Are we receiving the correct entitlement

Philipfear637

Hi Hannah many thanks for removing that for me,I did try to email a moderator but when I tried earlier today to ask for the data I had posted the system only copied some of the data I wanted removing.But hey you have removed that now many thanks again for your help it's very much appreciated and poppy123456 help and advice too I've been given. I will let poppy123456 know when I get an answer from UC regarding my message I've left on our mixed age couple UC journal asking them to see why we have not received any housing allowance payment into our LCC rent account towards our rent they have said they would pay or send to LCC.

poppy123456

Hannah removed part of what you posted but then you posted the same again which hasn’t been removed. 

You didn’t post any information related to either yourself or partner. You just posted what is included on UC statement. It didn’t show any other information other than that. 

Philipfear637

I posted what I copied from our joint UC statement of entitlement and it shows the amount in the claimants account when the application was done online at the time.I should of edited the post before posting but did not know how to do that.The financial information that I posted from our UC statement of entitlement was showing my partners data as we live together as a mixed age couple and both of us have different disabilities.She added and declared that data back in September at the time the application was done on line for us both because UC asked those financial questions at that time.

poppy123456

Philipfear637 said:

Hi Hannah
Yes I've just realised each post has a number so to make this easier it's post number 22 I would like removing please 
Thank you again

Each comment isn't numbered. The number you see refers to how many comments you've made on the forum. 

I've now flagged that comment with the information of what is included with your UC to a member of the team and hopefully they will see that before they finish for the day. 

If you have issues in future and what a comment deleted you can 'click' flag then report underneath your comment and ask for it to be removed or edited and then one of the team will see that. 

Hannah_Alumni

Hello! Thank you for pointing them out to me! Have deleted them. 

Philipfear637

Hi poppy123456 ( Sorry about these long messages but I hope you can help)
After leaving a message on our joint universal credit journal,they have responded and this is what the officer who has looked at it has said in our joint UC journal reply. I think the way that UC have replied in the message and I quote "you look after this person" i think that UC think that I am a different person instead of my partners partner in this UC couples claim. I am the registered person and also have registered disabilities me being the partner in this mixed age couple UC claim. My partner in this UC joint claim has reached state pension age so she has been awarded LCWRA.
When my partner who also has her own disabilities filled in the UC questionnaire for us both as a joint mixed age couple on her computer online it asked her if she cared for me for upto 35 hours and she was honest and put down less than 35 hours.
My partner has been awarded LCWRA from UC so the highest amount gets added to our joint UC claim and shows in the statement of entitlement. 
We both have been awarded ongoing Pip through a tribunal process after Mandortory Reconciliation (MR) for different health disabilities and awarded by the DWP  both Pip awards awarded in our favours on separate Pip awards.
 I have been advised that I can claim the UC extra carers element if I am caring for my partner for at least 35 hours a week. My partner gets the LCWRA awarded the highest rate because she can not be awarded the carers element as well, as the rules say you can not be awarded both LCWRA and a carers element to the same person in mixed age joint couples UC claims. (Rules)
As we care for each other it looks like that I will need to declare to UC through the journal that I care for my partner for 35 hours or more because I do care for my partner and so I am entitled to be assessed for the extra payment of £185.86 to be added to our joint mixed age couples statement of entitlement as my partner declared caring for me under the 35 hours a week but she has been awarded the LCWRA.
As my partner and me did not really understand that you need to be caring for each other for 35 hours or more. The question on the UC questionnaire was worded like this "Do you care for upto 35 hours" a week and she just put down 20 hours. When we asked our housing officer even she said who actually knows how many hours you care for each other daily or weekly when you live together. It is a normal thing to care for your partner if they have health disabilities and difficulties getting about with her breathing condition at stage 4 and other registered disabilities. I have long term diabetes and also I have had a diagnosed Stroke causing some brain damage, aphasia and Dysarphia speech problem and some cognitive imperment and bladder problem,but I still care and help my partner with her disabilities,like she does too as she cares and helps to keep me safe too.We both care for each other so I'm still trying to get my head round all this.
So if I have read this right UC are saying that if I claim carers element for my partner as we both have Pip, because I care for my partner for 35 hours or more per week then I need to report a change on our Mixed age couple joint journal because the UC account is linked to us both. And ask the UC decision makers in the payments department to backdated the UC carers element claim to the start date back in September 2023 when our mixed age couple UC claim was started. Would you check this out please and reply back to me poppy123456 so I get this right please,thank you in advance. I have linked in the reply message I have copied from our joint mixed age couples UC journal. Would you be able to help me compile what I need to say in my message back to UC please,thank you again Poppy123456 or Hannah 

