02/05/2019 22:29

I looked at the advance, it’s only a loan so would need paying back. So she’ll be short at some point.

OP posts:
rabbitheadlights · 02/05/2019 22:31

Your family member can definitely get an advance on her first months payment it can usually be paid by direct credit on the same day please call the advice line

AnotherEmma · 02/05/2019 22:31

Ignore TheInebriati 🙄

She can request an advance payment of her UC.

If her LD makes it difficult for her to manage money and pay her rent and bills, she can request that the housing element of UC (which replaces her Housing Benefit) is paid directly to her landlord.

There is a 2-week "run on" of HB which means that it is paid for 2 weeks after the start of her UC claim, this mitigates the arrears issue slightly.

As alphabetti said, Citizens Advice can help so I suggest you take her there if you can. With all the paperwork.

TheInebriati · 02/05/2019 22:31

If she's been awarded ESA and DLA, she might be able to have her claim reinstated, on the grounds she didn't understand what she was doing. Get legal advice, get a restraining order against the person giving her 'advice'.

AnotherEmma · 02/05/2019 22:32

A restraining order? What the hell are you on about?!

missymayhemsmum · 02/05/2019 22:32

If she didn't have a change of circumstances she didn't have to make a claim and will probably lose money as a result. She will go from fortnightly to monthly money and have to pay rent out of it, and once the claim is submitted she will probably not be able to withdraw it. She won't automatically be exempted from a work commitment. She shouldn't lose her DLA though. She needs to see a disability benefits specialist asap and will probably need help with her financial management for a long while to avoid losing her tenancy.
The person who 'helped' her to make the claim may be liable for bad advice, unless of course they work for DWP/PIP.
First thing is to tell her landlord, if its a housing association they should be sympathetic and help her sort her claim out, private landlords less so. She needs to avoid rent arrears if she can, may be able to get HB run on. It's also important that she makes a claim for council tax benefit as that will have stopped too.

dirtystinkyrats · 02/05/2019 22:34

Did she phone them or apply online?
If she applied online is she able to use the internet independently to maintain her account? Did this person help her as its a fairly lengthy process to go through all the stages.
She will either need to visit a job centre to have them check her ID or have verified her ID online. If she has done this then she can apply for an advance of up to 100% of her expected first payment - but she will have to pay it back out of her later payments. She will get her first 'standard' payment after 5 weeks.
If she is on HB at the moment is she in private rented or housing association? Does her rent currently go direct to her landlord or to her? There are some problems with how the Housing payments are working leading to some people getting threatening letters about rent arrears. Not sure if that is a national problem and it shouldn't be happening but it is in my area and has really worried some people.
Her DLA wont be affected and she shouldn't have to do another fitness to work type assessment for UC if she has one for ESA. Its worth taking her and all her paperwork to Citizens advice tomorrow if you have a drop in near you so they can work out what has happened and if she will be worse off. If not there is a helpline number you can ring - maybe better if you are both available and all her paperwork again - and sometimes there is web chat.
A new project has been launched called 'Help to Claim' through citizens advice specifically to help people who are applying or have just applied to UC to help them up until the point they get their first payment so she might get help from them as well depending on how it works in your area.

AnotherEmma · 02/05/2019 22:37

Do you know if she was getting the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) with her ESA? If not you should check (it will say on her award letters and you can also work it out based on the payment amounts).

If she was getting the SDP she can cancel the UC claim and go back to legacy benefits.

It's the only scenario that I know of in which you're allowed to do that.

RightOnTheEdge · 02/05/2019 22:37

You can get an advance but they take it back over six months so the repayments can be really high.
I borrowed a few hundred. The bare minimum just so I could eat and they took £60 from my UC every month to pay it back.

I am now in massive rent arrears from the 6 week wait, but if I'd had an advance that covered my rent and all my bills my repayments would have been huge. You can't win.

I will say though that if you can get through the first few months I've found it all fine to get on with since then.

Go to Citizens Advice. They have been a great help to me in the past. I hope you get it sorted for your relative.

lovemylkids43 · 02/05/2019 22:41

I assume she was on middle rate care of DLA ? If she has a severe disability premium within her housing benefit the rules have changed from 16th Jan 2019 and her claim shouldn't be accepted for UC as people with disabilities are losing out on there premiums .. does she live alone and does anyone claim carers allowance .... this all needs checking out .. defiantly take her to local advice bureau to get this sorted ... she should stay note old legacy benefits if she has the premium or has been on receipt of in the last month

AnotherEmma · 02/05/2019 22:45

"You can get an advance but they take it back over six months so the repayments can be really high."

Actually advance payments can be repaid over 12 months and they are usually 15%-25% of your monthly amount (they would be 15% in this case).

dirtystinkyrats · 02/05/2019 22:48

How did this all happen? Its loads of admin for someone to do.

And yes to checking if she had severe disability premium although to do the application she will have had to have confirmed that she didn't get it.

PencilsInSpace · 02/05/2019 22:49

Which individual? Was it someone official, another family member or someone she just met?

There's a scam going on where vulnerable people are approached and 'helped' to claim UC and apply for the advance. They tell the vulnerable person it's 'free money' and then the scammer takes a cut of the advance.

Find out if the advance has been already claimed and if so what happened to it. If there's anything dodgy looking, go straight to the police.

Does she get severe disability premium on her ESA? If so this is an invalid claim and she should be able to reinstate her old benefits, but it may take a while to get everything sorted.

If she doesn't get SDP on her ESA she will actually get more money on UC as the equivalent of the support component is higher.

AnotherEmma · 02/05/2019 22:52

"There's a scam going on where vulnerable people are approached and 'helped' to claim UC and apply for the advance. They tell the vulnerable person it's 'free money' and then the scammer takes a cut of the advance."

Shock Angry

Original poster
Forkin · 02/05/2019 22:57

A social contact, who convinced her she could get a job (she didn’t of course) and to apply because she’d get it. Possibly works there (I’m still untangling it) but not in a position of offering the job themselves or managing.

OP posts:
Original poster
Forkin · 02/05/2019 23:00

She doesn’t get the SDP, she gets ESA support and I think mid care DLA. POSs low mobility but can’t find letter... though she’s entitled to free travel so maybe? Very recent assessments for those.

Her reading is very limited and she’s deaf so hell knows phone or internet? She’s gone a bit defensive and cagey over it and is hard to get clear events from.

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AnotherEmma · 02/05/2019 23:01

It is infuriating but it's done now. I guess it's an opportunity to remind your relative that they mustn't do anything with finances without checking with one of a limited number of trusted people first.

MumOfOne92 · 02/05/2019 23:01

@AnotherEmma is right.

Although the advance repayments isn't set at a percentage of your allowance for repayments. They predict your award and offer that as an advance and divide by 6 or 12 so if you take £600 then pay it off over 12 months it's £50pm. The maximum that can be taken from UC for advance/old debts/fines is 40% of the standard allowance element.

NoBaggyPants · 02/05/2019 23:01

Why does she not get the SDP, does someone claim Carers for her or does she live with someone?

Original poster
Forkin · 02/05/2019 23:02

I’ve just looked at how complicated it all is. It’s a whole new chat for the morning it looks like. Either it’s been supported or she’s done it with random clicks and nonsense comments. I’m a bit worried she will have attempted it and done it all wrong now and clicked she’s on a war pension or something... argh

OP posts:
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