UC and ESA

dolmenman

Ok…I was migrated to from ESA to UC at the end of August 2025. Since then my UC has been £225, twice a month (4th and 18th) and I still got £281 every 2 weeks, of contributary ESA (I think it's called "New Style ESA"). I received an email, this morning, to check my journal and it was the standard "Other benefits affecting UC-we are aware you get ESA etc". My overall total, normally, was £1060 UC per month, but with £609 per month ESA deducted.

When I checked my payments for March, it now says that I will receive £530 on the 4th and 18th and no deduction for ESA. I haven't received any letter etc. regarding my ESA or whether it's been stopped and my next fortnightly payment from them is on the 10th March.

I tend to avoid contacting these people, unless absolutely necessary, so I am inclined to wait and see what I get paid on the 4th and if I get paid ESA on the 10th (or if I receive a letter that my ESA has been stopped). I think if I'm continuing to get £281 ESA on top of the £530 UC I'll be being overpaid. Does anyone have any idea what I should do?

Adrian_Scope

Hello @dolmenman

UC is paid in arrears, so if you received payments from ESA on 10th and 24th Feb, they should be showing as deductions on your UC.

If you're hesitant to call ESA, in the first instance it may be worth you messaging UC and asking them

dolmenman

Thanks for the reply. No, I think I'll phone ESA in the morning, to confirm if I'm still going to get ESA, as they were much more helpful and informed, during the migration. I just don't understand how this could have happened as my previous payment statements all had the ESA deducted and I didn't think Contributions ESA was time limited as I'm on the LCWRA support group and have recently been reassessed for PIP and put on an "Ongoing Award". I suppose it's just another hassle I'll have to deal with.

Kimi87

Firstly the UC message you got is an automated message sent periodically, a poorly worded reminder to keep your circumstances up to date across the different benefits. Mine get sent between 2-3am.

Sometimes the deduction for ESA isn't made in error.

I realise you dislike contacting them, but the quickest and easiest thing to do is call ESA and confirm your award is still active.

If it is, your next step is to write a Journal note (using the payment option) saying your statement is incorrect & an overpayment will occur due to the NS ESA not being deducted.

If the money still gets paid as on your statement currently, they'll process things behind the scenes.

You'll know when this has been sorted as a letter will be added to your Journal stating the amount owed due to overpayment.

Repayment instructions will be on the letter.

dolmenman

Ok…thanks for the clear reply. As you suggest, I'll phone ESA in the morning and if I'm still getting it, add a note to my journal telling them, and hopefully get the overpayment stopped. TBH, since the migration, I find UC unfit for purpose and very prone to errors. What are the repayment options likely to be?

Kimi87

You can send the whole amount back to DWP Debt Management via bank transfer or phone, otherwise a small deduction will be made from future UC payments until the amount has been paid off.

dolmenman

The confusion continues...last week ( the 4th March) I received my £530 UC payment, and reported that I was still getting ESA and they hadn't deducted it (as they normally do) from my UC. This morning they have paid £261 ESA...and £20 JSA, which brings it to the normal £281 I would have received from ESA...ESA told me last week, my claim was still live, and I heard nothing via my journal, or post as to what is going on..has anyone ever heard of this before?

Kimi87

You'll see the JSA reference if for any reason a manual payment needs to be made.

It looks like a mistake was made with your ESA payment for whatever reason, this was picked up on and a manual payment made to ensure you were paid the correct amount.

dolmenman

Ok…thanks...seems that the whole dept for communities ESA system here in N Ireland is a mess...still nothing back from UC on my journal..