6 Mar 2024 at 11:08am

Hi Philip, Apologies for a delay in response! It is my partner that has been found LCWRA. You are currently not entitled to the carer's element as my partner declared she care's for this person less than 35 hours a week. You are only entitled if you care for this person for 35 hours or more a week. If this is the case Janet will need to go to 'report a change' then 'caring for someone' on her Universal credit account. Once this is done and the care element has been verified by a decision maker we can then request backdating for it. If this carers element is for Philip he will need to declare this on his account by going to 'report a change' then 'caring for someone' as you have currently declared you don't care for anyone. WTC run separately to Universal Credit and we do not have contact with them so you would need to contact them on 0345 300 3900 about any concerns. I have forwarded your other queries to the payment team. Kind regards, Niamh ( UC department officer)

poppy123456

As you are not receiving the LCWRA element for yourself then it will be you that needs to report caring for your partner. 

Philipfear637

Thank you Poppy123456 for your quick advice on LCWRA and extra element it is most appreciated.

Philipfear637

Hi poppy123456
The UC department have referred me for a work capability assessment now and sent me a letter with date to attend and this morning a reminder message to my other mobile saying a reminder not to forget to turn up for the WCA  or we could loose our UC benefit we have been awarded. My partner has already been awarded LCWRA on our mixed age couple UC claim because she gets her pension and ongoing pip awarded in her favour by DWP. I have also been awarded in my favour ongoing Pip by DWP written on my pip statement of entitlement. I am entitled to claim the carers element like you have mentioned already as I also care for my partner and she cares for me. We care for each other because we both have registered disabilities. My partner was put down as the main UC claimant and I was added as her partner although we are both registered with disabilities and both have been awarded ongoing pip in both our favours.I understand that I need to put down on my UC that I care for my partner 35 hours or more for the decision maker to award me the extra carers element as my partner has already been awarded LCWRA and she can not be awarded both elements. I do not know why UC are asking me to go for a work capability assessment maybe they think I'm not capable of caring for my partner who has registered disabilities like me. I have send fit/sick notes in to UC from my doctor who has been arranging my health care and recovery from my Stroke although I was awarded ongoing Pip because although the DWP Pip assessor at the time new about my Stroke because I had reported that to the tribunal they said were only dealing with my diabetes Pip claim because my Stroke happened after that date of my diabetes claim back in June 2022 which is the date my ongoing pip was backdated to in my pip claim awarded to me in my favour through the tribunal process by the DWP.
I asked welfare benefits about me getting the extra points for my Stroke event and they advised me Not to risk my pip already awarded to me because I could or might loose it,so I haven't tried to get the extra one point I would need to make my pip enhanced award although I think the tribunal would not be happy about the way we have been treated so far when it was the DWP who awarded me the Pip ongoing award because of the original mistakes they made with my original application and mandatory reconciliation reply until i then went through the tribunal process and sent the evidence which DWP acknowledge and made the decision to award me ongoing Pip awarded written in my DWP award letter of entitlement I received through the post.The DWL also acknowledge they had made this decision by sending me a text message of the ongoing Pip award based on the medical evidence I sent to them through the tribunal and the discripter points the Pip officer and DWP awarded to me. This was the same process for my partners Ongoing Pip award although she was awarded both Pip in her favour through the tribunal process based on evidence and the discripter points also awarded to her by the DWP and Pip department written in my partners Pip statement of entitlement award letter sent to the tribunal from the DWP and to my partner through the post. I still think the DWP or UC have made mistakes with our mixed age UC claim right from the start date back in September 2023 but I might be wrong. I don't think that they have checked that both of us named on this joint UC claim have been awarded ongoing Pip by the Pip or DWP DEPARTMENT on separate claims awarded to us both through a tribunal process in both our favours.
My partner should not have to do anything to be awarded UC or LCWRA because she has disabilities and gets ongoing Pip awarded by the DWP in her favour and she gets State Pension now after waiting the extra six years (WASPI Claimant)
As the younger person in this joint UC claim I also have been awarded ongoing Pip by the DWP in my favour.
So why are the UC department referring me to go for a health assessment check? When the DWP have already assessed my health and data through the tribunal process awarded in my favour by the DWP.
I know both benefits are different to each other and UC is about assesment on if I can work or not. My doctor has signed two  fit/sick notes for the past six months which say I am not fit for work because I'm going through the reabilitation healthcare health has set with my healthcare team and I'm still waiting for some appointments he has arranged but there is a backlog so I have to wait for those departments to contact me. It is obvious to me that they do not look at your medical history or contact your named doctor they ask you to put on the fit/sick notes you send them. This has been a delaying tactic used by these benefit departments that has been used against us so we loose the benefits we are entitled to. If you have any suggestions Poppy123456 or any of the Scope mods regarding the next step we should take on this it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your precious help.

