nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Please help!

LTP

hello, I wonder if anyone can help me.

I moved over to UC from income support in January.

I moved over on my transitional protection date as they told me. Waited the five weeks without money and then the amount was short. Which as you can imagine: after five weeks without money was devastating.

I called them and they said “why do you think you’re entitled to TP?” I told them I had multiple letters stating I was as long as I transferred by the date which I did. They argued with me weekly until eventually they said they’d look into it. Now I get a message on my journal once a week or once a fortnight saying “still chasing this, sorry for the delay”.

I’ve tried to complain and raise complaints and been told “we’ve looked into it you can’t complain about this”.

Up until now they owe me £1171.25 which is a lot of money to not have and once my July payment hits they’ll owe me £1403.50 which is even more money to not have.

I’m getting nowhere with them other than once I escalated it for the umpteenth time they gave me this woman who claims she is “chasing it”. She has told me on the phone I am entitled to TP but she needs someone else to change my account and flag it and then “look into whether they owe me any money”. She’s only ever called me once and I can’t contact her other than her leaving these messages on my journal whenever she wants to.

I try to talk to someone else and I’m told “are you sure you can have TP? How do you know?” When I say I have letters etc they send me in circles. One man tried to gaslight me into saying I had enough money and I must just be mistaken that I am missing £200+ every month compared to my amounts before.

Has anyone had this? Is there any hope? Can I do anything else? I’ve waited seven months and it feels like it’s never ending.

My son ages out of my account in August as he’ll be 20 on October and I feel like they are dragging their heels till then so they can avoid paying me.

Any help or advice would be so appreciated!
Thank you!!

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Charlie_Alumni

Good morning @LTP,

I’m so sorry you’ve been going through such a stressful and frustrating experience. Have you had your calculations checked by a benefit advisor to ensure the amounts are correct?

I agree that weekly journal messages without any real progress aren’t good enough, especially when such a significant amount of money is involved.

I would suggest asking for the issue to be escalated or raising a formal complaint. Another option many people find helps to move things along is to contact their local MP. You can find your MP and their contact details here.

Sending you strength and best wishes – and I really hope you get the resolution you deserve soon.

LTP

I’ve checked on entitled to and other benefit calculators and I know how much money I was getting before and it says you’ll have at least the same amount as before so I subtracted the amount they’ve given me from the amount I had before under the old system. Then I checked that against the benefit calculators and the amounts were the same. I’ve tried to speak to citizens advice and I get stuck in a que for literally hours and then get cut off it’s happened over ten times now so I’ve given up.

I did try to raise a formal complaint and they came back and said “you can’t complain about this as the issue isn’t resolved” which makes no sense because the reason I’m complaining is because it isn’t resolved. You can’t ever speak to a person who isn’t customer service who fobs you off and talking to your work coach is no existent. I have a phone account so I can’t even send messages on the journal and whenever the customer service people send messages my work coach says back to them “there’s nothing I can do”. It’s maddening, the whole system is a farce and doesn’t make sense.

It’s bad enough that you never actually get those five weeks without money back but now after all the promises of “transitional protection. Money will be the same as before or more””moving to UC is so smooth and easy” in their adverts and all the letters they sent me, I’m just being shafted.

Does anyone know how long it’s supposed to take for you to get TP? Is it normal to wait seven months?

I have thought about contacting my local MP but I’ve tried to get help from an MP before and they weren’t very helpful. I suppose I’ll have to if they don’t do it eventually.

I just kind of feel like I’m going to be left with this deficit and have to lump it.

I would love to hear if anyone else has managed to beat this and how they did it!

Kimi87

Transitional Protection is usually calculated ready for your first payment statement. UC rely on multiple pieces of information from multiple places to calculate TP, so it isn't always completed in time. If missing from your first statement, it's usually done at some point between your first and second payment statement.

Are you able to visit your local CA in person on a walk in basis?

Someone other than Citizens Advice may be available locally:

https://advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk/

Have you tried making a complaint online, specifically stating you feel you are owed Transitional Protection and 6 months on nothing has been progressed?

https://makeacomplaint.dwp.gov.uk/

Even with a phone UC claim the online complaint route is open to you.

Venetia

i can recommend CAB for helping with this issue. They can also arrange a three way call with you, the DWP and themselves. It can certainly take a while to get through to them at times, but it really is worth it.

Also, the site BenefitsandWork can help - they can find out the managers name of the area you're in (or something like that) so then you can mention the managers name directly.

LTP

Thank you! I’m still struggling to get through to CAB. I can’t get there in person currently and they don’t seem to have an in person service near me anyway. I have done the online government complaint and hopefully something happens but I won’t hold my breath. It seems that if the government are at fault they don’t check themselves. I have spoken with income support today to try and clarify exactly where I’m missing money and I have now at least gotten to the bottom of that - it’s my disability premium I’m missing that was paid as part of my income support. UC are only paying the income support portion not the disability premium. I was told by income support that the premiums should be carried over and are included in the TP payments so I don’t know why they won’t pay it. I’m also baffled how they don’t realise at UC that it’s the disability payments I’m missing. Or perhaps they do but don’t want to pay it. It’s so frustrating. I at least now know that I am not crazy and I was getting that money before. The amount of UC staff that have gaslit me and told me I’m mistaken and never had that extra money to begin with really messed with me.

LTP

UPDATE:

Today I’ve been told that I cannot have TP because I have invalidated my claim by having an “ineligible foreign partner who isn’t allowed recourse to public funds on my claim”. I didn’t want to add my wife to the claim and they told me I had to add her and she would be added and then removed as this is DWP protocol I was told it was this or no couldn’t apply. I am currently receiving single allowance on UC and she received nothing. I got the letter stating I was entitled to TP whilst she was “in my claim and removed”. I am suffering severely mentally I am missing more than £1800 compared to the amount I was paid before moving to UC. THEN to add insult to injury, my son aged out of my claim on the 31st of August this year as he will turn 20 in October and no longer receives child benefit I was told he’d be removed on the 31st of August and I would receive the elements for him from the begining of my pay period until the 31st of August when he would age out due to the government rules on when a child is no longer claimed by a parent. I have also been told today that the over £550+ that I am missing for my last pay period isn’t valid and I won’t get it because the 31st of August wasn’t the end of my pay period so it invalidates the entire month because he was removed then even though the government removed him due to him aging out.

All together I’m missing over £2000 and I can’t cope any more this is making me mentally and physically ill. I am suffering hugely financially I don’t know what else to do I’m broken

Albus_Alumni

I'm sorry to hear things are stressing you out so much @LTP Turn2Us have some good information on claiming benefits whilst living with a partner with a different immigration status, maybe that may shed some light on the situation? How long has your wife been in the uk and living with you?

I've popped you an email, please be on the look out for it.