Migrating to UC letter, very scared....

Himmierider

Hi all, sorry to be diving in with an advice request so quickly, but my wife received a "Migration" letter yesterday to go over to UC and it's really scared her. I'm hoping maybe someone has trodden in the same shoes and may be able to offer advice….

Brief Synopsis.

My good lady suffered terribly at her work for many years with acute bullying. To the point she suffered a complete mental breakdown. Due to this, she was off sick long term and eventually applied for and received "Contributions Based ESA and was placed in the support group. She also received PIP. We where told originally that Contributions Based ESA was NOT means tested and was based on the fact she had fully paid up NI contributions for many years. So any savings or income where not taken into consideration. We filled out all the forms supplied and spoke with DWP on the phone, they sent us a copy of her application which included information she was married, but there where no boxes on the form to declare my income, only hers. (On query via phone, we where told it was because the CB ESA was not means tested.)

She has had several WCA's and PIP Assessments over time and her benefit payments have been amended accordingly and because she is on CB ESA "Support Group" her benefit was not limited to 12 months, but continued.

Fast forward to yesterday, received a letter saying she had to "Migrate to UC", but also I had to as well?? I don't claim any benefits but work part time 22 hours a week, when I am not looking after her. I assisted her to go through another charities UC Migration tool, just to see why I had to claim? and what difference it would make.

Horror of horrors, the advisor said that because I worked, she would not qualify for UC and that she should not have been getting ESA either. As you can imagine we both where shocked, not only about not getting UC, but the inference we should not have received CB ESA in the first instance.

I have subsequently been scouring the net for advice and info, with no success until I arrived at SCOPE.

Can anyone please help, we have all the paperwork from her original CB ESA claims and her PIP, the check sheet returned by DWP and several odd snippets from different sources that claim CB ESA is Not means tested.

Has anyone any words of wisdom as we are both petrified.

Thanks in advance

Mr Himmierider and his good lady.

Kimi87

I don't know who told you that about CB ESA but they were wrong.

Receiving a migration letter indicates she gets a means tested benefit however.

Do you receive Housing Benefit at all?

Himmierider

Hi Kimmy, thanks for reply. Re housing benefit, she has never received HB. As for who told her that Contributions based ESA was not means tested, this info came from several sources including DWP and Advice charities. We were told Contributions based ESA and being in the support group, meant her ESA did not stop at 12 months and also did not migrate over to UC. Am very confused and just a bit lost.

Thanks

Kimi87

CB ESA isn't means tested, so if you were advised otherwise they were wrong.

Receiving a migration letter indicates she has a means tested benefit in payment.

The means tested legacy benefits ending and being replaced by UC are:

• Income support.
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
• Child Tax Credit.
• Working Tax Credit.
• Housing benefit.

I'm wondering if somehow part of her ESA is Income Related (which should have been affected by your income).

How much are her ESA payments?

As to UC entitlement, can you try a benefits calculator yourself?

https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

As the ESA advice you got was wrong, the UC entitlement advice might be too.

Himmierider

Thanks. I will have a look when I get home. My worry is that when she first applied we were told her ESA was contributions based as she had numerous years of NI contributions on record. We have no communication telling her they changed it from CB ?

Kimi87

The ESA letters are unfortunately very difficult to understand, even for experienced advisors.

You can call ESA and ask what her claim is made up of, if they say 100% CB then UC have a migration helpline who might be able to see why she was sent a letter.