poppy123456

I’m afraid I wasn’t able to read all of that. It’s quite a lot of information. 

What I did read was they’ve asked you to attend a work capability assessment.

This is correct because you reported your health conditions and provided fit notes. The message saying your UC could be affected if you don’t attend is just a standard message. Your UC won’t be affected because your partner already claims the LCWRA element on your claim.

You don’t have to attend the appointment if you don’t want to, that’s entirely up
to you. This assessment will have nothing to do with carers element.

Your partner was automatically entitled to LCWRA because they claim Enhanced daily living PIP and they are above state pension age. 

Just so that you’re aware, your partner is not the main claimant, you are both the claimants because it’s a joint claim. 

Philipfear637

Thank you for your reply poppy123456. I will do what UC have asked so there is no excuse on there part to stop our UC benefit like WTC did with our WTC claim we have lost through there decision makers mistakes we have been told,although tribunal process awarded our disabilities element on our WTC  claim we do not get now because we were forced onto UC because they stopped our WTC low income benefit by mistake and we have to pay back an overpayment they say we owe and etc are deducting and amount from our UC which is wrong and wtc acknowledged to us they had made a mistake with our claim with that benefit that was awarded to us through our tribunal process we went through awarded in our favour,as the they told us they would sort that out. Just another outrageous sneaky way of stealing back wtc money what we were entitled to at that time. They DWP told the tribunal they had made a decision in our favour leading to the disability element being added to our WTC and they agreed to pay us the disability element in our favour on top of our WTC we were already getting because of low income.
Our payment was just stopped by there mistakes and the WTC payment was not paid so I did Mandatory Reconciliation three times and not heard anything about there decision mistakes on our claim they admitted making the mistake on as our payment should not of just stopped.They told us they could see a mistake had been made on there side and our WTC awarded should not of been stopped by the officer who did not check the tribunal decision in our favour awarded by the DWP who added the extra amount to our already WTC claim we have had for many years until this happened by there officers mistakes made who made that decision without checking the data or data missing from the system they admitted they could see.
We are now getting penalised because WTC are taking some of our UC for our entitlement for there WTC mistakes made on our WTC claim. That can not be right or lawful,they just do whatever with your entitlement and do not contact you with any answer either. I've done three separate letters to three different WTC post codes in Wolverhampton where I was told to send them.No answer yet from any WTC,DWP,or HMRC about there admitted mistakes made showing on there systems. Looking like another post office scandal, this is where they are saving money by not paying out what you claim and are entitled to and all the delaying tactics and date changes so the right calculation is not done right on your entitlement.

