Lwcra

Camstermck

hello looking for advice.
I am on UC planing on volunteering in Ukraine. My UC is paid on the 20th of each month.

I understand if I’m out of the country for longer than 1 month my claim would be closed.

I would like to know what dates are best to plan my travels so that I get my UC just after I leave and the next payment a month later. Is this possible?

Camstermck

I am on ADP which I can get for 13 weeks whilst out the country. And LWRCA.
for instance if I went on the 18th (paid 20th)October and didn’t return with in one month would I still get my payment in November 20th.

Albus_Scope

Hey @Camstermck and welcome to hte community.

I'd recommend speaking to the DWP regarding this, as you need to let them know on your journal if going on holiday/abroad. Though please be aware if they decide your reason for getting LCWRA goes against the activity you're telling them about, it could lead to your benefit being stopped.

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/913605#Comment_913605

Based on that example yes you would still be entitled to the Nov payment. When abroad the day you leave and the day you come home are not counted.

Camstermck

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/913668#Comment_913668

cheers, although if on LCWRA I’ve been told I have no commitments. And it would be a holiday with maybe some volunteering. I have no work coach. If out country more than 1 month I need to update my journal at which time my claim would close. Just wanted to check before I made any decisions. Thanks

Camstermck

Thank you for the help.
think my assessment period is 14-13 so if I go on the 18th and return 18th I would be fine. And if not I need to notify journal I’m abroad. Claim would close but I’d still be entitled from 14oct-13 nov paid 20th nov. And would lose the days that proceeds up until claim closed. Thanks

Albus_Scope

You'll still have commitments, just no work focused ones and instead of a work coach, you'll have case manager to contact.

I've just checked the DWP site and they state that not reporting a trip overseas, even if only for a week would count as benefit fraud and volunteering would also need to be reported. So I'd say it would be better to be safe than sorry.

Though fingers crossed you get to go with no issues at all. 😊

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/913703#Comment_913703

I'm going to respectfully disregard here, sorry. I think the Gov.uk website is rather misleading. When you have LCWRA you have no commitments as such other than to check your journal regularly and report changes. Everyone has a case manager, even those that have a work coach.

As you're allowed to go out of the country for up to 1 month, there's nothing to report within that month.

I recently went out of the country with my daughter, as you know and she claims UC, we were away for 11 nights. Last year we were away for 14 days. Both times I didn't report changes for her UC because there's nothing to report. She has LCWRA and no commitments. I'm her appointee. If there was something to report of course I would have done so.

Emilee

I respectfully disagree. You will not get in any trouble for not reporting a temporary absence abroad of less than one month, and the parlimentary deposited papers and decision maker's guide acknowledges that those that have LCW or LCWRA won't always report going abroad, but the guidance for Universal Credit is very clear that claimants still should report it.

Why? No one really knows. As you have correctly said, there are no commitments so as long as you are not gone for more than the allowed calendar month, it makes no difference to your claim. However, you are supposed to tell them.

poppy123456

This is one of those situations where you will always have some people that say it should be reported and others say you don’t need to report it.

I’m in the latter, due to no commitments. If you have commitments then it would be different.

fehmida

hi can any one please help me regarding lcwra payments are they paid on top of my universal credit payment ? Or will that stop? It’s quite confusing if someone could please help me thank you

Rachel_Scope

Hi @fehmida. LCWRA payments are extra on top of UC. Here's where I found this info - WCA.

Here's a quote from that link:

8.2 LCWRA: when you’ll get extra money

If your WCA decision is LCWRA, you’ll usually get the extra money 3 monthly assessment periods after you started submitting medical evidence (such as fit notes) showing that your condition limits how much work you can do. 

There are instances where it can be added on straight away, for example if you have 12 months or less to live or if you’re moving from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit.

fehmida

thank you for letting me know I appreciate it it’s so confusing I thought that they stop the universal credit so I was told by some one but glad to here they don’t thank you again 🙂