Universal credit meeting

[Amyfreddie29]

Hi,

I have been invited to attend a universal credit comitment meeting please could someone tell me what this is about,
I am a single mum,
I have 2 boys 8 and 2
I work 11 hours,
Whilst my oldest is at school and my youngest is at school, my youngest gos to a childminders,
I have no outside help with the boys,
I also claim pips for myself,
I have claimed UC since January
Any help is most appropriate thankyou x

Hello, what does the meeting say I.e is it a commitments review / first commitments etc .

Have you had change of circumstances recently?

When did your 2 year old turn 2? Are they nearly 3?

As far as I’m aware they’re trying to get people to work more hours so could be about that

Commitments review thankyou

No change of anything he was 2 in February so 3 in feb thankyou

I physically can not work anymore hours by the time you have dropped the boys of at school, then child minders got to work it's 10/ half 10 then i finish at half 2 to get back in tome to pick them up

Whilst my oldest is at school and my youngest is at school, my youngest gos to a childminders. A bit confused, do you have two or three?

2 sorry I worded that completely wrong!

My oldest is 8
My youngest is 2

If you already get PIP you presumably have a health issue. Request a FitNote from your GP relating to that, declare a Health Condition via your UC account and start your "Health Journey" with UC. After 28 days of continuously dated Fit Notes you should be sent a UC50 form which will enable you to apply for the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity element of UC.

If awarded, that will turn your commitments off although you can still work as long as you don't contradict yourself. To Dos will be created asking you to update new FitNotes until such time as you are assessed. It's a faff, but you've nothing to lose.

Otherwise remember it's not the hours you work but how much you earn,to satisfy UC work conditions

I wouldn't worry OP. Could this just be routine? If you are on PIP people don't usually work anymore than 15 hours or that's what I thought as it would affect their money. You sound like you are doing great as your youngest is still a toddler.

It's a basic condition of receiving UC that claimants agree to a Claimant Commitment. It's also practice to keep that commitment up to date so review meetings are not abnormal.

I think that when your youngest is 3 you'll potentially move into a group that needs to do more about work - unless you're doing enough already.

Lay it on about you being on PIP and whatever restrictions your disability or long term health condition place on you.

Should be OK but if you're asked to do stuff you're not comfortable with come back here or go to an advice agency like CA for more help.

So at your meeting @Amyfreddie29 , you could discuss applying for the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity element with your Work Coach. They can hold off on commitments whilst the process is ongoing if they think it's quite possible you'll get it. For example, a fibromyalgia or Long Covid diagnosis would make it far more unlikely -other conditions, not

Im not sure how this works, ive not ever heard of it tbh, but thankyou I will definitely have a look into it, yes i can still work, it jsut I get ill a lot and have to have a lot of time off thankyou

Don't lay it on, be honest. DWP staff aren't monsters but are sick of professional malingerers. BTW, PIP is not means tested and you can work as much as you want whilst on it

I had this last year when my youngest was 18 months. They couldn't understand why I had one as I currently work 20 hrs/earn above the threshold and aren't actually 'supposed' to work until she's 3. They'll maybe want to see if you can increase your earnings/hours but technically with a 2 year old you don't have to work.

To derail somewhat. I'm afraid that's bullshit that you can work if you have LCWRA! It's dangerous to spout nonsense like this. It risks some poor soul losing their LCWRA status with little chance of getting it back.

There is NO permitted work with UC (like there is for ESA).

It isn't easy to get LCWRA status. In order to be assessed as such you are classed as unfit for work and work related activity. So you then go out, look for work, apply for work, travel to work and do work. You'll be off LCWRA in a heartbeat... because in DWP's eyes you are clearly now 'fit' for work. That is the contradiction... not the type of work you are doing. Once you lose LCWRA status this way, it is bloody hard to get back... you've just demonstrated you are now fit for work.

From a financial point of view it is worth an additional £390 a month. So the OP would need to balance out this vs wages/ time off sick. During the (13 week plus) assessment phase, you get nothing more than standard UC... during that time you most certainly shouldn't be working. There is no guarantee you'll get LCWRA status... LCW perhaps. This has conditionality attached and doesn't attract any extra money.

I do wonder if the PP claiming you can work with LCWRA status. Is confusing LCWRA with PIP?! You can indeed work whilst receiving PIP, as long as the work done doesn't contradict the restrictions you receive PIP for.

I hope this has cleared it up for anyone reading this thread and prevented them from making a serious error! It does piss me off when people post such bloody ill-informed claptrap.

If an LCWRA award is made, you can still work, you won't lose the element until your next reassessment. Earnings have a work allowance then taper applied.

It can be reassessed at any time, there is nothing to stop DWP doing this.

No, you can work if you have LCWRA

@platypuspart as others have said there is nothing to stop people with LCfWRA doing some paid work. Equally there's no obligation whatsoever for them to do so.

Unless PIP is in payment, or there is potential automatic LCfWRA due to(say) Chemo for Cancer, there is an earnings limit, multiple of NLW, beyond which one cannot request a Work Capability Assessment. If one has earnings above that level while having LCfW/WRA then there is an increasing risk that DWP will initiate a review. OTOH somebody with LCfWRA due to Chemo may, at least on their less bad days and/or while recovering be returning to work, perhaps on a phased basis. In that case DWP might struggle to show that the Auto LCfWRA conditions were not met.

In a nutshell, it depends on facts in any given case.