Philipfear637

Hi poppy123456 sorry about the spelling in the previous long post. Just to add to that post that I have on numerous occasions made many telephone calls to WTC department to ask them what is going on but they haven't answered some of my calls. They say they are aware of the mistake and trying to sort it as they can see a mistake was made by one of there officers,as when the officer made the decision to stop our payment,the officer had not seen or checked all the evidence regarding our disabilities tribunal cases awarded in both our favours. The DWP dealing with the tribunal case awarded us in our favour the award of WTC disability element benefit because they had already checked and could see we had already been awarded WTC previously to the tribunal case by the DWP so the judge has ruled already on this type of case saying because entitlement had already been assessed and awarded we were entitled to the WTC awarded to us by the DWP and to include the award of disability element awarded by the DWP in both our favours. That is why the officer who made the decision to stop our WTC payment was wrong to do that for whatever his reason was at that time He did not check the updated data on the system to help him make the decision he made,so a mistake was made with our WTC award we were entitled to at that time that we are contesting until they  apologize and compensate us for our losses on these grounds.

poppy123456

Your UC will not stop if you don’t attend the assessment. The worst that can happen if you will be found fit for work for failing to attend, which is a moot point anyway because you’ve applied for carers element and you will have no work requirements as a carer.

Sorry but as I advised at the start of your thread I’m unable to advise with WTC. You will need to get expert advice for that, 

Philipfear637

Hi poppy123456
Just an update on our mixed age couple statement of entitlement and my health assessment arranged by Universal Credit department. 
The UC Payment department have now added the carers extra element that I am entitled to, this extra element amount has now been added to our UC statement of entitlement and also the officer has referred the data to the payment department for them to review and calculate the backdated payment to the date of our original Universal Credit first appointment date back in September 2023,the date we both visited the Jobcentre in Leeds dated on our joint universal credit journal. As we are a joint mixed age couple both who have registered disabilities we are still waiting for the backdated payment of the extra element of £185.68 backdated to the start date of our Universal Credit Claim,the officer has mentioned because of the backlog can not tell us when the back payment will be paid back to us he has mentioned in our joint UC journal but will leave a message when this is done.
Regarding the health assessment  arranged by the Universal Credit Department in Leeds,well I did attend the health assessment arranged by the UC health department and the doctor told me at that time with my partner present,that the evidence i have provided and my doctors evidence provided corresponds and the evidence he could see which has been accepted. The health assessment doctor has also written his health report about my health and disabilities and how the disabilities affect my daily living and that I am not fit for work while going through rehabilitation treatments arranged by my doctor which has now been sent to the Universal Credit department so that they can now make there decision based on the written health evidence report and evidence provided. The UC health assessment doctor was a stroke condition specialist and he told me that my health condition corresponds with the written evidence he could see and the evidence they have received from me and my professional doctors and healthcare team who are continuing to monitor my long term health conditions corresponds. So now I am just waiting for a copy of the report to be sent to me when UC  have made there decision they say will be in the next five weeks.

poppy123456

It’s not unusual for money owed to take quite a few weeks to be paid.

With your work capability assessment, the assessor doesn’t make decisions. Only
a decision maker from DWP can make the final decision. Once a decision is made you will receive a letter on your journal. However, regardless of what the decision is it will make no difference to your overall UC maximum entitlement because your partner is already receiving the LCWRA element on your claim.

Philipfear637

Hi poppy123456
As I mentioned in one of my previous scope messages that I did attend back in March 2024 to the Leeds West Yorkshire Health assessment the appointment arranged by UC health department,which was carried out by a very polite and professional Stroke doctor. So just to keep you informed that the Universal Credit have now added a message to my my UC journal today saying they have reviewed all the health assessment Doctors written report evidence data he sent to them and the other evidence information provided to support our Mixed Age Couple UC claim they have received from me. A decision has now been made by the DWP decision maker who has awarded me also the LCWRA. The letter added to my UC journal also states that a decision has also been made that I no longer need to send UC or provide UC any further sick/fit notes from my doctor. The letter also states that in the future UC may ask me to attend another health assessment if my doctor says my registered hidden health condition gets any worse.

bernadetta

I am so sorry reading about your experience and so frustrated with the HMRC/DWP staff members, their lack of knowledge and the broken UC system.

