Help with partners LCWRA.assesmwnt and commitment interviews.

Dragonfly79

Hi
I'm a full time carer for my partner and we moved from ESA to Universal  Credit a couple of years ago or so.

After a two year wait my partner was asseeed as unable to work (LCWRA ) ,and the work commitment interviews I occasionally did stopped,as they said they would.
Recently,I updated our address details over the phone with UC Helpline agent,as had moved,and the commitments section disappeared,resulting in commitment interviews starting again.

UC advised to update the commitment section,and the interview requests would stop,which I did..the interview requests then stopped,only to start up again 2 days later.

UC Helpline wasnt clear exactly what the situation should be for me as a full time carer now..I've been my partners carer for over 10 years,she had long term chronic health,psychological, and mobility issues and will be at risk if I have to leave her for long periods.

Any help with this issue gratefully recieved as the constant chopping and changing from UC is becoming stressful thanks.

TheManFromLondon

Sorry to hear about this, its a mess with this system isnt it? But I think here its the same with changing bank details, they need to do a person ID, as it may be someone try to get control of the claim, or someone has left the country. 

Given the situation you describe, maybe you should send a journal message, to explain all that. Use the "payments" option, and it will go to your case manager (not work coach, I know she doesn't have one being on LCWRA). This is what I do when I want to get in touch with my case worker.

TheManFromLondon

p.s. the advice you got was probably from the helpline? I would not trust them much, as they are just customer support and most times I have got the wrong advice, as I did recently with my rent increase. Try to get in touch with the case worker, you can either send the message or call the helpline and ask them for the case worker to call you, but this way they will ask why and repeat the same useless information.

poppy123456

You will only be treated as a carer if you're claiming carers element. For this your partner needs to be claiming a disability benefit such as PIP/ADP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care. Does she claim any of those? 

Dragonfly79

Thanks @ TheManFromLondon
I have left a message for our case manager and waiting for response.
Yes,it's all got very convoluted and obtuse with benefite now and different people tell you diffent things.

Hi @ poppy123456 ,our UC claim was set up by our then housing officer,and I checked carefully if it was OK for me to be a full time carer,and was told it was.

At that time,my partner recieved DLA,but that was removed on moving to PIP,I would challenge but I'm not sure if partner is strong enough to go through yet another assesment process and possibly court sppearences.

I've been consistently told by the Jobcentre and UC that I don't have to do commitment appointments once partner is assesed as LCWRS
but they keep moving the goal posts..I may have to wait for case manager or check with Citizens  Advice for a definitive answer I guess.

Thanks to both for your imput.:-)

poppy123456

As your partner is not claiming a qualifying disability benefit then you will not be entitled to the carers element. Unfortunately, this now means you are treated as a job seeker. LCWRA does not qualify you to claim carers element. 

If possible I'd advise you to challenge the PIP decision. When was the decision made on that claim? 

Dragonfly79

Hi @poppy123456
The PIP claim was made over 2 years ago,my partner had recieved DLA for many years,and of course that was ending..the PUP assesment was a complete nonsense and PIP was not awarded and DLA ended.

I asked for the mandatory reconsideration and they admitted my partner had issues but were not prepared to change their decision at that time..the next step was to challenge in court,but we moved,UC took 2 years to ascess our claim and the date was missed for a court challenge..only option now is to reclaim.
I was made s carer by the Jobcentre over 10 yrs ago,during which time my partner and I have been messed about all over the place...all I can really do is keep working with the system,to the limit of my partners ability to cope,and try and get her as good care as I can..she will never work and needs 24 hour a day care.

While they do make it difficult,I'm fairly robust and proactive time + have some service experience including a year as a MIND support worker.Ill just keep going foreward as best I can I guess.

kimkenzie202

Unfortunately because I moved from ESA to UC recently I have now had to claim Carers Allowance in order to carry on caring for my partner and not have work requirements. ESA was different, because he was in the Support Group I was never asked to seek work(even though letters said I might be required to see a work coach, it never happened). Your partner will need to be getting PIP in order for you to claim CA.

poppy123456

kimkenzie202 said:

Unfortunately because I moved from ESA to UC recently I have now had to claim Carers Allowance in order to carry on caring for my partner and not have work requirements. ESA was different, because he was in the Support Group I was never asked to seek work(even though letters said I might be required to see a work coach, it never happened). Your partner will need to be getting PIP in order for you to claim CA.

When claiming UC you don't need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element. There's no financial gain to claiming CA as well because it's just deducted in full from any UC entitlement. 

Please make sure that your UC also includes carers element. Even though you're claiming CA they don't usually automatically include carers element. 

Although too late now, when you were claiming ESA you could have claimed carers allowance as well. 

For the avoidance of doubt, a daily living PIP award is needed to be entitled to either carers element or Carers allowance. 

Dragonfly79

Quick update for anyone facing this issue..
Phoned by Jobcentre and after brief discussion,they decided that commitment interviews would be done by phone and be kept care centred,taking into account my partners health issues.

Overall reasonable result for now,and I can concentrate on partners health and improving her benefits and stsus with health issues.

Thanks to all who posted on the issue.

Albus_Scope

I'm very glad to hear there was a positive outcome @Dragonfly79 that's really good news.