ESA & Universal Credit

TeddyB22

Thanks Adrian. 
Nearly over now. I'm just relieved to get it done. I'm not hopeful, not unusual for someone with manic depression. The lack of sleep, no appetite.
I'm still haunted by the original assessors comments. The blatant lies.
Even if I'm not successful I'm not done. I'm prepared to go to The Upper Tribunal.
Thanks for all yours and Poppy's advice & support.
Take care, 
TeddyB22

poppy123456

Good luck for tomorrow, do let us know the outcome.

Adrian_Scope

Best of luck today @TeddyB22!

TeddyB22

Hi. Thanks so much for your good wishes. 
I was awarded Standard Rate Daily Living & Standard Rate Mobility. They never even interviewed me. They appeared about 15 minutes before the hearing then about 45 minutes later they called my CA advisor in. They basically told her that if I had applied today that I would have likely got the higher award in Daily Living.
My rep has asked me to put in for a Supesession(?) bc she is confident my current situation would warrant the high award.
They called me in just to explain things and asked if I wanted to go ahead with the oral hearing. I said no i would take the offer. I will get papers in the next few days. Tbh all I never thought I'd get Mobility. It will be paid back 2 years so I'm very pleased with that. 
I'm making a donation to the CA who were brilliant. Their paper summation was complimented by the panel as I could hear them though the door. 
Many thanks to everyone who gave me advice, listened to my problems and the amazing and sincere advice from Poppy & Adrian.
I'm going to chew over whether to go ahead with the (here goes, probably not the correct expression) Supesession.
Please ask me anything you want. I'll be as helpful as I can.
TeddyB22

poppy123456

Absolutely fantastic news and the best i've heard for a very long time! Just so you know backdated money can take 8 weeks. Once you receive it, it's disregarded for 52 weeks from any means tested benefits, so won't count as savings during that time.

Adrian_Scope

That's such brilliant news @TeddyB22 I'm so happy for you! 

TeddyB22

Thanks a million.
TeddyB. 
Ps My brother didn't even congratulate me, gave me a speech about how he has to work all week while I do nothing. If like to see him live as me fur one week. He couldn't handle it.
TeddyB 22

Adrian_Scope

I'm sorry your brother wasn't more supportive @TeddyB22. Some people really have no idea, do they?

TeddyB22

I wonder if I could ask you both a question. It's an oldie and forgive me if I have asked it before. 
I know there is no EDP on Universal Credit but as my ESA is paid separately from UC why did they take this premium off me? Will this also be the case if I claimed for SDP?
Many thanks, 
TeddyB22

poppy123456

As part of your ESA was contributions based then when you claimed UC you would have carried in claiming the contributions based part of your ESA because this isn’t part of UC. Also there’s no premiums paid with Contributions based benefits do you won’t be able to claim the SDP. 

The ESA is deducted £1 for £1 from your UC credit. As you’re in the support group for ESA then you should be receiving the LCWRA element of UC, which is an extra £336 per month. 

Even though the EDP was take off you the LCWRA element of UC plus the standard allowance pays more than ESA Support Group, if worked out correctly, without the SDP. 

May i I ask when did you claim UC? The reason I ask is because even though you can’t claim SDP going forward if you were entitled to it before you transferred to UC then you will be able to claim any money owed. This will be paid from the start of your PIP award (if the other criteria for SDP applied) up until you claimed UC.

Hope this makes sense. 

TeddyB22

Hi Poppy. 
They put me on UC from 2nd October. Did this mean there will be no SDP from that date on? I read somewhere (info is so contradictory) that there is a fund that it gets paid from but not right away. I could be wrong.
Thanks for the help.
TeddyB22

poppy123456

You won't be entitled to SDP from the date you claimed UC. However, when you did claim UC IF you had been awarded PIP previously to this then you wouldn't have been able to claim UC because of the new SDP rules that came out on January 16th 2019, which prevented those that claim SDP from claiming UC IF they had been entitled to or been claiming SDP within 1 month.

