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APPOINTEE for Daughter UC

Nobodyspecial

Hello,

I am needing some advice please. Please be kind, this is very difficult for myself and I'm scared for my Daughter.

My Daughter is 33, she has been on Esa support group for some years. She has 'very complex' Mental health needs and is not able to live on her own -

Plus, she also has severe Crohns Disease and struggling with this.

Her father is her appointee at this time, but he no longer lives with us....she lives with me. Her father received the Migration letter to UC for her yesterday. He has till November to apply. Because our daughter is in a Vulnerable place we have not just yet let her know.…of course we will need to tell her but we want to reduce any stress time that we can for her.

She is terrified of the benefits people....This began in January. This was my fault - because she saw how afraid i was of them when I went thtough a Reveiw on UC.

She will often develop fear of certain matters, when I went through the reveiw I was very anxious - and she saw this. The fear became so problematic that everytime the post came she was afraid and would panic - I have on a few occasions put the post on safe keep so that she wasn't stressed every day.

Her therapist does know of the fears she has and is helping her but fear is irrational - at least to some extent.....because now the letter is here and I'm incredibly worried of how my daughter will be affected.

So, my questions please.

Is is best to apply as soon as possible?
When applying whose bank account details do we give? Her Money goes into her father's account then he Transfers it to hers - would we need to give her bank account?
She has her Passport for ID. She has never travelled but her passport was important for ID because she doesn't have bills ect in her name.
She lives with me so has no HB or Council tax to apply for.
Is it best to apply via online so there is a journal?
She has some savings but not near to 6k.
Will they request bank statements at this stage?
Transitional protection - it states that she has that on the letter.…?
At what stage of this process will they request to speak to my daughter?
I guess it won't stop at the migration - once she's on UC, how soon before they reveiw her and request her own bank statement s?

We do understand that her payments will be affected once this is applied for - her father said he is going to carry on paying her money regardless so she won't be affected with her money.

I know her fears now are down to how badly I dealt with UC - I feel terrible enough, please, I ask for kindness with your replys.

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Comments

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

That's a lot of questions, hopefully I can answer some of them. 🙂

It's best to apply for UC the day after her next ESA payment.
UC do prefer the claimant to have their own bank account, but can make allowances in some cases. If she would find it difficult to cope with the change in payment frequency with UC then I would recommend sticking with her fathers bank account if possible. If they won't allow it then at least she already has an account that can be used as a backup.
The passport is a very good form of photo ID. However, they usually need more than one form of ID from the claimant. It sounds like she may not have this, so would likely be asked to complete a biographical interview over the telephone. This is just asking questions that only she should know the answer to, generally regarding previous benefits from the latest ones I've seen. If she cannot manage the telephone then it is possible to have a home visit, but there are very long waits for these at the moment, so not recommended unless that is the only option.
That's good, makes the process slightly less complex.
Yes, I would recommend applying online as I find the journal very useful myself. Others prefer a phone claim though, so that's down to personal preference. Only thing I would say in this case is that you may be better off putting your details on the journal for message alerts (text and/or email) if your daughter is not able to reliably manage unexpected communication from the DWP.
That's good. She won't have any savings deductions for under £6k.
They don't generally ask for bank statements during the migration, and especially not when under £6k.
Transitional Protection only applies if legacy benefits added up to more than the new UC elements. As your daughter lives with you, I assume she does not get SDP with her ESA, so for this reason she will actually be over £100 a month better off on UC, so no Transitional Protection added in her case.
I would expect the ID stage to be where they ask to speak to your daughter, though they may decide to make an exception in this case.
She will be put into the LCWRA group of UC, which is equivalent to Support Group on ESA. There is no end date for this, it is an ongoing award, and it is currently rare for people on LCWRA to be reassessed. The bank statement reviews are random, so she could get one of those within a few weeks of migrating, or not at all for a year or even longer. There is no telling when anyone will get those, so best not to worry about them until you get asked.

Hopefully that helps. Please do ask again if there's anything you're still not sure on.

Nobodyspecial

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1058913#Comment_1058913

Thank you so very much for taking the time to write a reply to me.

My main concern is to not let my daughter have to know about this until its really nessasasary. She is in a very vulnerable place snd has been working hatd with her therapist towards attending a very important appointment at the end of September - I know that this will throw her off completely and I'm anxious that she focuses on this appointment.

When my Daughter gets stressed and panics she refuses to eat and barely sleeps, this often means she ends up having a seizure. Her safety and wellbeing is of the upmost importance.....I know she will have to know about this, but it's a case of reducing that time frame till she has to know.

