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Please can someone help with my Migration to UC nightmare?

EMJA

Hello all, I’m so glad I’ve found this forum!

I’ll try to be brief but clear. I have been in receipt of HB (and tax) ESA support group with severe disablement premium. That was income related as far as I’ve ever been told. I was told to migrate to UC, and that I would have transitional payment protection.
Doing all this I’ve found out my council has been not paying all the LHA it should have. I was getting under £400 and my rent is £650, and I was told by a benefits helper I was entitled upto £850 for two bedrooms.
So I completed all the UC migration with all the evidence of what I was entitled to/receiving etc. Now two terrible things have happened from that. Firstly ESA have sent a letter saying I have been moved to New style ESA instead, but I think that’s wrong. And secondly I’ve just been told I have a much lower amount of UC than I was advised I would get. My housing benefit has been stopped and this UC say I’m to have ESA taken off the already small amount, so I’m left with hardly anything.

Also to top it all off my PIP is under review again ( which is wrong every time) and I’ve just been served a section 21 eviction notice! I’ve tried the CAB but they have no appointments to offer apparently. ESA phone number just keep going dead when I try to get through and no one else can help at UC. Please, please can anyone advise me what I can do? Thank you

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Kimi87

I can help a little.

Have you just had your first UC statement? Transitional Protection is that missing?

If yes to both, TP isn't always calculated in time for the first statement. UC rely on multiple pieces of information coming in from different places to work out the TP.

Is Housing Element shown on your statement?

When you claimed UC Housing Benefit stops, and your rent entitlement is instead paid via Housing Element under UC.

For ESA many have only found out what their ESA was after migration, and it wasn't what they thought.

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.

If you ever worked, or never worked but claimed the old old Incapacity Benefit (or ESA) under special youth rules, that is the origin of your CB ESA.

EMJA

dear Kimmy, thank you so much for your reply!

It is the first UC payment. It said nothing about Trasitional Protection, and did not mention any payments towards HB. It has three sections. One says standard amount/allowance, one child support and the final one the LCFW and WRA. Then it just said it was over halved due to ESA.
I have only seen I was getting income related ESA before. But I was getting Severe Disablement Allowance before then.

Do you think it’s possible that it’s just something that will be corrected then? I’ve no idea how any of this works. Do I need o appeal or ask for one of the Mandatory Reconsiderations?
thank you so very much again! I don’t feel so alone and in despair from your reply.

Albus_Alumni

Hey @EMJA and welcome to the community.

I can see Kimmy is already helping you with your query and I don't want to get in the way, I just wanted to pop in and say a quick hello. With regard to the eviction notice, have you spoken to anyone at Shelter? They may be able to advise on the section 21.

Kimi87

The ESA letters are very difficult to understand, even for experienced benefits advisors. As I said many people thought for years their ESA was one type, only to find out upon migration it was something else.

I'm assuming you did fill out your housing costs when you applied for UC?

In the first instance I would add a Journal note (using the payment option) asking when Transitional Protection will be calculated and why you haven't been awarded any Housing Element.

Once everything is sorted, anything they owe you will be calculated and paid separately. Letters will be added to your Journal stating the amount owed. Payment will then be paid several working days later.

EMJA

thank you again Kimmy, and hello and thank you Albus!

I will write a journal entry under payments section then too. I have done in the main tell your coach something part.
I did fill out all the housing costs, and add my rental tenancy as well as the latest letter with the rental amount (as it kept going up over the years). I hadn’t applied for more housing benefit as they had already told me all I was entitled to years ago, which was well under my rent. So only recently found out Ihave been entitled to more, well all of it. So all that was sent to UC and hopefully they will add on the housing very soon. I will have to use my PIP to pay my rent and will have nothing left. But I have seen you can ask to borrow some money too I think.

I have also wondered why it said they have paid me £333 for my child, when I normal get £103 child benefit, if anyone knows that??

Albus, thank you and I have actually been referred by my mental health worker (I have very bad mental health as well as disastrous physical ailments) to helpers call Connections. And I’m having a home visit from them tomorrow. I have been warned though that they think I should just stay in my house until bailiffs come and the council are forced to help me. And with no debts too I’m considered low risk. But due to my terrible health I can’t do these things, plus I’m a mum to a human daughter, a cat and a small dog too.
Thank you again! I’ve felt the weight of the world today.

