Universal credit migration letter has arrived - am worried - advice requested

Commanded2bwell

Hello,

I've just had the long-expected Universal Credit migration letter. I'm quite worried, now, because I don't know what to expect. I've heard all the horror stories about UC, such as delayed payments, incorrect payments, how they impose requirements on you to "prepare for work" (I am already working at my capacity), etc.

The letter mentions a deadline, so according to online sources this is not an optional migration: I have to do it.

My current situation is as follows:

I'm on PIP and Working Tax Credit with the disability element. I am self-employed, partly because I have a lot of difficulty getting and keeping a "regular" job due to my autism. I work in publishing as a writer and researcher, which means that my income is inconsistent and variable, and I can go months without getting paid, even though I'm working on a project in the interim. Thus, I'm concerned that the UC payment system will not be able to adapt to my employment circumstances.

As part of professional development in my field, I am about to begin studying for a PhD (from September). I expect to do this part-time. Will being a student further complicate things?

According to the Citizen's Advice site, I need to inform the DWP if I have difficulty working. I already get PIP. Is this fact not, therefore, assumed?

In addition to my disability, I'm currently suffering, and have suffered since early 2020, a breathing problem and bleeding in the sinus, a likely complication from Covid. This bleeding makes me highly susceptible to respiratory infections, and thus my ability to consider alternative types of work is further reduced (cannot work in crowded environments with lots of shared air that isn't filtered). Is this a limitation I should inform the DWP of? I'm currently receiving treatment from a hospital consultant for it.

I had just renewed my Tax Credits claim before the migration letter arrived. The deadline for migration is August. Should I wait until August to make the migration, or do so earlier?

Thanks for any advice. 

poppy123456

You will need to claim UC before the deadline otherwise your tax credits will stop. You will need to report your earnings and expenses on the last day of each assessment period. https://www.gov.uk/self-employment-and-universal-credit

As you’re self employed you will be exempt from the minimum income floor for 12 months from the date of your claim. 

There will be transitional support protection in place when you claim to make sure you won’t be any worse off. This will erode over time so if other elements increase the TP will decrease until it eventually ends. 

When you claim you should report your health condition supported by a fit note within 7 days of that and you’ll then be referred for a work capability assessment on day 29 (sometimes later) of your claim. PIP has no relevance to this. 

See link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition-quick-guide/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition

When you claim your first payment will be 1 month and 6 days later. You can request an advance payment but this will need to be repaid back from future UC payments. 

It is up to you when you claim but if it was me then I would leave it as late as possible. 

Commanded2bwell

Hi Poppy, thanks for your reply!

Is it worth using the Citizens Advice 'Help to Claim' service?

What happens if, after 12 months, I'm making the minimum income floor at that time?

If I claim on August 1st, does that mean the first UC payment is 1 month 6 days after August 1st, or 1 month 6 days after they acknowledge receipt/processing of the claim? Is there a processing period of time I should factor in?

Will I be required to attend the Job Centre? I have serious concerns about my respiratory condition. Also, I was on jobseekers many years ago and really struggled with the attendance days, and now I have my autism dx I understand why I found it so difficult.

Thanks for your help.

poppy123456

Once the work capability assessment decision is made if you're found to have either LCW or LCWRA then the MIF will not apply to you anyway, even after the 12 months.

If you claim on 1st August then your assessment period dates will be 1st to 31st of each month and your payment dates will be 7th of every month. Your claim starts on the date you submit the claim.

For UC if you're earnings are more than £617/month then you'll be in the no work related requirements group so you won't need to attend any appointments. However, this is increasing to £812/month from September.

You may need to attend your local JC for your first appointment but you can ask for this to be telephone if you can't attend because of health conditions.

If you report your health condition you must continue to send in fit notes without any gaps until a decision is made on your work capability assessment.

Yes, you can contact CA for the help to claim service. When i claimed UC for my daughter back in 2021 i found it quite a straight forward process but i do understand that not everyone will think this.

Commanded2bwell

Thanks for all your help.

Is there an appeals process, like PIP has mandatory reconsideration? I'm wondering about a situation in which I disagree with the work capability assessment, or in which they fail to pay the disability premium.

