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UC migration letter

sunnydays

Hi, Today I received my letter to migrate from income related ESA to UC. I received the higher disability premium in my current ESA. Can any explain if I will be worse off. I am not to sure how UC actually works or how much I will be worse off. I have until 21st December 2024 to make the move over to UC. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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poppy123456

When you migrate across you will not be worse off because Transitional Protection will be put in place to make sure you're not worse off.

If you're in the Support Group for ESA then your UC will include the LCWRA element from the start of your claim.

Once you submit your claim your Income Related ESA will continue for 2 weeks and then stop. If you're claiming any other benefits such as housing benefit that will also continue for 2 weeks. Unless you're living in either supported or temporary housing and then it will continue as normal.

If you're claiming tax credits that will stop once you submit your claim.

If any part of your ESA is contributions based that will continue as normal (£138.20/week) but be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. The ESA will then revert to New style ESA.

As your ESA includes the Severe Disability Premium, if it was me then I'd wait until as late as possible to claim UC.

sunnydays

Morning Poppy,

Thank you so much. I'm in the support group and receive all the disability premiums. Iive alone and not in receipt of any take credits, just housing benefit for my flat which I have a secure tenancy.

Your an absolute star, thanks for making me feel better.

sunnydays

Forgot to say, my esa is income related.

apple85

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/913886#Comment_913886

Hi @sunnydays

It sounds like your legacy benefits awards are exactly the same as mine (though I haven’t received a uc invite yet……..unless it got sent to my parent house instead and they don’t regularly check their mailbox)

I was hoping that the dwp would delay more complex esa awards (with multiple disability premiums) but sadly not meant to be - I hope it turns out to be a random lottery rather than ‘top of the list’

(Alphabetal order wouldn’t be great for me either……………excuse my ponderings, I’m a patterns girl)

It’s just really nice to know someone’s got similar legacy award circumstances as we may be able to help each other through the process

I don’t know what your support system is like but feel free to pm me if you’d like someone to bounce things off

also I found the following advice making the rounds which may be helpful to some scope members:

sunnydays

Hi, Thanks for your reply. I'm already in the support group so didn't think I'd need to send a sick note as I'm transferring from already on ESA to UC.

sunnydays

Oh sorry mis read that, no sick note required. I'm gutted receiving the transfer letter. I was glad of having Advice from Poppy, always spot on which is reassuring.

apple85

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/914069#Comment_914069

I’m gutted for you to because now I’m worried about me 😝

Poppy is likely to know far more than me on this but I sort of remember that there are things you should add to your uc online journal the moment you get access to it to make sure the dwp transfer over your transactional protection from esa straight away

(I don’t know if your planning to make the switch straightaway, leave it a month or 2, or do it as close to the 3 month deadline as humanly possible as let’s be honest esa trumps uc for ppl in our scenario)

apple85

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/esa-to-uc-migration-%E2%80%93-your-questions-answered

I was a member of benefits & work forum in the past but I’m not anymore so I don’t have access to this new guide

But in the past their guides have been really good

poppy123456

There’s nothing to add that will make sure any Transitional Protection is included in time for your first payment.

There are delays for many people when they are calculating this due to various benefits departments being slow in sending the figures to UC. Including those migrating from Tax credits.

I’ve heard of far too many people not receiving the correct first payment. When this happens they will recalculate your statement usually within a couple of weeks after but mostly very quickly as in a few days.

When you migrate to UC what you need to make sure you do is put a message onto your journal to tell them you’re in the Support Group. UC do not know this when you migrate across because there’s nothing linked to your migration that tells them this. They should be adding something to each individual migration notice that will give them this information but it clearly hasn’t been done as yet.

It’s frustrating and it all adds to the anxiety that many people experience when migrating across.

sunnydays

Hi, Any advice to do with switching over to UC would be welcomed as I know nothing about anything to do with UC. I will not be doing it until late November. Any help with this journal stuff would be helpful in advance. I'm not a tech person at all, lol.

sunnydays

Hi Poppy,

Thank you so very much, I really appreciate your helpful reply.

Thank you.

poppy123456

@sunnydays you’re welcome. As you have until 21st Dec I wouldn’t claim until very close to that date or even on that date.

This way your ESA will continue for as long as possible because once you claim UC your first payment is just under 5 weeks later. You do not want to claim UC in the weeks leading up to Christmas with your first payment close to that date.

Income Related ESA and housing benefit continue for 2 weeks once you submit your claim.

sunnydays

Hi Poppy,

Thats such great advice, perfect. Just one thing more, will I end up in rent arrears though as I get full housing benefit? That really worries me. Thank you

poppy123456

You’re welcome. You will have the housing benefit run on for 2 weeks.

UC is then paid 1 month in arrears so yes there could be some arrears until you receive your UC payment. You can ask them to pay your landlord directly if you would prefer that.