You maybe entitled to extra money of £120 per month in your UC amount because those that claimed UC when they shouldn't have will be entitled to extra money. It's not the full amount of SDP that you would have had, if you hadn't claimed UC but it will certainly help. There's new UC legislation regarding this, when i find it i'll post you the link here.

For the backdated SDP money from the time when you were claiming ESA once your PIP award is in payment then you need to ring ESA and ask to claim backdated money for this and it will all be backdated. You can't do this until your award is in payment though.

poppy123456

Found it, scroll down to schedule 2 of this link.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/1152/made

TeddyB22

Thanks for your reply Poppy. I tried to follow the link you posted but it was too confusing.
I think it is grossly unfair that I won't be getting the £65 a week SDP with my ESA like people so on HB. I didn't ask to be put onto UC. I wonder what happens if it is proved you should have been getting SDP from the time of your backdated PIP. Also I think I read that the transitional payment of SDP ranges from £120 to £405, this amount being increased due to a court finding.
Am I right in thinking I can be put back onto HB if they realise I should have been getting SDP from the time my PIP was originally awarded (by my notes my first application was Dec 2017 but my assessment wasn't till Jan 2018).
I'm so confused. My rep is also waiting on my answer as to if I want a Supesession. I would do it if it meant not having to go through another face to face interview and not putting at risk the award I fought hard to get. Decisions decisions. 
TeddyB22

TeddyB22

Hi Poppy. 
When you say 'You won't be entitled to SDP from the date you claimed UC. However, when you did claim UC IF you had been awarded PIP previously to this then you wouldn't have been able to claim UC because of the new SDP rules that came out on January 16th 2019, which prevented those that claim SDP from claiming UC IF they had been entitled to or been claiming SDP within 1 month'... Does this mean because my PIP is being rewarded from before the 16th January 2019 I should not be on UC? Is it now a mute point? How does this effect people who win tribunals?
TeddyB22

poppy123456

The reason you can't apply for it to be paid on top of your ESA is because your ESA is Contributions based and the premiums aren't paid on CB benefits. Once you claim UC you can't go back.

The payments of between £120 and £405 for those that transferred across will depend on circumstances. If you don't claim the LCWRA element in your UC payment then you receive and extra £285 per month. If you receive the LCWRA then you'll receive and extra £120 per month. Couples will receive £405. As you receive the LCWRA element then you should receive the £120 per month. You won't be that much worse off because LCWRA pays more than Support Group for ESA, if you're over 25.

Adrian_Scope

It's quite a confusing system!
@TeddyB22 when you first moved and were living alone, were you still claiming ESA for a time with your details updated, before you applied for UC? 

TeddyB22

Hi thanks again for replies. 
Yes Adrian I was getting ESA with the EDP. 
With the deductions being made by Universal Credit even with the extra SDP £120 I would be better off not claiming the LCWRA.
By my elementary calculations I'll be around £60 worse off per month. Surely the architect's of UC knew this and made no attempt to protect people.
As the SDP Gateway starts on July 2019 I was not receiving HB at that time bc I was living with my brother and was not aware I could claim HB. My PIP award I think is being back dated till Jan 2018. That means had they given it me in the first place I would have been prevented from claiming UC and thus protecting the SDP. 

poppy123456

TeddyB22 said:

As the SDP Gateway starts on July 2019 I was not receiving HB at that time bc I was living with my brother and was not aware I could claim HB. My PIP award I think is being back dated till Jan 2018. That means had they given it me in the first place I would have been prevented from claiming UC and thus protecting the SDP. 

I forgot you were living with your brother before you moved. This means that you wouldn't have been entitled to SDP anyway, even if you were claiming housing benefit when you were living with your brother, unless your brother was also claiming a qualifying benefit such as PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care.

This means that you won't be entitled to any backdated money and you won't be entitled to the £120 per month extra in your UC payments.

I assume when you moved you claimed UC straight away because of the housing element?

TeddyB22

I'm sorry this doesn't make any sense. I was living on my own in a flat when I made my application for PIP. They are going to backdate it to Jan 2018. I went to live with my brother on Feb 2019.