To be honest I'm barely sleeping as I'm riddled with guilt because of how scared I became at my reveiw last year....but I can't turn back the clock, all I can do is help get her through this.

May I just ask, do most people just start the migration straight away, or wait a few weeks before stating it? I guess it's personal preference and circumstances.

When it is started should explain the circumstances of how vulnerable she is in the online journal? - I think the journal would be a better way to handle this, phone calls can still be made if nessasasary.

In terms of the bank account side, they will have to accept her father's for now, that's how she's always been paid from the beginning of her benefits. It means that her dad will just pay her money as usual - so she won't notice any difference till its sorted.

Thank you again for your help, I can only hope that this migration will go smoothly as possible - like you say, with no HB or Council tax its less complicated.

Thank you.

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

There's no requirement to start the migration straight away. I recommended that in this case because your daughter will be financially better off on UC, so is technically losing money the longer it gets delayed. However, it sounds like money is not the priority here, so if she has an important event to complete at the end of September, then you can choose to wait until after that to start the migration. You may get another letter or a phonecall from DWP reminding you to migrate in the meantime. The only timescale recommendation we make for everyone on ESA is to wait until the day after an ESA payment to submit the UC application, as that helps make a smoother transition between the two.

Yes, you should put a message in the journal to explain your daughters situation. The journal is the main point of contact for UC. The call handlers on the telephone will generally just tell you to write in the journal anyway. It can take a while to get responses in the journal, just so you're aware of that. In this particular case, it may be possible for you to complete the whole migration without your daughter being involved, but that will be down to the discretion of the UC staff that you deal with.

Nobodyspecial

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1059228#Comment_1059228

Thank you for your reply.

I'm so stressed about this and feel very conflicted not telling her just yet - but I just feel it's the only option at this time. In regards to her losing any increased money I explaned to her father what you had mentioned, he said any money that may be increased during this period that he will make up so she won't lose out at all.

It's a horrible dilemma to be in, I'm not sure if I can hold out till the end of September - I think she would want it over and done with....but on the other hand the Neurology appointment in September is so important for her to attend.

Once the migration is started, how long does it generally take for it to settle down - as in any contact needed with UC? I know the money side takes a bit to settle, it's more the other aspects that will cause her stress.

I've heard that once the UC is up and running that usually about 5 - 6 weeks later they then do a 'reveiw'?

I'm trying to work out what I can prepare to reduce as much stress as possible.

The stress of this is also difficult for me to cope with...my brother was taken in and had emergency surgery on Sunday with a hernia that was blocking his bowels - it didn't go well and he is on life support in ICU. It's not looking good....I'm exhausted and just so worried for my Daughter.

Sorry, irrelevant information to all of this - just feeling overwhelmed.

Thank you for your help.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1060095#Comment_1060095

You're welcome. I am sorry to hear there's so much going on for yourself and your family at the moment.

It's not true that UC do a review after 5-6 weeks unless they've recently introduced that. I've personally been on it for over a year now without a review.

The first payment is made around 5 weeks after submitting the application but that one isn't always correct. Some cases go through very easily, but others can take a few more weeks before things start to settle down. Generally I would expect it all to be correct by the second payment, around 9 weeks after submitting the application.

Nobodyspecial

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1060168#Comment_1060168

Thank You so much.

I'm So glad I found Scope community....people are helpful and give honest answers, but unlike many other support groups I've been in I've not seen posts with constant scaremongering stories - I know obviously they do happen, but I sometimes think in places like Face book ect, that some people enjoy scaring people.

On here it just feels like a safer community and it is well managed.

Thank you again for your help x

durhamjaide2001

I'm so glad that we could help you

WelshBlue

@Nobodyspecial … it's natural to worry, plenty of scare-mongering around to feed it

I started my migration process from ESA SG July 20th, a bit of a faff with ID verification which was sorted quickly at the job centre.

I've had my statement today for my first payment next week - all present and correct, minus the small payment for an advance which was also easy to obtain

Good luck and fingers crossed for you

Nobodyspecial

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1060656#Comment_1060656

Thank you so much for your kind reply.

May I ask, was you asked for Bank statements during the migration process?

Kimi87

Bank statements are generally not asked for during migration, unless the claimant has over £6k in capital.

WelshBlue

@Nobodyspecial as @Kimi87 says, they weren't asked for on migration, but at the JC I logged into my online banking to verify address and he asked if I minded him making a note of the totals in both accounts … no biggie to me as they're entitled to the information if they ask down the line, and could pre-empt them leaving me alone for a while 😁