I plan to request an SR1 form from my GP, but as I'm also currently under a hospital consultant, I've mentioned it to him, as well. Don't think he's encountered it, before. Is it necessary to get them from different doctors or will the GP's suffice?

poppy123456

There’s no disability premiums payable when claiming UC. 

What exactly are you disagreeing with the work capability assessment? I wouldn’t have expected you to have gone through that yet, even if you have already claimed UC. 

If you’ve already claimed your first payment will not be for 1 month and 6 days after you submitted your claim. 

The SRI form replaced the DS1500 and is for those with end of life expectancy of 12 months (used to be 6 but I think it’s now 12 months) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-factual-medical-reports-guidance-for-healthcare-professionals/the-special-rules-how-the-benefit-system-supports-people-nearing-the-end-of-life

Commanded2bwell

Hi Poppy,

Some miscommunication: I'm not disagreeing with my assessment. I haven't claimed yet. I'm just thinking ahead and trying to predict all possible outcomes so that nothing takes me by surprise (it's an autism thing: we hate surprises). I wondered if there was a mechanism by which you could appeal a decision.

The SR1 form: I thought that was for your doctor to notify them of a medical condition that would influence their work assessment, or is it up to me to provide all that information?

poppy123456

Yes you can challenge a decision by first requesting the Mandatory Reconsideration.

Commanded2bwell said:

The SR1 form: I thought that was for your doctor to notify them of a medical condition that would influence their work assessment, or is it up to me to provide all that information?

No, that's not what an SR1 form is, as the link states above, this is the form you need if applying because of end of life. Autism isn't end of life.

When you claim UC you will need to report your health condition and then you'll need send a fit note (previously known as a sick note) Which i advised here.

poppy123456 said:

When you claim you should report your health condition supported by a fit note within 7 days of that and you’ll then be referred for a work capability assessment on day 29 (sometimes later) of your claim. PIP has no relevance to this. 

See link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition-quick-guide/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition

Please have a read of tha above link.

Please also be aware, that a fit note isn't proof that you have limited capability for work. When you receive the UC50 form you will need to provide additional evidence to support your claim.

Commanded2bwell

Hi Poppy,

I'm currently researching how to answer form UC50 but that's not what I came here to say. I'd just like to say that you do stirling work on this forum, and the help you provide everyone is impressive and probably quite vital for ensuring they don't fall foul of the system. Just today I've picked up a lot of useful information and links from reading your responses to other people. Thank you for your time and patience, especially with worrisome, nitpicky buggers like me!

poppy123456

Aww, that's so kind of you and very much appreciated, thank you so much! I've been told i have a lot of patience

Adrian_Scope

That's so nice of you to say @Commanded2bwell, we are very lucky to have @poppy123456's knowledge and expertise (amongst many other wonderful members too).

How have you found your migration to UC so far? Best of luck with the UC50, any questions please don't hesitate to ask. 

Commanded2bwell

Thanks, Adrian.

I spent three hours of Friday morning on the Citizens Advice chat with another very patient person called Alix, and learned a few things. Doing it on chat may have felt like it took longer, but it was very useful to have the text to read, reread, and then time to compose a meaningful question, so my first advice, if anyone wants it, would be not to dismiss the chat, especially as you can copy and paste it all into a document, afterwards, and have that permanent record! (The chat feature has a transcript function that says it will email you, but it doesn't work, so copy and paste these things for yourself. Never rely on other people's stuff to work as advertised.)

My deadline is Thursday, and I'm expecting the Citizens Advice "expert team" to get back to me about whether I should wait until Thursday to submit, in case there are complications. You see, my last working tax credit payment is also, coincidentally (or not) on Thursday! I wanted to wait to see it in the bank before hitting the submit button on UC. So, we'll see what they say, hopefully in a day or two. But Citizens Advice tell me that this is all still a grey area and there are blanks in their knowledge because its not clear in some cases how things work. Makes you wonder if the DWP themselves know the answers!

Having looked through UC50, it reads to me like a version of the PIP assessment, and it wasn't much fun doing that, the first time, or going through the inevitable mandatory reconsideration. So I'm wondering if history will repeat itself and I'll find myself with no benefits for a few months while they work through the process.

Either way, I don't have long to wait to find out!

poppy123456

Adrian_Scope said:

That's so nice of you to say @Commanded2bwell, we are very lucky to have @poppy123456's knowledge and expertise (amongst many other wonderful members too).

