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Hi, my name is benefitsadvice! Son has been told to apply for UC, any advice?

benefitsadvice

My son, aged 32, has lived in residential care since leaving school owing to a severe and permanent disability which was diagnosed aged 4. His care is funded by our local authority but he also pays most of his ESA towards the cost. I have recently received a letter saying his ESA will stop and he must apply for UC. I cannot understand why he has to make an application as the evidence originally provided for ESA indicated that his disability was permanent and would not improve. Is it standard practice for ESA claimants in this category to be required to reclaim? Given the negative publicity surrounding UC I am concerned that he will be awarded a lower amount and that I will have months of battling ahead. He is resident in Scotland but there is no address on the letter therefore I do not know if it is from Social Security Scotland or from a gov.uk agency. It says his ESA will stop 2 weeks after claiming.

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Comments

Kimi87

Income Related ESA is ending for everyone and being replaced by Universal Credit.

His ESA status will transfer automatically into the UC equivalent. For the ESA Support Group, that is LCWRA element.

If his ESA doesn't include the Severe Disability Premium, then he will be better off on UC.

If it does, Transitional Protection will be added to his claim. Transitional Protection is added if your total UC award is lower than legacy benefits. This ensures at the time of transfer you aren't worse off. This will erode over time as other elements go up or new elements are added.

Yes there are sometimes issues with migration claims, but many transfer without any problems.

Citizens Advice have a dedicated Help to Claim service, they can support you before during and after the claim.

https://www.cas.org.uk/get-advice/help-claim

surfygoose

Yes it is normal, don’t worry. I live in residential care too. It’s not like a reassessment of needs. Changing over from ESA to UC is just they do need to do the claim and they need you to prove your identity but it can be done online or over the phone. I found it all stressful because I don’t like that sort of thing but my mum and care home staff handled the phone calls and I only had to say my name and say yes. I started crying at one point listening to them talking and the lady was really sweet because she could hear me getting upset and she told me it’s nothing to worry about, it’s just something everyone has to do. I think it was because she had to read out something about if you commit fraud or something you can go to prison and I didn’t like the word prison. She said she was sorry she was thoughtless to not warn us that they use words like that and the next time she warned us and said it’s just things she has to read out for everyone and then I just had to say yes to the declaration that I will be honest and tell them if I have any changes. But if you are appointee for your son then you can just do it for him.

Also as he lives in residential care like me, it is more simple with finance anyway because the local authority will adjust his care bill if he gets more or less money because we are always entitled to the same amount of personal expenses allowance from our benefits if we live in residential care. It won’t be a different amount if we have lots of money or not much money we are entitled to have our £30.65 per week personal expenses allowance and can claim the mobility element of PIP.