legacy benefits to UC

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boyblue

Hi

Im asking for a friend who I have previously mentioned in another thread. She is currently on PIP and ESA with no other benefits.

She is/was homeless but has moved into a property as a lodger. The person who owns the house is a close friend and she let her move in whilst waiting for the claim to be sorted. that was 2 months ago. She didnt make the claim because she is worried she will be on much less money, also her mental health causes her detachment and she cant complete tasks, she needs to claim housing costs so will have to move to UC and benefit calculators say she wont get transitional payment as she has voluntarily swapped from legacy to UC. she will be approx £200 a month worse off is that correct?. On top of that she now owes 2 months rent. so is now in a difficult position and has been told she has to leave if she doesnt sort this out. Any advice and thanks for reading.

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

If this person was homeless, they can't have been getting the Severe Disability Premium with their ESA. That means they'll actually be better off moving to Universal Credit with LCWRA.

(If they were getting SDP before becoming homeless and never told them about that change, they could have been overpaid. But best stick to one problem at a time for now).

Unfortunately they won't get backdated payment for the 2 months rent before making the UC claim.

They will need some sort of formal rental agreement to be entitled to housing costs as a lodger. Hopefully their friend is willing to do that. It is also worth noting that a UC claim takes 5 weeks from application to payment, so the friend will need to be understanding of that as well.

Sorry that all seems quite negative but I really would urge them to make the UC switch as soon as possible if they don't have SDP included in their ESA.