What will happen to my lcwra?

sm1969

Hi sorry to bother you,
had mental health problems for years and worked part time, however I’ve gotten worse last couple years and now can’t even leave the house,,my partner and I have been solely on universal credit last year or so,, have just been awarded lcwra, think it takes a few months)and my partner has just found another job which he can’t start until he goes through security measures,, his working will stop our benefits anyway, but wat will happen to this lcwra , ?
we have never really had much experience on benefits so we don’t know ? Thanks x

poppy123456

Your husband starting work doesn’t necessarily mean your UC will stop. People work and claim UC as well. Whether you’re entitled to any UC will depend on your circumstances.

When he starts working he will need to report a change of circumstances on his journal and tell them he’s started working. 

As you’ve been found to have LCWRA then you’ll be entitled to the work allowance. This means that a certain amount of earnings received each month will be ignored before any deductions apply. If you claim for help with the rent your work allowance will be £379/month, if you don’t it will be £631/month. 

LCWRA also entities you to extra month from the 4th month after you first reported your health condition. When it’s paid from exactly will depend on what date you first reported your health condition/sent your first fit note and what date you usually receive your money each month. 

If his earnings mean your UC will reduce to zero then this will include the LCWRA element because it’s part of UC and not a separate benefit. 

sm1969

Thanks poppy
as we thought at moment, we only really get enough each month universal credit for a couple to pay our rent of 850 , wen he will get paid around in his new job we will not be eligible for uc I don’t think as he will probably get around 1500 a month so it will be stopped before even starting for me lol x

Adrian_Scope

Hello @sm1969 and a warm welcome to the community. 
I'm sorry to hear that you've been struggling with mental health problems and are facing uncertainty about your benefits. Do you receive much help with your mental health at the moment?

It's good news that you have been awarded LCWRA, which means you will receive an additional element on top of your Universal Credit payment due to your limited capability for work-related activity.

Do you know what your total UC award is before any deductions? If you receive £850 towards your rent, your partner earning £1500 shouldn't necessarily stop you from receiving any Universal Credit. 

sm1969

Hi adrian
we receive 525.72 standard allowance
and 324.98 towards our rent 

850.70 in total
our rent is £850 a month and we receive nothing else

we obviously struggle monthly as have 70p left a month and have gone through our savings, we are thinking of moving at some point 

Adrian_Scope

Hello again @sm1969. Are you certain your rent element is correct? Are you private renting? That must be quite a struggle for you both. If you're private renting do you know your LHA amount?

When they add your LCWRA, it'll increase your monthly UC award by £390.06.

With the work allowance, once your partner begins work, even if he's earning £1500 a month, you should be entitled to some UC once the LCWRA is added.

Adrian_Scope

Can I also ask when you first reported your disability or health condition to UC? I'm wondering if you'll be entitled to any backdate with your LCWRA.

poppy123456

Were you affected by the benefits cap? If you were then because you've now been found to have lCWRA then the benefits cap will no longer apply to you.

Benefits increase by 10.1% from 10th April but when you'll receive your increase will depend on what dates your assessment periods cover. Some will receive it from 16th May and some as late as June.

With the increase your UC will be standard allowance £578.82/month, Rent £324.98 and LCWRA element £390.06/month. Total UC =£1,293.86 before deductions. With expected earnings of £1,500/month.. £331/month will be ignored because of the work allowance. Therefore £1,169 of earnings will see a deduction of £642/month.

Total UC after deductions will be £650.91/month. Plus your partners earnings.

Please note that this figure could increase if you were affected by the benefit cap with the figures you gave above.

sm1969

3 November last year I started getting these fit note of my doctor saying I wasn’t fit for work, job center man told me I shd get assessed so then I wdnt have to look for work etc or go to jobcenter which distressed me so much , that was in feb this year just had my assessment last week by video , 
that is all the benefits we get as a couple , we live in an expensive area unfortunately, and the benefits said we wd only get the couples allowance and the rent allowance, which only added up to 70p more than our rent unfortunately, that was down to us for living ther already, private landlord,just asked hubby how much will he be earning, he recons to come out with around just over 1500 per month, 

sm1969

And he’s in his early 60,s but is prepared to work at least another 10 years

sm1969

I’ve suffered with mental health over 30 years on and off I’m 50, wen I’m bad it cd last few years wen I can’t leave the house for the fears that I have , it’s bad at moment I’ve did courses on line cbt etc haven’t had it working for me unfortunately, 

poppy123456

What date do you usually receive your Uc each month? 

Do you currently receive either PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care? 

Adrian_Scope

sm1969 said:

we live in an expensive area unfortunately, and the benefits said we wd only get the couples allowance and the rent allowance, which only added up to 70p more than our rent unfortunately

With regards to your rent, pop your postcode into the LHA calculator. If you do that and select 'one bedroom' it should tell you the amount UC should be paying towards your rent. It may well be that UC are paying the correct amount but they have also been known to get it wrong for people. 

If you know what your payment date is from UC we could help you look at whether you should be entitled to some backpay of your LCWRA.

As @poppy123456 has calculated above, even if your partner is earning £1500 a month, you should still be entitled to over £600 a month from UC too, so be sure to update UC when he starts work but don't cancel your claim.

Have you considered applying for PIP?

sm1969

hi again on the 29 of the month
and uc know he has been offered a job and accepted it and is half way though his 3 months security clearance before he can start
and don’t know about pip

so he cd earn the 1500 a month and cd get around 600 a month uc, with any being stopped
( does that payment include the lcwra ?)
sorry to be a pain
with out this knowledge we wd of signed of the uc wen he started work and just got on with his wage), now we know not to thanks to yourselves 

sm1969

And I said his take home pay will be around 1500 so is that the rough amount quoted? 

Thanks again for your help 

poppy123456

sm1969 said:

so he cd earn the 1500 a month and cd get around 600 a month uc, with any being stopped
( does that payment include the lcwra ?)

My calculations above include the LCWRA element, standard allowance and your housing element. With earnings of £1,500/month your UC will be about £650/month. Please also remember that UC entitlement is based on earnings received each month. Therefore if his earnings increase your UC will decrease. If earnings decrease the UC will increase.

sm1969 said:

hi again on the 29 of the month

This means your assessment periods are 23rd to 22nd of every month. If you reported your first fit note on 3rd November 2022 and you continued to send them without any gaps until a decision was made on your work capability assessment then your waiting period will be as follows.

Nov to Feb.. LCWRA starts from assessment period Feb 23rd to March 22nd and first payment for LCWRA element would be 29th March. This means up to now they owe you 1 month.

Any money owed will be paid separately to your usual monthly money and can often take a few weeks to pay it. Once your statements have been recalculated then you'll receive a letter on your journal telling you how much they owe and it will then be paid into your bank.

Did you also use the LHA link that Adrian also posted above to check that the housing element amount you're receiving is correct? You'll be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate so you can check what that is for your area here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx

sm1969

Yes no gaps in sick notes
and I did do the LHA
its correct 
we have a 3 bedroom
even though we sleep separately because he has a breathing machine and I’m up and down all night panicking 
thanks for your help x

poppy123456

If you're not already claiming either DLA or PIP and you don't live in Scotland then have a look at the criteria for PIP. You can see the descriptors here. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf

It's not means tested so won't reduce any entitlement to UC.