Forced ESA migration when it was only meant to be tax credits

[Scaredofdwp]

I’ve been on Contributions Based ESA in support group since 2014 and was on incapacity benefit before that. I get PIP ERC

We were recently told to migrate tax credits to UC but I was assured my legacy ESA SG would remain the same. They’re now saying (just this evening) I have to attend an ESA commitment interview which is on Saturday while I also have take my disabled son to a child’s party (he never gets invited to parties and now he has to miss this one). At the ID interview I was told we had no commitments because of my ESA status. I’ve had no notification of status change, my health has only got worse and will never get better.

Why am I being told to attend this interview when my ESA should remain untouched and the same? My partner works full time so he has no commitments. I’m terrified that we’re going to lose the tax credit support as we won’t be eligible for UC and also I lose the esa money I had which gave me the tiniest bit of personal independence (even although it was only ever spent on food and my kids clothes). My partner doesn’t earn enough to support four and I am genuinely not well enough to work - god knows I wish I was as I wouldn’t want to anyone to have to go through this stress and anxiety.

Can your partner not cover the party?

It’s likely to be a 5 minute appointment to agree you will have no work commitments.

It can sometimes take a while for ESA to communicate with UC or for UC to get the information that oyu ahve support group status. Leave a message under the ' payments' option on your UC journal. This should go straight to your case manager.

He’s working or he would.

I don’t have a payments option as they haven’t worked out what payments are yet. We won’t find out until the end of this month.

I have left a message on the journal querying it but I’m not sure it will be picked up in time

We were already told last week we had no commitments.

Leave a message in your journal asking for the appointment to be cancelled as you have no commitments due to disability. When I migrated I was told it was possible an appointment would be made but it should be cancelled and if it wasn't just to message them. My appointment was automatically cancelled thankfully.

Did they have you sign that on your journal after the appointment?

Is it a phone interview ? Because your contributions based is switching to New style ESA it will literally just be to accept the new claim I think, it literally takes about 5 mins.

Your entire claim will be migrated to UC except for any contribution based ESA you may have which will be migrated to new style ESA. You will not be worse off for at least the first year as you will get a transitional element to cover any difference there might be. If you have any savings then these will be taken into account after a year.
Your support group status will remain unchanged but will be renamed to LCWRA.
Can you ask to rearrange your appointment?

The appointment should take about 10 minutes it's to verify everything.

A first commitments is not to verify anything, it’s to agree your commitments. OP stated they’ve already attended their ID apt.

If OP is in the ESA support group they should not have a first commitments apt at the job centre and there should be a to do to accept their commitments.

What does the appointment actually state on your journal?

No but it was a giant band across the screen at the id interview that said it and the woman turned the screen around to show us

I just got an email with a letter attached that says this :

“We have arranged a telephone interview with a work coach.

At this interview you will need to agree and accept your claimant commitment. The claimant commitment is your record of the actions that you need to take to continue getting New Style ESA.
It will not include any work-related activities.”

This is slightly clearer than the journal
entry which just said you have an interview on Saturday to discuss commitments.

What other commitments can they ask for? It seems to be compulsory. I have also mentioned multiple times I cannot use a phone anymore and explained why. For years the DWP ESA people have accepted this and always written to me and accepted me writing to them. I don’t think I have enough time to change the appointment to a communication method that works for me and to request a change in communication method they say I have to, yup, phone the number at the top of the letter. I also asked for large print as I’m going blind and it’s not.

Thank you for explaining, that seems to fit with what’s happening. I had been advised I wouldn’t be changed from my legacy ESA at this point tho and it would be added at a later date. I wish the system was clearer, if advisers don’t get it right what hope have the public? My worry is that because under UC we probably won’t get what the tax credits gave us that I lose everything including ESA. Losing the TC will already be a substantial amount that is only for wraparound care.

can I ask why I might be worse off after a year? (If you know)

Everyone on UC has to accept their commitments. As you’re in the support group, you’ll be in the lcwra group on UC.
Therefore your commitments won’t be work-related it will just be, you agree to tell us if you have a change of circumstance/you agree to update your journal- that kind of thing.

Accepting commitments is mandatory for everyone and if you’re commitments are not accepted, a payment won’t be made.

Because the migration protection that states that you will not be worse off, only lasts a year. Same for all tax credit claimants that have migrated. If you were better off before with the old rules then they will pay you the old rate for one year. When you get your first statement it will say at the bottom if it has any migration protection.

This is not correct.

The 12 months that you’re referring to is for people who have savings of over £16,000. You’re protected for 12 months but if you still have over 16k after 12 months, the transitional protection will end and you can’t claim.

Transitional protection will gradually reduce over time as benefits go up.
So for example, if your award increases because you have a baby or at the start of the new tax year when benefits go up, transitional protection will decrease so you still get the same overall.

This does not sound like a UC appointment though it sounds like an appointment to switch from old contributions based ESA to new style which is separate to UC. It will likely just be to accept the new claim ? Has this message come on your UC journal ?
As your ESA claim is contributions based , this will continue to be paid fortnightly separate to UC but will be deducted in full from UC. as you are in the support group you will have the extra LCWRA element on your UC claim but ESA will be deducted from the total.

So I didn’t get my usual ESA payment today so it seems like they’ve changed it and I’ve no idea if I’m going to get awarded it or not.

If the time isn't convenient ask for it to be changed.

There seems to be some confusion in Job Centres where people, as a consequence of UC migration, move to New Style ESA.

Whatever commitment there is should be no more than keep in touch and let them know if anything changes.

It’s a telephone appointment anyway so your son won’t miss the party. What is the problem?

If they haven’t paid you ESA then go into your journal and leave a message, but you can speak to them tomorrow to sort it all out.

Yes sorry, you’re right.

I assumed it was UC as OP mentioned they’d migrated.

I can’t use telephones.

The Transitional Protection that lasts only for a year is for people on Tax Credits who have too much capital for UC.

Those who are worse off in cash terms, eg people who got the Severe Disability Premium in ESA, get a Transitional Element added to their UC. That erodes over time as the annual uprates or changes of circs increase the underlying UC excluding the TE.