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LCW /LCWRA Reg 28 (6 ) of UC Regulations 2013

RubyRabbi

Hi Everybody...
Hope some smart person can help with the following issue ( one of many ! ).
I won a Tribunal appeal for LCWRA in 2021 : however, it was left to the DWP to specify the date of backdating.This has led to 2 more appeals in order to get the law correctly applied.
Each legal point I made was challenged by DWP and it only reluctantly paid me my entitlement after I had gone through 2 more appeals.
There is ONE more point I have yet to prove and I wondered if 'anybody out there' can assist with this.
My LCWRA award was backdated to the start of my claim and paid after I had served the four month wait for the relevant period and assessment period.
My argument is that Regulation 28 ( 6 ) of the UC Regs ( 2013 and 2023 ) applies , meaning that I should not have had these waiting periods imposed on me after LCWRA was granted.

Period for which the F1... LCWRA element is not to be included

28.—(1) An award of universal credit is not to include the F2... LCWRA element until the beginning of the assessment period that follows the assessment period in which the relevant period ends.

[F7(6) Paragraph (1) does not apply where a claimant has limited capability for work and it is subsequently determined that they have limited capability for work and work-related activity.]
F7
Reg. 28(6) inserted (29.6.2023) by The Social Security and Universal Credit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/543), regs. 1(1), 4

My WCA in 2020 granted me LCW status.
Presumably, as my conditions had not changed from the day I first made a UC claim, the DWP is saying that this applied de facto from the start date of my claim.

Is this correct , does anyone know ?

Also, on the day I first ever claimed UC, under 'Health', the DWP person filling in the new claim form stated that I had ' a health condition which restricts her ability to work or look for work'.

Is this not a DWP confirmation that my LCW status was there at the start of my claim ? Does anyone know this also ?

I maintain that these waiting periods before my LCWRA were contrary to Reg. 28 ( 6 ) of the UC Regs and that I should not have had to wait at all, as LCW was in place right from the start and I had already served these waiting periods by default .... whether it be through the 2020 WCA decision or the health entry on my UC new claim form the very first day I signed.
Honestly, I am having to dig deep and channel my inner 'Alan Bates' to carry on this four year fight ( with compromised health ) so I would appreciate the knowledge and expertise of those who may know about LCW and from when, it can be argued, it applies.
Thank you for reading !
Ruby.

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Comments

Kimi87

If 2020 was your first WCA then DWP are correct.

The Tribunal revised your LCW award to LCWRA.

Thus it counts as a new LCWRA award and subject to the normal waiting period.

Reporting a health condition does not automatically give you limited capability for work status.

RubyRabbi

Thankyou for this……. very helpful. However, I received backdated LCWRA payments from August 2019….. and this was 7 months' before the first WCA took place which officially placed me in the LCW category.

Why would this be ….. does that not mean that LCW was in place from the start ?

Confused.com.

Kimi87

The 2020 WCA decision dates back to your first Fit Note.

The LCWRA waiting period is three full assessment periods, after the date of the first Fit Note.

Any eligibility dates from that first Fit Note not the date of the assessment.

RubyRabbi

My first fit note was not supplied by me until September 2019, as my depression was at suicidal level by then and I could not function ….. however, my LCWRA payments were backdated to August 2019

This is what leads me to suggest that LCW was in place, as the ADM guide also states that a fit note or WCA decision is not the only determinant of LCW.

I am just confused….. why would I be granted a LCWRA payment one month before the WCA took place?!