UC Help needed with migration please.

Bobb

Hi My partner has higher rate dla and i have higher rate adult
disability payment (scotland), i also claim income support with severe
disability premium for my partner and carers allowance because i care
for my partner over 35 hours per week. We just got the migration to
universal credit letter which came as a shock. But onwards and upwards.
We are both too disabled to work but are both traumatised by the process
of applying for benefits since we both suffer severe anxiety and the
whole process is seemingly designed to cause worry and be uncomfortable
,we cannot attend assessments or even go to the nearest job centre, we
both have social anxiety and will not be able to go through an
assessment even over the phone. I saw both on the Shelter website and on
the universal credit .gov site that a claimant is automatically put in
the lcwra group if they are in receipt of carers allowance, as i claim
carers allowance could my partner claim carers allowance (we both meet
the eligibility criteria) and we make a joint claim for uc without
bringing up our health even though it means getting less money. I cant
find a form example online that will let me go through a practice run so
i thought i would ask the good folk on here, thanks in advance for any
help and for reading this not so short post.😀😀

poppy123456

What you read on shelter and the Gov.uk website about those claiming carers allowance will automatically be entitled to LCWRA element, Im afraid you've misunderstood what you've read.

A PIP award or claiming carers allowance doesn't automatically entitle you to LCWRA. For this you will need to report your health condition and go through a work capability assessment.

When you claim UC your partner will need to make sure they report being a carer and your UC will include the carers element. Carers allowance is deducted in full from any UC entitlement.

Your partner can report being a carer for you and your UC will then include 2 carers elements. However, in doing so during your first assessment period it would affect any TP you're entitled to. Whether it's worth reporting being a carer when you claim or leave it until your 2nd assessment period will depend on the figures and I do not know what those figure are. For this reason it will be worth getting some expert advice from an agency near you.

As carers you will both no have any work commiments.

You do need to make sure you claim UC no later than the date in the letter. Once you submit your claim your Income Support will continue for 2 weeks and then stop. Same applies to housing benefit if you claim that.

If you're claiming council tax reduction then this will be recalculated based on your UC award.

You maybe expected to attend your local job centre for your first appointment and after that there will be no further appointments. You can ask for a reasonable adjustment for this and ask for a telephone appointment. I know you said that you won't be able to do that but do you have someone that can be with you during the phone call?

Bobb

Thanks poppy, I understand now that I misunderstood the information, I am completely new to UC so didnt realise exactly what LCWRA meant. So I think the main question is - How do we claim UC without having to go through a WCA even if that means less money? Sorry to ask so many questions. I found this -'When you make a claim for Universal Credit you will be asked if you have a health condition or a disability which limits how much work you can do.' on the .gov website, how do i answer this without bringing up health conditions? Or can I skip it? Or maybe answer yes but not provide a fit note or any further information as its very stressful thinking about and explaining our health, we spend most of our time trying to feel normal and seem normal, the last thing we want to do is think about our problems in that much detail because it makes us feel worse. I have trauma from the esa purges about a decade ago and my partner has a severe phobia of doctors due to issues shes had with them over the years so she would be traumatised to the doctor to get a fit note or any medical evidence. Our hope is that we would be able to avoid all the stress of WCA because it would be very damaging to our mental health. If we had to have a phone appointment with the job centre, what would that entail?

poppy123456

To avoid the WCA then I'd advise you not to report your health condition because by doing this is will prompt an action on your "to do list" to provide a fit note.

My advice would be to claim carers element (both of you) and then neither of you will have any work commitments, so wouldn't be expected to look for work or attend any appointments, after the first one.

Your appointment would be to confirm identity, if you couldn't do that online and to agree to your commitments which would be to agree to report any changes,

Bobb

Thanks very much indeed poppy. That really helped us and calmed our anxiety a great deal. If there was one other question, it would just be does my partner have to claim carers allowance as she hasnt done it yet, or can you both just do carers element to avoid work commitments? I guess does it matter if my partner claims carers allowance or not? and would l even need to mention my carers allowance?

Thanks ever so much, your help means we will get a good nights sleep as you have reassured as a lot ☺

poppy123456

You're welcome. You don't need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element of UC. However, I noted that you're living in Scotland so for you then it would be worth claiming because then you'll be entitled to Carers Allowance Supplement. You will miss out on the payment due this month but providing you claim it by 7th October 2024 then you'll be entitled to the payment in December.

Please do not claim CA until after you've claiming UC because if you do then it will affected the SDP in your Income Support. https://www.carersuk.org/scotland/help-and-advice/financial-support/carers-allowance-carer-support-payment/carers-allowance-supplement-in-scotland/#:~:text=How%20much%20is%20it%3F,December%20will%20be%20%C2%A3288.60.

Please note!! In Scotland Carers allowance is being replaced by Carers support Payment so if this is now in your area you will need to claim this instead of carers allowance. The criteria is the same as CA. https://www.mygov.scot/carer-support-payment

Carers allowance and Carers Support Payment are both deducted in full from any UC entitlement. The same as it is for Income Support. UC should know that you're claiming carers allowance when you claim but just to be certain when you have access to your journal please leave a message on there to tell them.

