Daughter turned 20 - need advise on benefits and work coaches?

spudgun007

Hi first time user looking for help
My disabled daughter has just turned 20 & was until she turned 20 part of our income support claim, she is disabled & receives PIP she is also in further education doing art, after turning 20 a few weeks she was not longer part of our income support claim, she was advised to claim for ESA after a few weeks waiting she was moved over to Universal, she has filled in the claim form on-line with my help, then we had a 10 min rushed meeting were we could not ask questions as the lady at the job center was going on her dinner, we were told to report again tomorrow (Friday 30th Nov) to be assigned a work coach ?? my daughter is disabled but more importantly at collage on a full time course which she is being dragged away from to meet a "work coach" why when is at Collage I dont understand & I cannot seem to get any answers anywhere.. please help 

Sam_Alumni

Hi @spudgun007 welcome to the community, I have moved your post to our ask a benefit advisor category, where I hope you can get a bit more information and support.

@Debbie_Scope do you have any ideas?

Geoark

Hello @spudgun007 and welcome to the community.

Sorry I have just seen your post, but did find this:

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) 

As a full-time non-advanced further education student you can only claim income-related ESA if you also receive DLA or PIP.  

You’ll be treated as having a limited capability for work without having to pass the work capability assessment if you are 20 or over, or are 19 and were already 19 when you were accepted on, enrolled on or started the course You may still have to complete an ESA50 form and attend a face to face assessment but this should be only to determine whether you meet the criteria for the work related activity group or the support group. 

If you are a qualifying young person you will still be assessed.  You’re a qualifying young person if you are under 19, or are 19 but were under 19 when you were accepted on, enrolled on or started the course.  

Income-related ESA is means-tested.

Source: https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/funding-further-education-disabled-students

There is further information you might find of interest.

How did the meeting go?

spudgun007

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to look into this matter, Jess has now been taken out of collage twice now for interviews & has a 3rd meeting on Monday, the 1st was to confirm her ID the second meeting was to confirm her bank account details, & she needs to go back a 3rd time on Monday to meet her "work coach" were she will be accessed for her capability to go back to work, Folks this is the new world of UNIVERSAL CREDIT, the staff at the job center are supposed to give you times & dates of your "commitments" via an online journal, which they dont update, so in Jess's case she was walking out of collage with a few hours warning, her learning disability means she struggles in class & is getting further behind being taken out of collage when when one visit could have covered it all !! & she is yet to be signed a "back to work group" I have since discovered that at Monday's meeting she will be assigned one of 4 groups  by he back to work coach, & through my own research I believe Jess should fall into the "No work requirements group" 1. because she is in full time education & 2. Her mental health issues & learning disability prevent her from meeting the criteria.. the work coach could see it differently, time will tell, PLEASE BE WARNED if you are on Income support, PIP, DLA ESA, Tax credits etc once you have to renew a claim or have a change of circumstances you will enter the madness that is UNIVERSAL CREDIT & I have been on a few other forums so I know once you have finished your long winded inept assessment you will be on far less money than you were before.  Mike 

spudgun007

Hi I forgot to mention, When you first fill in the claim pack which is on-line it seems a breeze, they then direct you to an ID webite site to confirm who you are & you have to down load an app which specializes in confirming your ID a few hours later of back & forth up loading pass port details then the ID app wont accept so you have to log in & out of your UNIVERSAL CREDIT account to see if they are accepted, eventually they are only for you to be called up for 2 separate meeting to confirm in person at the job center your ID ?? ............................Mike

BenefitsTrainingCo

spudgun007,
Hi Mike,
There are a lot of questions I would have about this but I'll try to keep it simple! First of all, if the area where you live is what is called a 'full service' area, then when your daughter claimed ESA she wouldn't have been able to get it - that is why she was told to claim Universal Credit (UC) instead. You can check whether your area is a full service area now by putting the postcode into this website (it doesn't go back to earlier dates but at least you'll know if your area is in the full service when you use it).

I'm going to assume for this advice that you are in a full service area and so there isn't much you can do about your daughter having to claim UC.

As regards confirming your identity it is a complete pain and sometimes the online system doesn't work and you have to do it in person. But everyone has to have a face to face meeting at the jobcentre anyway, to agree a claimant commitment - as you have discovered. 

As regards that, it sounds as if you are already very informed. There are four levels of work-related responsibility and Jess may well be someone who should be in the 'no work-related requirements' group, but that can't be guaranteed.

What she needs to do is to say that she's not capable of looking for work now - and if she is asked to do so, give a sick note from her doctor explaining why (I know this is ridiculous). Then she should insist on being sent a UC50. This is a form (like an ESA50) which asks about what she can and cannot do. Then she should have a work capability assessment - not done by the DWP, but by Maximus, an independent company.

Following the work capability assessment she will either be told she has capability for work (hopefully not though) or that she has limited capability for work but can do some work preparation, or that she has limited capability for work-related activity and doesn't have to do anything.

In the meantime she shouldn't sign a claimant commitment if she isn't happy with it, and in fact if she lacks capacity to understand it she shouldn't have to have one at all. However, if the DWP don't accept that she lacks capacity then not signing a claimant commitment will delay her entitlement to UC and could mean she is refused it - though I think there are other problems too.

If Jess is a full-time student on a course which isn't compatible with her work-related requirements it may be difficult for her to get UC unless she has had her work capability assessment and been found to have limited capability for work. That means that for now, in order to get some money, it may be that she does need to come out of college for these interviews. However, if she can get the work coach to understand that she is not fit for work (with the help of her GP if necessary) then her work related requirements could be suspended, hopefully for as long as it takes to get the work capability decision.

I appreciate that this situation is completely absurd but this is one of the ways in which UC just doesn't work at all for young disabled people in education. I'd really encourage you to see your MP about this and all the other problems Jess has already had with UC. 

Will