Moving to UC does it affect contribution based ESA?

lisawells1990

me & my husband receive ESA I’m on income related & he’s on contribution based. I have been reading other posts saying that ESA income related is one of the legacy benefits, I have high levels of anxiety it makes me worried all the time about moving to UC, there is something I would like to know as my husband claims contribution based ESA will he be moved the same time as me? We both live together

poppy123456

UC is a means tested benefit and because you live with your husband you can't claim as a single person.

This means you'll both need to claim UC once you receive the migration letter. You will both need to start the claim and then one of you will receive a linking code to join both claims together.

Your husbands ESA will continue but be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. If it's the old contributions based he's claiming then this will revert to New style ESA.

Your Income Related ESA will continue for 2 weeks and then stop.

You'll be entitled to the LCWRA element from the start of your claim but there will only be 1 of those elements, even if both of you are in the Support Group. This is because only 1 element can be received per claim.

Are either of you claiming a disability benefit such as daily living PIP or ADP or Mid/high rate care DLA? if so then one person can claim carers element.

lisawells1990

Thanks, I’m already on LCWRA I have been for sometime I’m unable to work now I did have a job left for personal reasons. Also I’m on severe disability premium too. Me & my husband both receive PIP I’m on enchanted daily while my husband is on standard daily living

Jimm_Alumni

Hi @lisawells1990, just to check, when you mention you're already on LCWRA do you mean you are in the support group for ESA?

Just want to clarify that!

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/922730#Comment_922730

Yes, I know you already have LCWRA because that's the same as Support Group for ESA. This is why I advised that you will be entitled to the LCWRA element of UC from the start of your claim. However, even though you are both in the Support Group your UC will only include the one LCWRA element and not 2 because you can only receive one per claim.

lisawells1990

I didn’t realise I was on support group for LCWRA? This is new to me. Thanks for the information. I have a question to ask.

1, me & my husband are in supported community living we live together. I can understand we have to pay rent with UC. I was wondering do we have to pay council tax with UC? In the future I have read we’ll be no longer on Housing Benefit

poppy123456

Support Group refers to ESA and LCWRA is UC both are the same. Supported housing means that rent will continue to be paid through housing benefit, it will not be part of UC.

Council Tax reduction isn't part of UC and will continue from your local Authority. It will be recalculated based on your UC award.