Will i get backdated pay for LCWRA?

dozey1234

I’m looking for advice I made a claim for uc in may and along with this I supplied fit notes right up until 16/9/24 and was awarded lwrca on the 12/9/2024 my question is will I get backdated pay for when I supplied the fit notes or will I just start getting the lwrca amount in my next payment

poppy123456

What date exactly did you provide your first fit note?

What date do you receive your money each month?

Without knowing the answer to those questions your first payment will be either Oct or Nov. It's not paid at all during the waiting period, which is 3 full assessment periods, with first payment from the 4th month and payment being the end of that month.

dozey1234

18th may and my first payment was 24th June 2024

dozey1234

my assessment period started from the 18may 2024 until 17june3024 with first payment 24th June but the lwrca wasn’t awarded until Septembers statement

poppy123456

That means your waiting period will be May/June, June/July, July/Aug.. LCWRA starts from assessment period 18th Aug to 17th Sept and first payment will be 24th September. No LCWRA element is owed.

If the element isn't included in your statement for this month they will owe you for that.

If you or a partner were receiving earnings since you started your claim and you didn't have the work allowance, you will be owed some money from that.

dozey1234

it’s just confusing as to why we need to supply fit notes until they make a decision if u are awarded it or not it’s taken longer than three months for them to sort it and when u get it they take the transiston protection off u so no matter what u lose out because of a disability

thank u so much for taking the time to reply to me

I wish I could work but really can’t

dozey1234

both me and my partner don’t get any earnings at all we both on uc and my partner cares for our disabled son

poppy123456

Fit notes are needed to start the process off. If your UC includes Transitional Protection then depending on how much that is you may not be any better off by the LCWRA element.

dozey1234

we are down money because of the change with the added lwrca

dozey1234

Jimm_Scope

Can I just quickly say I love the mouse? image you used to hide a name 🤣

dozey1234

thanks x

OverlyAnxious

Looking at those screenshots, the Transitional Protection has gone down by exactly the same amount as the LCWRA added which is correct.

The reason you're now £200 down is because of a change in the carers amount though. The same person can't claim Carers Element and LCWRA. So only one of you is now getting the Carers Element, and the other getting LCWRA.

StarLilly

@dozey1234 firstly, I want to say I completely agree with you that this whole UC system is so confusing! Thank heavens for this community because I didn't even know you needed to get a Fit Note if you were disabled and unable to work, let alone how to upload one to the UC journal!!! UC don't tell you anything even though you report your disability during the UC claim form and have just arranged a First Commitment phone call for me. I've also had to fight to have appointments via phone calls rather than being in person as I am mostly housebound and the job centre is an hour away from home.

Can I please ask what happened when you reported your first fit note? Did you still have a First Commitment appointment with a work coach? We started our UC claim a couple of weeks ago as being migrated from Working Tax Credits. I notified UC of my fit note via "Report a change" and left a message in my UC journal about this but they haven't responded to any of my requests asking if I still need to have the First Commitment phone call appointment and also for further information on what happens now moving forward.

Thank you in advance for any insight you can share. 🙏😊

dozey1234

thanks for the reply I just don’t understand why we need to hand fit notes in for the beginning of my claim to then say not entitled to three months back pay it makes no sense to me having to go to my gp and get this from the start even though I have a long term health condition and have done and this was why I was income support but had to move to uc the system I think is wrong but I appreciate you taking the time to help me

dozey1234

@StarLilly afternoon we made the claim in may due to the migration notice and both unable to work due to ill health my hubby had a heart attack and I have a brain condition and I had to attended an appointment to verify I was a real person same as my hubby and then we got payment but they required fot notes from both of us and not heard about my hubby’s work assessment at all still doing fit notes for him and to make matters worse they have now said I get lwrca but my money has went down and this I think is wrong because I am disabled I am being punished and they wrote bk to me saying that u don’t get paid lwrca for the first three months as this is their time to assess u my question is why do all the fit notes from the beginning if they not backdating the money I didn’t have a phone call with a work coach at all just forms to fill in and then waiting to see if I am awarded it and then if my hubby is entitled to lwrca will that mean our money goes down again because only one can get the lwrca payment I hope they sort things for u I am going to contact citizens advice and money matters as I think it’s wrong

StarLilly

@dozey1234 thanks for replying and sharing your experience. I also had the appointment to verify I was a real person but I demanded it was by telephone appointment. I agree, it really does feel like UC are bullying and punishing people for being disabled and / or chronically ill, it's a shameful way for a democratic society to behave towards its most vulnerable people. Once this is all over, I will be writing a long letter to my local MP as they need to know what is going on.

I hope your get the advice and support you need too. Good luck! xx

dozey1234

@StarLilly same to you my lovely and thanks for replying to me I will be taking it further because our money has dropped so much we can barely afford to eat and I still have children to support but because they are adult age we get no help only help with the youngest in the family x

poppy123456

@dozey1234 the 3 month waiting period applies to the majority of people if it's your first work capability assessment. The only ones it doesn't apply to is those that are claiming through end of life treatment with 12 months or less left to live.

However, looking at both of those screenshots I can clearly see that something isn't quite right there!

I can see that you were both carers claiming carers element. In the top screenshot I can see 2 carers elements. In the bottom one I can only see one, which is correct because in that one you have the LCWRA element that's been included. As @OverlyAnxious has correctly advised, the same person can't receive both elements at the same time.

However, what they've done here is removed the one of the carers elements, added the LCWRA element and then reduced your Transitional Protection by the full amount of the LCWRA element, which is £416.19, which is clearly incorrect.

What they should have done is reduce the TP by the difference between the carers element and the LCWRA element, which will be £217.88. Therefore you are correct in what you say and you're now worse off because of the incorrect calculation.

For this reason please put a message onto your journal and tell them that they are taken off a carers element but reduced your TP by the full amount of the LCWRA element which is incorrect. It should be reduced by the difference between both elements.

You won't be any better off but you certainly shouldn't be any worse off!!!

For the avoidance of doubt, as you were both carers to start with then neither of you had any work commitments anyway so you didn't have to go through the WCA process but it was useful for at least one of you to do that for future reference. There was certainly no need for your partner to go through the process.

I hope this helps and please do come back and let me know the outcome.

dozey1234

thank you so much for your help and I will certainly go back to them as I knew something was wrong I will keep u upto date and I am so grateful for everything u have done for me

dozey1234

dose my partner need to still do the wca with him being the carer for our son and also his health is not great