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Autistic son has no photo ID and will be migrating to universal credit

sunwatcher37

HHi everyone, can anyone help I'm so worried. My adult son who I am appointee for will be having to migrate to universal credit soon.he has no photo ID or any bills in his name. All he has is his birth certificate, bank statements for his own bank account and a voting paper with his photo on which he used in the recent elections and his debit card. I'm so worried he won't be able to claim uc and be left without any money to live on. There is a esa letter which has both mine and his name on but that is it, I looked into getting him a citizen card but it's so complicated and our GPS are not very helpful so I probably couldn't ask them to verify his birth certificate and to be honest i don't really understand the process to get one. I suffer from ocd and anxiety and depression and I feel I can't cope with any more worry. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post. Thanks

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Comments

Rosie_Scope

Hi @sunwatcher37, sorry to hear you're feeling so worried about this. If you speak to the Jobcentre or work coach when it comes time for the changeover, they might be able to verify his identity with a mixture of other sources.

Hopefully some of our other members will have been through similar and can offer some more ideas too. Have you had the migration notice already, or are you still waiting to hear?

poppy123456

There will be other ways to verify his identity, such as his debit card.

sunwatcher37

Still waiting for letter, dreading the postman coming every day, thanks for replys Rosie_Scope and poppy123456

poppy123456

Which benefits is he claiming?

sunwatcher37

CCurrently on income related esa and pip

poppy123456

Does his ESA include the Severe disability Premium? If it doesn't and he's in the Support Group for ESA then UC with the LCWRA element pays more than ESA Support Group.

sunwatcher37

He doesn't get severe disability premium but yes he is in the support group for esa

OverlyAnxious

If he doesn't have photo ID then he will need 3 pieces of non-photo ID for the verification check.

Debit card is one of those. Printed bank statement seems to be counted separately so that makes two. Then I was suggested a tax letter or similar for three. I do get a tax letter every year, even though I don't pay tax, so I guess everyone else does as well. (I think birth certificate counts as one of the three as well).

He will also need something with his current address on it. Printed bank statement can be used for that, although I'm yet to see whether they'll allow that to be used again after it's been used for the section above.

He will also need proof of his National Insurance number. Depending on age that could be on a card or just a piece of paper.

He will need a bank card for the account where the UC is to be paid.

And if claiming housing element, will need proof of rent costs as well. (Not sure that applies in this case after reading the first post)

sunwatcher37

Thank you do you know if a esa or pip award letter can be used for proof of address they have my name on as I'm his appointee but also has his name under mine, he gets a card type letter every year from tax people, he doesn't pay tax either, and he has a card with his national insurance number on it, he is 35. Doesn't pay rent lives with me still Thanks so much for your reply

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/902515#Comment_902515

PIP & ESA letters can't be used unfortunately. It needs to be something from outside of the DWP.

If you can get a bank statement printed, that should be good enough for proof of address.

I know it wasn't asked about in the OP but they do seem to need to 'see' the claimant now, even in cases where they have an appointee. So the ID check is generally done at a Job Centre. If that's not possible for your son, they can arrange a home visit instead. If neither of those are possible, that's where it gets more difficult.

poppy123456

Yes a benefit letter should be accepted. As he doesn't received the SDP in with his ESA then he would be better off by claiming UC.

His ESA would be £159.05/week ( £318.11/fortnight) Which works out at £689.21/month.

For UC he would be entitled to standard allowance (over 25) £393.45/month

LCWRA element £416.19/month Total UC = £809.64/month.

Which is a difference of £120.43/month better off.

This was the whole reason why they originally decided to halt the migration of Income Related ESA to UC until 2028/29. To save them millions of pounds.

sunwatcher37

I can get bank statements and I will be able to get him down to the jobcentre ok

brenniero

You can do id by a biographical phone call where u will be asked questions only u know uc has told me this