Uc and esa support group confusion

Bob1234

Before I got uc last month I was in the support group for esa.

This was transfered over to uc.

But my esa payment went down from 590 and odd to 276 every 2 weeks.

Should this £276 payment now stop?

Or will this carry on and the "transitional protection" be topped up in uc?

Also is carers paid seperate too? As we are receiving that weekly still and not within uc.

I've got a message this morning from uc about claiming other things and I don't understand it.

Kimmy87

What's happened to your ESA, means before you were getting both Contributions Based & Income Related.

When someone is on both CB & IR ESA, upon migration to UC the IR ESA ends and is replaced by UC, the CB ESA converts automatically into New Style ESA.

The payment for ESA is correct.

Transitional Protection will be on your claim, if overall your UC payment is less than legacy benefits.

Carers, like NS ESA is also paid separately outside of UC.

The message you had from UC is an automated one (I too get it from time to time, always sent at 2:56am), I think it's meant as a reminder to keep them informed of any changes 😊 As you get benefits that are outside of UC.

poppy123456

The ESA and Carers allowance will both be deducted in full from your UC. The amount will seem higher than what you receive for both but it's correct because ESA and Carers allowance are weekly benefits but UC is monthly.

To work out the monthly deduction you times the weekly amount by 52 and then divide by 12. For ESA the deduction will be £598.86/month and for carers allowance it's £354.90/month.

Your UC will also include the LCWRA element due to being in the Support Group.

As you're claiming with a partner, which person was in the Support Group and which person is claiming carers allowance? If it's the same person then you won't be able to claim both carers element of UC and LCWRA element at the same time because both can't be paid to the same person.

Bob1234

Thank you.

I was in the support group and my wife carer.

poppy123456

Thank you. Then you need to make sure that the LCWRA element and carers element is included in your statement. You do not need to provide any fit notes.

For anyone else reading this, I have heard that UC have finally updated the system to recognise when someone is in the Support Group for ESA when they claim. For this reason they shouldn't be asking for any fit notes but this is only a recent change.