Pleas advise,LCWRA

jane23

Hello I’m be here and was hoping please can anyone advise me with this? I have been submitting fit notes since last August and was told to complete a UC50 in January this year which I got support with from an advice centre as been too poorly to cope with it. Basically heard nothing from DWP and continued submitting fit notes up until May when the Advice centre who supported me at the start of the year chased up to see if I had a decision about the uc50 and advised I call to chase the DWPs medical advisory board who do the assessments. To my shock when I called they said the form had arrived 2 days past their cut of in January so it had been returned it to DWP. Nobody has contacted me to let me kno. This was sent back to the health people again in May and I finally had a short telephone assessment on July 8. I had been receiving half pay from my employer up until July- but this has now ended and am in a no pay situation. I have Still had no update about the UC50 assessment - but today I had a message from DWP saying I need to attend a face to face at the job centre next week to “review and agree my commitments” . I am anxious about this and have worried about what they want and why they can’t do this over the phone. When I called today to ask what the status of my uc50 assessment was I was told still with the assessors. It’s awful and so stressful when I’m facing losing my job now and all the worries with how to pay my rent and liabilities. I have no one supporting me and I don’t understand how benefits work as up till getting ill last year I’ve not needed to claim support . I also saw today I had a very small UC paid as I had dropped below the threshold from last pay from work.

poppy123456

I'm sorry to hear it's been such as ordeal. The delay would have been because your file was returned back to DWP because they didn't receive it by the date on the letter. Although, they could have informed you of this.

You need to continue to provide fit notes until a decision is made on the work capability assessment. Who advised you to stop sending them? Gaps in your fit notes can affect when the extra money is paid from.

If you're unable to attend your local job centre for that appointment you can ask for a reasonable adjustment for a telephone appointment.

If you've had a short assessment then they've either decided you need a full assessment or the assessment report was written and chosen for audit. An audit means they are checking the assessor did their job correctly.

You can contact the Health Assessment Advisory Service directly to ask if there's any updates and they maybe able to tell you what's happening.

Once the report is returned hopefully, a decision will be made quickly. Sometimes it's very quick but other times not as quick and can take up to 12 weeks.

jane23

Thanks for quick response, well the woman doing the assessment at the advisory board was aware I had chronic fatigue from all paperwork plus occupational health reports x3 were provided t them from my trust ( I worked as a nurse nhs) so she said in chronic fatigue instances they kept the assessment short as possible.

I wondered if to delay was likely due to my entitlement to half pay which meant I wasn’t due any support up until end of July his year as no occupational pay left now.

in relation to fit notes, i have always sent and never missed. Most recent one at the end of July was written for a 4 month period from my GP taking me up till November. But I won have a job after this month

jane23

the note in myUC said the appointment was a “commitments review” but I was surprised they could not do that on the phone . Would you know if reasonable adjustments to have phone rather than attend is something they need to give in terms of my health condition?

poppy123456

If your earnings were more than 16 x NMW/week you wouldn't have been able to be referred for a work capability assessment unless you were claiming a disability benefit such as PIP/ADP or DLA. So, yes that can delay the process.

If you're not currently claiming a disability benefit have you looked at claiming PIP? (ADP if you live in Scotland)

They can do any appointment over the phone, including commitments. Put a message onto your journal and ask if you can have a telephone appointment instead. You will need to explain why.

jane23

thanks poppy, yes I was awarded both elements of pip last year at enhanced level for both. Plus blue badge

Sorry I don’t understand the bit you said about 16 x NMW?

I was receiving half pay until end of last month. No pay now.

I have found everything very confusing and daunting

jane23

do I need a supporting letter to allow me to have the appointment by phone instead of need to attend in person? I just can’t cope with it as have most days unable to leave the house due to fatigue and pain

poppy123456

16 x NMW (National Minimum Wage) per week means if you're earning more than this you couldn't be referred for a work capability assessment unless you were claiming a disability benefit. If you were at the time you provided your first fit note then those rules are irrelevant anyway.

You don't need a supporting letter to request a reasonable adjustment.

jane23

Thanks for explaining that. - yes the health advisory board knew I was on pip when I first applied for the uc50 back in February this year. 

7 months now waiting but 

I’m guessing I won’t be backdated anything? At least not back to the original submission in Feb As my forms were two days late getting back to them no doubt I will get penalised even tho no one notified me

poppy123456

No problem. They would have accepted the late returning of the form because you could have been found fit for work for that and you weren’t.

If found to have LCWRA it will start from when you provided your first fit note, providing there were no gaps up until a decision was made.

You then have to wait 3 full assessment periods for the extra money, it’s then paid from the 4th month with first payment being the end of that month.

If August 2023 was your first fit note then the extra money will be paid from either Dec or January. So money owed from this.

If you don’t currently have the work allowance you will also be entitled to that from the assessment period in which you provided your first fit note. Which means money owed from that too.

jane23

Thanks Poppy, im glad to have found this community as it feels very isolating and u would rather be well and working than in this position. If I’ve lost my job due to ill health then I don’t see how they can not accept my situation for support and surely can’t put me in a work category? It’s madness as I’ve been their ar least 3 occupational health assessments with my trust who are highly qualified clinicians and found unfit to return to work and chronic health conditions.