Bobb

Thank you very much Poppy for all the information, it is really beyond helpful to us, we both really appreciate it. On the mock form I have found online, it asks about employment status, I was wondering if a carer with no income (other than carers allowance or carers element or both) counts as unemployed, I was thinking probably yes is the answer but I just wanted to make sure I wasnt checking the wrong box in the form. Thanks again and sorry fotr

Bobb

*Not 'fotr' ....... I meant to say : sorry for all the questions, we are trying to keep them to a minimum.

poppy123456

You're welcome. Glad I helped to ease your worries. You would be unemployed but don't forget as carers neither of you will have any commitments.

Bobb

Hi Poppy, thanks again for all your help, more questions unfortunately, sorry, I hope thats ok. In terms of online identity verification, what documents are accepted do you know? We have looked for a list but there are so many agencies and charities answering this question that the lists of accepted documents vary quite a bit. I have a photo driving license, birth certificate, DWP letters and other bits and pieces, my partner has no photo id but does have debit and credit cards, birth certificate, DWP letters and council letters, some information about debit cards says that they count as primary id but then some information says that they count as primary id only if the sort code and account number are on the card (none of our debit cards do have those numbers). My partner is terrified of talking on the phone, if we do prove our identity online, will we both have to do a phone interview anyway and could I help my partner in the phone call at all, as I am her carer.

OverlyAnxious

I believe you will both need photographic ID. Driving licence is ideal so you'll be covered by that. Does your partner have any photographic ID?

I have the same problem. Can't get to the JobCentre and can't use phones or video call. Dreading this part of the migration, but I do have a photographic driving licence so hoping that's enough.

poppy123456

Even with photo ID it's not always possible to confirm identity online so an appointment would be needed. If either of your are unable to attend due to your health conditions a telephone appointment can be arrange and they will ask you some questions to confirm identity.

Carer90

I have my I.D appointment on Tuesday. I wrote in my journel I have no photo I.D at all or any utility bills addressed to me and they responded quickly saying bring birth certificate, bank statement/bank card, an appointment letter or a general letter from the GP practice you are registered with that has your details on. The receptionist printed me off an appointment sticker and stamped it so hopefully that will be ok. I have abank statement, card, birth certificate and a few DWP letters so I can only provide them with what I have.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/873857#Comment_873857

This is what concerns me. I can't use phones at all. Haven't spoken to any other person either face to face or on a phone in over 2 years. My only form of communication now is this, typed online. If my identity can't be confirmed with a driving licence online, I will have no other way to do it. I do understand that from their side they don't know who I am, but that doesn't change the abilities I have, or don't have.

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/873930#Comment_873930

You will not be the only person that will have/had those issues when they claim UC. For this reason there will be adjustments in place so your identity can be confirmed in other ways.

Going forward once your identity is confirmed UC is definitely much better for someone like yourself because of the journal access. No phone calls are needed.

Bobb

Hi Poppy, thanks for your reply, its all so confusing trying to find information, a Google search makes my head spin, so to prove id online would I just upload scanned/photographed documents to my journal? I will have to use driving license, birth certificate, utility bills and DWP letters, hopefully this will be enough for me and hopefully there will be an alternative to photo id for my partner who has everything but photo id. Hopefully this will work out for us because my partner hasnt left the house in years and is too scared to see people in person, talk on the phone, travel anywhere or videocall and I would not be able to travel to the job centre or talk on the phone, this whole process makes anxiety worse therefore any previous anxiety problems are magnified by contact with the DWP (a simple award letter from the dwp causes a panic attack until its opened and read). Good luck carer90 and overlyanxious with your claims, may they be stress free and straightforward and we sympathise with your situation overlyanxious, its hard for others to understand that simple everyday things can be terrifying.

Bobb

Hello , poppy if you are there, I have a worry about the UC form, under health the form asks "Do you have a health condition or disability?" , is it ok to put No here ( so that we dont claim for more money and dont have to go through the WCA process, which we couldnt cope with), I know what you said previously about not disclosing but just panicing seeing the form in front of me. Just wanted to know that there wouldnt be any negative outcomes to answering 'no' to the question above especially as we are both claiming carers element for each other?

poppy123456

Thinking about this further and I know I advised you not to report your health condition, I think you should report it but not provide the fit note. If you answer no to that question they may wonder why you've answered that way because you do have health conditions.

Nothing should happen if you don't provide fit notes. Don't forget to report being your partners carer.

Bobb

We just completed the form and confirmed the details because we kept getting timed out and were panicking. So do you know how we could change the answers in the health section due to (panicking lol) human error? Yes I did report being my partners carer and she reported caring for me also. Thanks for getting back to us quickly, if only we'd waited a few minutes more.

poppy123456

If you've submitted the claim then that's the claim started and your Income Support and housing benefit ( if you claim that) will end after 2 weeks. You could have saved the application for 28 days without submitting it but too late now if you've submitted it. I just wanted to add that incase other members read this.

You should now have access to your journal and you should be able to see the answers that you provided by scrolling down on your journal. See if you can change those answers (sorry I can't remember if that's possible, it's been a few years since I submitted a UC claim) If not you can just report a change and then report your health condition.

Bobb

Thanks poppy, unfortunately we can't change the answers in the journal now but thats fine, we will report our health conditions in our journals. Do you have any idea what would be the sort of thing to say would be? As my partner has a fear of drs what should we do or say about fit notes? We want to avoid the wca and dont mind losing out on money.