ESA stopped- now need UC

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trb10

I'm in a similar sort of situation.  I was notified in March that I was no longer entitled to ESA and it was applied retrospectively to October 22.  Consequently I had to claim UC and because I was effectively 5 months between claims they won't give me the TP. I asked for a MR which remained with the same result so have now gone to appeal.

calcotti

trb10 said:

I'm in a similar sort of situation.  I was notified in March that I was no longer entitled to ESA and it was applied retrospectively to October 22.  Consequently I had to claim UC and because I was effectively 5 months between claims they won't give me the TP. I asked for a MR which remained with the same result so have now gone to appeal.

It there is a gap of more than one month between the ESA and UC you do not qualify for SDPTE.

(Do you also mean that you were on remand?)

trb10

I wasn't on remand no.  There is a gap of more than one month but as I wasn't notified I wasn't entitled to ESA until March 2023 and they decided to apply the decision retrospectively to October 22, I feel I have been unfairly treated with regard to this.

calcotti

trb10 said:

I wasn't on remand no.  There is a gap of more than one month but as I wasn't notified I wasn't entitled to ESA until March 2023 and they decided to apply the decision retrospectively to October 22, I feel I have been unfairly treated with regard to this.

What reason caused the ESA to be stopped. What type of ESA was it? When did you apply for ESA? Had you had a WCA and if so what ESA group were you in?

(I have suggested to mods that they move your post to a separate thread because I think it may confuse this thread. The details make a difference to what advice is appropriate.)

trb10

I've been on ESA since 2016, was a combo of cont and IR.  I was on permitted work and went over the limit, which I hadn't realised.  I was in the support group on old style ESA.  DWP say I went over the permitted work limit in October 2022 after receiving info from HMRC but they refuse to say when this information was received.  They notified me in March 2023 that my ESA claim was being closed as I was fit for work (subsequent WCA for UC found I had LCWRA) and they were backdating this to October 2022. 

Consequently UC won't apply transitional protection as they say despite the claim being closed in March 2023 the decision was applied retropsectively to October 2022 and so there was a 5 month delay between my ESA claim closing and UC being applied for.  My argument being if I had been notified in October 2022 that my ESA claim was closing I could have applied for UC straight away.  This has also left me with a substantial ESA overpayment which I am also challenging.  Again it hinges in my opinion when the information was received and how quickly they acted on that information which thus far they are declining to reveal.

calcotti

trb10 said:

..My argument being if I had been notified in October 2022 that my ESA claim was closing I could have applied for UC straight away.

They would not have been able to tell you in October because they would not have found about your earnings until later. ESA do not, to the best of my knowledge, receive Real Time Information.

Do you agree that you breached the Permitted Work threshold?

trb10 said:

They notified me in March 2023 that my ESA claim was being closed as I was fit for work (subsequent WCA for UC found I had LCWRA) and they were backdating this to October 2022. 

The ESA would be closed because you breached the PW limit. 

Your entitlement to ESA ended when the PW limit was breached. They would be required to date the end of ESA to that date.

Because you were no longer eligible for ESA you would automatically be treated as Fit for Work.

It is unfortunate that you did not realise that you have breached the PW limited but that isn't the fault of ESA. Had you known that you were likely to breach PW you could have claimed UC in advance of that happening.

If you want more information about theESA claim you could do an information request
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-your-personal-information-from-the-department-for-work-and-pensions

poppy123456

trb10 said:

I've been on ESA since 2016, was a combo of cont and IR.  I was on permitted work and went over the limit, which I hadn't realised.  I was in the support group on old style ESA.  DWP say I went over the permitted work limit in October 2022 after receiving info from HMRC but they refuse to say when this information was received.  They notified me in March 2023 that my ESA claim was being closed as I was fit for work (subsequent WCA for UC found I had LCWRA) and they were backdating this to October 2022.

If you went over the PW earnings rules then surely you knew this?

trb10

Nope because I didn't think I was over the limit.  I knew I was up towards it, but I thought they allowed all pension contributions not just half.  Had they allowed all like UC then I would have been under it.

poppy123456

UC has very different rules to ESA. Permitted work rules do not apply to UC. You will have the work allowance but there's no maximum amount of hours or earnings you can receive. The more you receive the less UC you're entitled to, the less you receive the more you're entitled to.

calcotti

trb10 said:

Nope because I didn't think I was over the limit.  I knew I was up towards it, but I thought they allowed all pension contributions not just half.  Had they allowed all like UC then I would have been under it.

That's unfortunate.
Only half of pension contributions deducted has already been the rule for ESA (and CA).
The change for full deduction for UC was a rule introduced with UC and only applies to UC.
Understandable that you did not know that there are two rules.  However the impact on you is not the fault of ESA.

trb10

Well I'm still going to go forwards with my appeal.  Nothing ventured and all that.