ESA INCOME RELATED TO UNIVERSAL CREDIT

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pandaeyes222

Hello I've no idea what I'm dealing with here so some advice would be very much appreciated…Received migration letter & have been in SUPPORT GROUP for years due I'll health..Is there anyone who could assist me on the following please ?..

1. Do I have to attend interview at the local Job Centre ?
2. What do I do for money for 6 weeks ?
3. Will I be financially worse off on U.C. as its apparently paid monthly & not every 2 weeks ?
4. Do I have to make a new claim for ESA ?
5. Do I need a doctor's letter or any other evidence to support my new claim of ESA ?
6. I'm only claiming ESA income related..so do I need to claim anything else at the time ?…or can I do this at a later time ?
7. Sorry for all the above questions but I'm really not savvy when it comes to all of this & my pension will be due in a couple of years !

Naden

you can ask for a Home Visit if it is difficult for you to get to the Job Centre because of your disability.

During the six weeks, you can ask for an advance, which then needs to be paid back gradually from your universal credit.

you should receive transitional protection, meaning you should receive the same amount of money on universal credit as you were getting on ESA.
you don’t need to make another claim for ESA unless they turn you down for universal credit.
If it is a managed migration, you won’t need any more medical evidence as all your information from ESA will be passed to universal credit, assuming it is a simple transition.

Basically, ESA doesn’t exist anymore, it is a legacy benefit, and everybody should be going onto universal credit. The only time this will differ is if you are turned down for universal credit, and then you apply for new style ESA. However, you will only get new style ESA if you have paid, voluntary national insurance class two for the past two years which costs around £350 or so. If you need help, I recommend phoning the citizens advice bureau universal credit migration helpline – they are really helpful. But don’t bother phoning the universal credit helpline as they are terrible.