Thanks Adrian, it's appreciated!

Commanded2bwell

Thanks Deppi. I understand what you mean about having to do the work to get PIP for mental health problems. The form isn't written with it in mind, at all, and you basically have to add it in, and make it relevant to the question, yourself. This was partly why I needed a lot more space to answer, so I answered all my questions as printed text on separate paper, only noting on the form which page of the attached document to refer to for the answer. My first assessor claimed to be a former nurse and to be new to the assessor job, but I remain unsure... I wonder if that was a convenient "story" to try to get me to relax my guard and perhaps say something I "shouldn't". The second assessor who did the mandatory reconsideration was obviously a professional.

I had noticed that the UC50 does ask specifically about mental health. I suppose I'm just sick of having to talk about it and describe it. It drags me down, focusing on it. I remember the time before, when I thought I was normal (just a bit weird) and never thought of myself as disabled. Never mind...

Thanks for your reply.

Commanded2bwell

Hi stormy,

What do you mean by "run on"? Do you mean that you get one additional payment of tax credits after the apparent end date for tax credits?

My migration deadline is tomorrow, but that is also the same day as my next tax credits payment! So I currently intend to see the tax credits payment in the bank before I log on and apply for UC, as this last tax credit needs to get me through the 5 week assessment period. Are you saying that tax credits will pay again, in one month?

Either way, cautionary tale noted!

Cheers

poppy123456

Deppi said:

Commanded2bwell said:

Having looked through UC50, it reads to me like a version of the PIP assessment, and it wasn't much fun doing that, the first time, or going through the inevitable mandatory reconsideration. So I'm wondering if history will repeat itself and I'll find myself with no benefits for a few months while they work through the process.

the element for your tax credit.

There's no tax credits element of UC. The elements are standard allowance (same as JSA/ESA amounts, well actually it's a little more than those weekly amount because UC is paid monthly, whereas ESA/JSA is a weekly benefit), child element, LCWRA element etc etc.

poppy123456

Commanded2bwell said:

Are you saying that tax credits will pay again, in one month?

No, it will not. Once you submit your claim for UC then your tax credits will then end. Yours will end by the date stated in the migration letter anyway, even if you don't claim UC. You will at some point receive your final tax credits notice.

You won't be worse off once you do claim because of the transitional protection. However because this erodes over time if you're found to have LCWRA then you may not be much better off (if anything) because the TP will erode once the LCWRA element starts.

Commanded2bwell

stormy said:

Im just wondering if you even need to worry about the tax credit run on with transitional protection for a mandatory move to UC... maybe the difference will be made up anyway and maybe for more than a month ??? I dunno how long for (in which case you would be mad not to take advantage of that).

Sorry if Ive freaking you out for no good reason

Transitional protection lasts for 12 months, I think, but you only get it if you're migrating from another, higher paying, benefit (such as tax credits with disability). After 12 months they start "eroding" it, unless you're assessed as LCWRA. This might be what has technically replaced the tax credit run on for those who are migrating. 

poppy123456

Commanded2bwell said:

stormy said:

Im just wondering if you even need to worry about the tax credit run on with transitional protection for a mandatory move to UC... maybe the difference will be made up anyway and maybe for more than a month ??? I dunno how long for (in which case you would be mad not to take advantage of that).

Sorry if Ive freaking you out for no good reason

Transitional protection lasts for 12 months, I think, but you only get it if you're migrating from another, higher paying, benefit (such as tax credits with disability). After 12 months they start "eroding" it, unless you're assessed as LCWRA. This might be what has technically replaced the tax credit run on for those who are migrating. 

Unfortunately, that’s not correct. I’m not sure where you got this from. Transitional protection can erode as soon your 2nd assessment period, if other elements increase or you become entitled to other elements and this includes the LCWRA element. 

There’s no timeframe of how long it actually lasts for either as it will depend on each individual claim. 

I don’t know what you mean by “this might be what has replaced the tax credits run on” 

The only thing that doesn’t affect TP is increases in childcare element. You can see more details here, which also confirms the advice I’ve given is correct. https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit-transitional-protection/How-long-will-I-get-Universal-Credit-transitional#guide-content