UC LCWRA backpayment

geepee1

Hi there I’m Lee!

firstly can I say how great it was to find a place like this with the capacity for help navigating this minefield. 

I am very new to all this and it’s rather confusing so I appreciate it greatly. Now onto my question. 

I have been on UC since august 2022, and was asked/did provide my first “fit note” for MH issues and related on October 31st. I provided more fit notes after this. I received a letter on my journal about receiving the assessment questionnaire on the 2nd November (still on fit notes for MH and medication at this point). 

My assessment was due to be carried out on the 6th January but was cancelled as they were too busy and rearranged to 25th January after calling me and checking that was acceptable. 

I was awarded LCW on the 9th February and left this until the month for mandatory reconsideration was almost up, as I wanted to keep trying to get back on track. I didn’t however, and appealed this decision a few days before the period was over and got acceptance of this on 10th March. 

On the 27th March I was awarded full LCWRA and it was awarded from 25th January 2023, with my relevant period being over on May 19th. 

Does all this sound correct, as I must admit I’m lost with the terminology etc and if I’ll get any back payment and if 25th Jan is the correct date with it etc. 

I realise that was long winded, I tend to type a lot so I appreciate any help and thank you in advance. 

poppy123456

What date do you usually receive your money each month?

geepee1

Hi poppy good to see you, and thank you for enquiring. 

The 25th of each month is my usual date. 

poppy123456

That means your waiting period is Nov to Feb.. LCWRA starts from assessment period 19th Feb to 18th March and first payment should be 25th March. 

I don’t know where 19th May came from? Were there any gaps in your fit notes from October to 9th Feb when the original decision was made? 

geepee1

No none, all present and correct in my journal. From what I could gather looking at it, obviously they’re counting my relevant period from February for some reason perhaps? As I’m still waiting on the first payment of LCWRA award and it definitely says relevant period end 19th May. 

I read a few other bits online just to check and educate myself, and I figured maybe something was wrong as having fit notes counts as far as I’ve discovered and what I understood, but regardless of that they’ve backdated my LCWRA to January 25th which is the date I had written confirmation I was accepted into the lesser LCW before I appealed, and was also 19 days later than my original assessment because they cancelled it. It wasn’t the date I was considered for it from. 

There seems to be a few things that didn’t and don’t add up, but I admit I know relatively little about this whole system as it’s my first time ever dealing with it. 

poppy123456

The dates of your work capability assessments are irrelevant. The waiting period is 3 full assessment periods starting from when you first reported your health condition/sent your first fit note.

Your assessment periods (AP) are 19th to 18th of every month. You sent your first fit note in the middle of AP Oct to Nov, which doesn't count because it's not a full AP.

Your waiting period will then be Nov/Dec , Dec/Jan, Jan/Feb... LCWRA starts from 19th Feb to 18th March.

They've started the waiting period from the date of your original decision, which isn't correct. Put a message onto your journal under the payment section and tell them that the waiting period starts from when you sent your first fit note/reported your health condition. Tell them what date you did this and then tell them that based on that your first payment should have been 25th March.

geepee1

I see. I will do this, thank you. Hopefully it will be corrected/rectified but lately they’ve stopped responding to my journal entries in general weirdly. 

I’ll compose the message now and see what happens and report back. Thank you very much for the help regardless, I appreciate it immensely. 

geepee1

Just a quick update to this, so you know I haven’t abandoned it or not taken advice. I posted that night regarding this issue, I still haven’t heard anything. 

I realise bank holidays etc but still. This is another day with no one contacting me, I’ve had no correspondence since 24th May so I have just lodged a formal complaint regarding this situation and the lack of response. 

I’m hoping this will be rectified but who knows how long it’ll take at this point, if ever. 

If there is anything else I can do in this situation I would be delighted to hear suggestions, but I still appreciate everything so far irrespective of that. 

geepee1

Final update probably, I have finally received a reply from someone on this matter. Readily admitted my dates were wrong and have apparently contacted the decision maker regarding it. 

No apology or anything else, and had I not queried it and got the brilliant advice from Poppy here, then who knows if this would ever have even been addressed. 

Once again thank you, as it seems a resolution may be forthcoming. What that’ll be is anyone’s guess but hopefully this thread may help someone else in future regardless. 

TracieJ

I think the date 19th of may will be a review date Iv just recently been put into the LCWRA and my award is from Jan 2023 till March 2024 when it will be reviewed to see if anything has changed hope this helped 

poppy123456

TracieJ said:

I think the date 19th of may will be a review date Iv just recently been put into the LCWRA and my award is from Jan 2023 till March 2024 when it will be reviewed to see if anything has changed hope this helped 

LCWRA is an ongoing award until a new decision says otherwise. LCWRA has no end date like PIP does. 

The timescale they gave you is just a guide. Reviews are suspended at the moment anyway so it’s unlikely you’ll be reviewed anytime soon. 

TracieJ

Ah ok this is how my job coach explained it to me but now from reading other threads it’s looks as if they don’t fully understand it sometimes so that makes sense now, thanks 😊 

geepee1

So more and hopefully last update on the original post, and a bit more advice if at all possible just to close this out.

I got a UC message today saying my LCWRA date was revised to 29th October 2022 from the original 25th January. All well and good.Where it gets confusing is the below attachment letter I also received right after:

"We've decided you're entitled to £2044.47 from the period 19th feb 2023 to 18th April 2023. We've already paid you £1336.14 from 19th Feb to 18th April and we owe you £708.56 after taking away the UC we already paid you".

I'm sure it's correct? But I can't make the numbers work with my granted limited knowledge. Firstly, my standard UC allowance is listed at £334.91 a month, so give that figure and the dates provided, shouldn't the amount of UC I have been paid be £669.82 and not £1336.14, as april period is to the 18th when my pay date is 25th? Even if that's not the case, 3 months at £334.91 is still only £1004.73?

Further, if regarding the amount paid to me is based on 3 months to 18th April, then why is the backpay for LCWRA only for two months for the same dates? Surely it's missing February?

In short;

Shouldn't my UC pay be at best £1004.73 for 3 months

And if so, surely my LCWRA backpay should also be 3 months and £1062.84

I'm certain it's me who is wrong and this is now correct but if you could indulge me one more time I would, and remain very grateful for all the help so far. Thank you!

poppy123456

The LCWRA element starts from assessment period 18th Feb to 17th March.. with first payment being 25th March, this means they owe you 2 months LCWRA (£354.28 x 2 = £708.56) element up until April's payment and not 3 months, UC is paid 1 month in arrears. You haven't received this months money yet.

Before you were found to have LCWRA if were only entitled to the standard allowance for over 25 single person then i can't understand that calculation of what you've received up until April but the calculation of what they owe you is correct, £708.56.

geepee1

Excellent! That’s all great I figured I was just misunderstanding, but yeah the calculation seems definitely wrong for the amount paid.

thanks for clearing everything up and your continued help, I appreciate it all and the time you have taken to go through this. 

poppy123456

You're welcome, happy to help. They shouldn't continue to get the waiting period wrong in my opinion but it happens far too often. Glad it was sorted in the end.

geepee1

Yes it seems an odd and very avoidable issue, but I suppose it is a large and unwieldy system at its core. 

We got there eventually, but I’d likely never have noticed an issue without this place and you specifically.

All is well that ends well 😁

poppy123456

Don't forget you will also see the increase in your payment from this month due to the annual increases. Standard allowance £368.74 and LCWRA element £390.06 = £758.80/month.

geepee1

Well worth noting and remembering as I had no idea, I’m very new to all this hence all the confusion and questions 😁