Please help im so confused!

swalk2855

i had a letter telling me i had to migrate to UC from income related ESA which i did and i would recieve my first payment on the 23rd December.

I thought my esa stopped and everything would be on UC now (i dont work) I've just got my statement which says as im still in receipt of ESA that amount has been deducted so i will only get £425.95 per month im so confused
i suffer from both a physical disability and mental health issues of ptsd, anxiety and panic attacks so im quite worked up and confused.

I did get an unexpected payment on 16th December of £281.10 from ESA so I don’t know what’s going on as U.C online just says the basics and is written in a way which is confusing, I’ve had no phone call, email or txt let alone a letter from dwp & esa telling me anything what I need to know is this correct?

And if it is why did I have to move to UC in the first place?

when I go for my dental treatment which I need a lot of because my illness effects my teeth badly what do I declare is it ESA or UC?

and am I still eligible for free treatment?

I don’t want to claim the wrong thing and also my payment for rent goes directly to my landlord because of my issues but what happens with council tax?

im so stressed upset and very confused I feel like bursting into tears as I just don’t understand how it works.

Everything in my life money wise was set up inline with my benefits so I didn’t have to stress and worry it would just all go out via my bank account and the last few weeks it’s turned everything on its head and for someone like me who has manageable days to severely disabling days I just finding it difficult to deal with and understand.

I know some may say just ring them and ask, but I struggle to use the phone day to day to even speak to family members let alone dwp, I just want to get things straight in my head. First.

Thank you for reading and hopefully giving me the info I need to help me understand what’s going on.

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

It sounds like you were on partly Contributions Based ESA before.

This means that you will now get Universal Credit once a month. And New Style ESA every two weeks. The New Style ESA gets deducted from UC so the total amount is exactly the same when added up, it just arrives on different dates through the month.

For your dental treatment you need to tick the box for Universal Credit as that is the part that gives you eligibility for free dental care.

Council tax will still be paid in the same way as you have been paying it. That continues to be managed by the council. They might recalculate the amount of Council Tax Reduction you get though, and send you new a council tax bill showing that.

Kimi87

Overly Anxious has given a very concise clear explanation, but you might want to read the information in this thread:

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/130268/i-039-ve-already-moved-to-universal-credit-but-i-039-ve-received-a-letter-from-esa

Jane315STARX

It is extremely confusing when you first switch over.But the explanation above is perfect

Mary_Scope

A warm welcome to the community @swalk2855

swalk2855

further to my post I should say I was on income related esa and the latest payment from esa that was u expected nd I had no clue of is still listed under EESA as a ref which is what the ref has always been.

I’ve had no contact from ESA ref any new payment which is what’s confusing me?

Kimi87

As part of the migration process, CB ESA converts automatically into New Style ESA.

As detailed in the thread I linked to, payment will carry on on your normal ESA payment cycle.

At some point you'll have a commitment appointment, this is a quick telephone call where you agree to keep them informed of any changes, separate to UC.

Most of the information in the appointment message only applies to new claims not transfers, so don't panic 😊

swalk2855

but that’s the issue sorry to go on but I’ve had Nothing off dwp ref ESA going onto the new type! Personally if I had a letter telling me I had to migrate from esa to uc I expected to fully go over to uc or what was the point in all this upheaval? More cost the dwp needn’t have spent changing things that didn’t need changing to begin with.

Chris75_

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1091369#Comment_1091369

Only the IR part of ESA ended, your CB ESA is now called New Style ESA, and will be deducted in full from your UC. The how or why doesn't matter, you get the same money.

Kimi87

Universal Credit replaced 6 income based benefits, Contributions Based ESA was not one of them.

You will receive a communication from New Style ESA at some point.