Well I have messaged on my journal last night asking for a phone call instead of face2face for this commitments meeting, but not sure if they look daily as it seems no one regularly looks at your posts or responds. Should I call if I don’t get a response by Thursday do you think?

jane23

My first fit note was August 2023 but I was not sending them to UC then because I was in receipt of full pay and only started sending them in December as was moving to half pay in January 2024. Will I get paid from April 2024 in that case? & Does the 4 month waiting period get backdated? My fit notes have been constant since December with no breaks and my doctor has just redhead the last one to November this year. What is the work allowance money please? I wasn’t aware about that

poppy123456

The extra money for the LCWRA element isn't paid at all during the waiting period. When it's paid from exactly will depend on what date exactly you provided your first fit note and what date you usually receive your money each month.

The work allowance means a certain amount of earnings each month are disregarded before the deductions apply. More information here.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Work-allowance-Universal-Credit

Albus_Scope

Hiya @jane23 and welcome to the community.

I can see you're already being helped out with your query, but I just wanted to stop in and say a quick hi. 😊

jane23

hello and thank you for the help as I am new to the benefits system and struggling with it all. Waiting times for help are especially challenging as well as not being able to get clear answers from the social security people I have had to speak with. It is why I turned to this forum to try and get help and advice. I have worked all my life and being in a situation where I now have to claim support has been bad enough, but to face constant rebuff and lack of communication from the DWP department has only heightened what is already an extremely stressful time for myself. As a nurse working for the nhs and through the pandemic, I have felt shocked to find how the DWP treats people who are in a financial crisis because of a ill health - people who have worked hard to help others should not be treated like second class citizens. I am going to write to my MP about my experiences with the benefits system but can only thank this organisation for offering me some clarity in this most difficult time I am facing

poppy123456

DWP administer benefits, they are not benefits advisors. In fact I've seen some quite shocking advice coming from work coaches and even case managers for UC. The UC helpline is even worse and have always wondered why they refer to it as a "helpline"

One other thing that comes to mind. Have you claimed New style ESA? Providing you're no longer claiming SSP then you will be able to claim this. It will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement so no financial gain to claiming it.

However, it's definitely worth claiming because it's not means tested like UC is and could come in very useful in the future. Pensions of up to £85/week are also disregarded. You would also receive class 1 NI credits for this, where as for UC it's only class 3.

You would need the correct NI contributions in tax years 2021/22 and 2022/23 to be entitled to payments.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/eligibility

jane23

Yes I have successfully claimed new style ESA earlier this year when I went to half pay and actually found those advisors very prompt and helpful. I am not sure tho how long I can get ESA now I have lost my job, as I read that everything is migrating eventually to UC. I have been waiting for UC to sort out me housing benefit entitlement and the extra money from the UC50 which at the time it was sent to me back in January, I had no idea what the procedure would be as no one from benefits highlighted this and I sought support from north Bristol advice centre to complete the forms. In fact if it had not of been for the advice centre I would not of realised that my claim was not dealt with being 2 days late in receiving by DWPs health advise board. All I know now is that it was represented back to them in May for a assessment and finally I had this early July. But still no update or letter or anything in journal to say outcome. When called to chase the benefits person said it was still not available for outcome. I have managed to secure a phone call now instead of face to face for this agree commitments thing next week. No idea what to expect of that, as I’m not getting any UC still and am very worried how I will pay my rent come end of August when it’s due

poppy123456

New style ESA is not part of UC and will not be migrated across. You're already claiming UC anyway.

New style ESA is paid for 1 year unless placed into the Support Group and then it's paid for as long as you remain entitled to it.

Help with the rent will be through UC known as housing element (not housing benefit) unless you're either living in supported or temporary housing. Housing benefit is a completely different benefit.

That's good they agreed to the phone call.

As you've had the work capability assessment a decision can take up to 12 weeks after the assessment report was returned. Although very often a decision is made before that. If the WCA was through UC then you'll receive a letter on your journal once the decision is made. The decision on that will also apply to ESA. If found to have LCWRA then that's Support Group for ESA.

For your next UC payment if you receive no earnings during that assessment period, there would be no deductions for earnings. The only deduction would be for ESA.

jane23

thanks Poopythis is all very helpful.

Yes the WCA was through UC not ESA, so it is helpful to know that if I’m put into lcwra group then I will remain in ESA and be support group - as I was wondering about that.
I have no idea what group I’m currently in for ESA, but I assume it’s the assessment period so nothing assigned until wca is decided.

im hoping this call next week will let me know the decision for when I had the assessment for uc50 as the assessor assured me it should only take about 6 weeks to get the decision.

I believe I will receive severance pay from the nhs of 10 weeks full pay in one payment at end of August, once I’m dismissed on grounds of ill health at the end of this week

poppy123456

You're welcome. For your ESA you will be on assessment rate at the moment. If found to have LCWRA then your ESA will increase to £138.20/week from the 14th week of your claim. The deduction from UC will also increase.

Your UC will include the LCWRA element as advised above.

Yes, the assessors usually tell you between 6-8 weeks but it's up to 12 weeks.

When you receive your final pay from your employer your ESA won't be affected but for UC it will be treated as earnings. You may know that already but just thought I'd include that incase you didn't.

jane23

that’s very helpful thank you.
I do not know anything where benefits are concerned. If I am placed in the support group will that mean I will stay on ESA beyond the year which you mentioned above? I had seen something about all benefits moving to UC. But maybe this does not apply to ESA if you are already claiming that? It’s all very confusing