Please contact one of the agencies in the link poppy gave above, the Tax Credits case may be solvable and although you cannot return from claiming UC, it is worth fighting for the overpayment to be waived and deductions taken off your UC returned. I would personally suggest the Law Centre as my experience of CAB is uneven and advice given there not always correct. 

In the meantime you could call the UC debt management team 0800 916 0647 and ask to reduce the rate of deductions to minimum if you struggle financially. I once managed to reduce it to £5pm but it depends on the circumstances.  The UC debt team will not discuss the decision that caused overpayment, they only can negotiate the rate (how much UC reduces your award by towards the tax credits overpayment). 


Since both of you are vulnerable, and I would assume all of that may sound overwhelming,  can you ask your GP for a referral to a Social prescriber/ floating support/ any kind of support worker? Social prescribers are brilliant and they can be with you to make the calls, make referrals to the appropriate welfare rights adviser,  etc etc.

Also, please ensure you added a message in your UC that you are both vulnerable and need more support. The DWP staff has a responsibility to provide more support in place. 

Last thing coming to my mind, I wonder if the social housing provider (local authority) does not have a duty of care? If the rent is not paid, you are *technically * in rent arrears. Can you ask your council to allocate income officer or someone like that to help you to resolve the issue of rent? That's again a situation where a support worker could help with. 

Philipfear637

Hi Bernadetta
Thank you for the information you have suggested I have read in your post regarding the WTC overpayment mistake made by the DWP on our WTC claim many months ago. I sent in 3 written mandatory reconciliation letters and many phone calls to the WTC department over many months. The WTC officer I spoke to on the phone has already admitted to me a mistake had been made with our WTC claim at that time as he could see that on the system he was looking at and to give WTC  more time to sort the mistake out that they have made. The WTC or DWP officer making the decision to stop our WTC and disability element payment had not looked at the decision made by the DWP officer dealing with the tribunal process on our Pip claims we had been waiting for a decision on since June 2022. When the DWP officer made the decision to award us ongoing pip backdated to the date of the original claim date written in my award letter,that led to the WTC extra disability element of WTC payment being added by the DWP to our joint WTC claim that we were entitled to at that time as I was still working as a director with disabilities. I sent a message in to WTC through my personal HMRC app about the award within the  month timescale of being awarded the Pip awarded by the DWP to me although my partner in our WTC joint couple claim also had been awarded Pip too which I let WTC know about. Both Pip claims were awarded through the tribunal process and so the extra WTC disability element  amount was added to our existing joint claim. After a few payments of this extra disability element being paid our WTC payment was stopped saying due to a change of circumstances. When I contacted WTC about why our WTC payment had stopped the officer said he could see on the system a mistake had been made because our claim had not been updated on our WTC joint claim on the system regarding the decision made on our Pip claims by the DWP officer leading to the extra payment of the disability element being added. The system could not recognise the new data and so classed it as a change of circumstances that told the system to close our WTC payment and the extra disability element payment down. The WTC officer told us to ask me to write in to WTC and ask for a mandatory reconciliation on the decision that had wrongly been made by the DWP or WTC officer at that time,which I did on three separate occasions plus all the telephone calls that are all monitored and recorded.I have not had a reply from any of my MR letters I sent to WTC that I have kept copies of and still waiting for a reply.This has gone on now for months and we have just been waiting for an explanation why this mistake by a DWP or WTC officer has not been resolved.We are still waiting for back payment of WTC they stopped by there mistake and compensation for our losses due to there mistakes.We know we can not go back now to WTC because we were forced to claim UC,we also knew that at some stage we would have migrated over to UC anyway soon. As you might already know that you can not take anything further regarding this untill the DWP answered the Mandatory  reconciliation letters I have sent into them. When we do eventually get a reply to the Mandortary reconciliation letters we expect an apology for there mistake and to pay us back all payments that are missing and to pay back to us all the monthly overpayments they are taking from our Universal Credit claim to pay the WTC overpayment they say we owe made by there mistake that is being taken off our UC entitlement every month because of there mistakes with our joint WTC and disability element claim we were entitled to at that time up to the point of stopping out WTC payments which forced us to claim our joint mixed age couple UC claim and disability  ,I have been eventually awarded after health assessment and waiting several weeks. The DWP have been made fully aware of the mistake they have made with our claim and payments they stopped at the time they stopped them because of a wrong decision made by a WTC or DWP or HMRC officer dealing with this and they have acknowledged a mistake on there part was made and acknowledged a mistake has happened with our WTC and disability payment claim.All they need to do is put this right and sort out this mess by way of a letter of apology and remove or waiver the overpayment they wrongly accuse us of owing due to there mistakes and compensate us financially by paying back the overpayment amount they have taken from our UC and pay back the missing WTC payments that were stopped up to the date we started to receive our joint Universal Credit and then some of the missing months LCWRA awarded by DWP from the start date in September 2023 as we were on housing benefit before all these mistakes that were made by the other DWP departments that happened to us.