Kimi87

£333 is correct for a child element, that's how much UC pay.

The section 21 is notice that the landlord intends to regain their property. Only a court can actually force you to leave. Once the notice expires, the landlord needs to apply to the court for a possession order.

Getting Council help after a section 21 does rely on staying in the property until a court evicts you.

If you leave before they will consider you made yourself intentionally homeless & legally do not have to help.

EMJA

Thank you again, and sorry to have been so long winded! I find all this hard.

I’m very surprised about the extra child benefit money, that’s an amazing increase and so helpful!

I want to be able to continue to rent privately if possible as I have some things that are essentials this way that I don’t believe I could find if the council help me. I know it would be more stability and great in other ways, but just not possible with my severe disability needs.
If there’s light at the end of the tunnel in regards to my receipt of benefits then I can apply for some new housing. Also if possible I really don’t want to upset my landlady. She’s evicting me because she needs to have my house back to live in herself. Wish I’d had more notice though, as I always thought I would. I’m very settled as it been our home for over a decade!

Thank you again so very much! What a wonderful place Scope is. I hope I can help someone else one day too. And I’ll update here, incase it helps others.

Kimi87

Your local council housing department might have a list of benefit friendly landlords, and there is Open Rent, where you communicate directly with Landlords.

https://www.openrent.co.uk/

I think it's lovely you don't wish to upset your landlady, but if you have nowhere to go when the S21 expires don't feel at all bad by putting yourself & child first by staying put.

EMJA

I had another visit from the housing team Connections and they have been really, really great. I have found somewhere on Open Rent to apply to (over this weekend:) and hopefully it will become my new home!
They were also very helpful with my benefits and said they’re not worried at this stage, as it very normal for it to be all wrong when you first switch over to UC. So we’re going to see what happens and I have another appointment in a week. Hopefully things are looking up, and that’s partly because of the wonderful support here. So thank you all again!

Albus_Alumni

Fingers crossed for you @EMJA will you keep us updated please?

EMJA

Sorry for the delay in a reply. But I thankfully now have most things resolved! After many application stages made on Open Rent (my bank not connecting to open banking, so needing guarantors, then the landlord wanting me to do another one to connect to my bank…) I have finally been accepted to become a tenant at a home I love! I move in two weeks, so I’m trying to balance my disability with being busy. It’s such a huge, huge relief!

More good news, my Universal Credit has now been updated and sorted out! I did as suggested and used my journal to ask and a lovely lady said she’d look into it all and push to get things sorted out. So I’m not sure what would have happened if I hadn’t asked, and suggest others always do the same. And also not panic like I did if a Migration hasn’t gone smoothly at first.

I am worried my Transitional Protection is going to be removed once I move house and notify them of this and an increase in the rent I need (as they say ‘a significant change in circumstances will end any transitional protection’, so that’s a very big worry but not one I can do anything about. I’ll report back about that.

Lastly, I have has my PIP award sent and thankfully have been given enhanced for both! But my scores are somehow lower for the daily living, some zeros, when I definitely should maybe have highest scores. And my award is only for three years, so within two I’d have to go through the utter hell of further reviews.
With this in mind I have sent in a Mandatory Reconsideration letter, to ask for a longer award and to point out where and why I shouldn’t have been given zeros. One of my carers feels this is a mistake, and I ‘shouldn’t poke the bear’! But I feel this is the right thing to do, and will let you all know what happens with that too.

I also am very worried for us all on PIP about the government’s new law about having 4 points or more! I have enhanced award but all less than 4s awarded! It’s very shady, scary and extremely harmful. Hopefully we can all fight this and win.
Thank you all so much for your support and I hope I can add some too.

Kimi87

So glad things are going better for you, thanks for providing an update.

Your Transitional Protection will be reduced by however much your Housing Element increases by.

What they mean by a significant change of circumstances causing it to end is not moving home, but if you change between a single & and a couples claim, or vice versa.