Philipfear637

Hi poppy123456
I just would like to check something please.
As mentioned in previous messages my partner I live with in our mixed age couples Universal Credit claim who has disibilities and Pip awarded by DWP in her favour has been awarded the LCWRA by DWP or Universal Credit showing in our joint statement. My partner cares for me for less than the 35 hours so does not get the extra carers element payment. I care for my partner in this mixed age couples UC claim for 35 hours per week and I also have been awarded my own ongoing Pip awarded by DWP through a tribunal process too awarded in my favour like my partners pip too she gets. We have been awarded Universal Credit as a mixed age couple and my partner gets her state pension and she has been awarded the LCWRA and the payment showing on our joint UC statement.
I have now had a health assessment mentioned in earlier messages and now have been awarded LCWRA by the DWP showing in a letter added to our UC journal. 
It states that if we claim UC as a mixed age couple only one can be awarded the payment of LCWRA. As I have claimed the extra element for caring for my partner for 35 hours my question is which payment will be paid as my partner has been awarded LCWRA and I was awarded the extra carers element of £185.86 which has been added,just waiting for the back dated payments because this should of been added at the start of our mixed age couples UC claim. At the start of our joint universal credit claim,the original officers who dealt with our claim admitted and apologised they had got our UC claim wrong from the start back in September 2023 as wrong data was added to our claim at that time I have pointed out which has been acknowledged by the officers dealing with our mixed age couples UC claim. We are waiting for our back payment to be paid still although the payment department are aware of there mistakes made and trying to rectify we think. A message has been left in our journal that due to the back log it might take sometime before we get the backdated payment and the officer does not know how long that will take.
As I have now been awarded LCWRA like my partner what health payment amount is backdated. Is it £390.06 payment awarded to my partner or is it the extra element of £185.86 awarded for me as the carer for my partner. I have been caring for my partner since August 2022 when she claimed Pip which was awarded to her from the tribunal process where the DWP awarded her ongoing pip in her favour which is documented. I also was awarded through my tribunal process ongoing Pip in my favour on a separate Pip claim. We are just trying to get this mess sorted out because we are already paying overpayments for mistakes already made with our benefits we are entitled to by other departments on a WTC claim we were receiving until it was stopped by mistakes made by the other departments we are still waiting for the MD letter answered from them and compensation for there acknowledged mistakes made with our benefits. Because they stopped our joint WTC and disability element awarded to us both through the tribunal process by mistakes made by other DWP officers we were forced the claim Universal Credit we have been awarded now. As there law says we can not do anything untill we get the Mandatory reconciliation letter and there decision on that so still we wait for the answer on there mistakes made going back a long time now. Sorry again about this long message but we hope some help comes along soon,as we are not getting any answers from our joint journal yet or back payment they owe.

Philipfear637

Hi poppy123456 or Hannah.
Can a moderator look at why there is a black square on the right hand side of my tablet on your site ,or is this normal,can you take a look because it is very annoying when I use the forum.scope.org.uk site. Thank you in advance.