Is it worth applying?

Trish46

I am disabled and get pip and mobility at highest rate.  I also get esa support group.  My husband had to give up working a few years ago to care for me and gets carers allowance.
We do not claim anything else... we are realot struggling but I'm worried about how I would try to claim uc and if they stop all my payments whilst they work out if we are entitled to anything how would we pay rent and bills and feed ourselves.
Sorry to be a long post.  Thanks for reading x

poppy123456

HI and welcome,

may i ask if you're claiming ESA as a couple?

Trish46

No i claim esa for myself ge only thing my husband gets is carers allowance 

poppy123456

That doesn't sound correct. Is your ESA claim Income related or contributions based and when did your claim for ESA start please?

May i ask how much ESA you're receiving and this will tell me exactly whether it's contributions based or income related.

Trish46

It's contribution based I think- it's £223.30 every 2 weeks

poppy123456

Thanks. You will need to find out if your ESA is the old Contributions based or New style ESA. Sorry for all the questions but without knowing all of your details then it's impossible to advise you further.

If you're claiming the old Contributions based ESA then you will be able to add your partner onto your claim and claim as a couple. BUT if you're claiming the New style ESA then you won't be able to do that, you will need to claim UC as a couple.

poppy123456

Do you also rent or own your own home? if you rent are you claiming any housing benefit?

Trish46

How do i know if its old esa?

poppy123456

How long have you been claiming it? This may tell me, if not then you'll need to ring and ask.

Trish46

We rent but don't claim any housing or council tax

poppy123456

Trish46 said:

We rent but don't claim any housing or council tax

Thank you for that, that's very useful information. I can now see why you're struggling. To claim for help with your rent you'll definitely need to claim UC because new claims for housing benefit are no longer possible.

As you're in the Support Group for ESA claiming Contributions based then you'll remain on that BUT this will be deducted £1 for £1 from your UC monthly amount, which will be £483 deducted each month. Your ESA Support Group award will also be honoured in UC and this means you'll receive the LCWRA element.

Your UC will look something like this.

Couples standard allowance if both over 25 £489.89

+ LCWRA element £336.20

+carers element £160.20

minus £483 for your ESA

minus £283 carers allowance.

you'll also receive the housing element but how much you'll receive will depend on your circumstances. for this you can check here by putting your postcode into this link. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/

As your partner is claiming the carers allowance then this will be deducted also from your UC amount which will be £286

Total amount of UC before your housing element is added will be £217 per month.

You'll continue to receive your ESA every 2 weeks.

Your partner will continue to receive the carers allowance as normal.

You will also need to contact your local council to claim for Council tax reduction because that's not part of UC.

A little extra information here. UC takes 5 weeks for your first payment. It's possible that you may not receive the LCWRA element in your first payment but if you don't receive it straight away it will be backdated. Your partner will need to make sure he states he's caring for you and then the carers element will be added.

You will not be with out money while you wait for payments because you're ESA and carers allowance will continue as normal.

I hope this helps and if you don't understand what you need to do then please get some face to face advice from your local advice agency because you're most definitely not claiming what you should be claiming.

poppy123456

One last thing i promise. All that advise is assuming you do not have savings/capital of more then £16,000? i'm assuming it's no because you said you were struggling. If you do have that then you won't be entitled to UC.

If you have savings of less then £16.000 you'll receive a reduction in your UC amount.

Trish46

We don't have any savings unfortunately.
So we get same amount deleted from uc as we are getting now?  We won't be any better off will we?  Maybe I should contact council for council tax benefit, I have a social services fitted stair lift and wet room will this help? 

androgynous

poppy123456 said:

One last thing i promise. All that advise is assuming you do not have savings/capital of more then £16,000? i'm assuming it's no because you said you were struggling. If you do have that then you won't be entitled to UC.

If you have savings of less then £16.000 you'll receive a reduction in your UC amount.

If you or your partner have £6,000 or less in savings, this will not affect your claim for Universal Credit, but you must declare it.

If you have more than £6,000 but less than £16,000 of savings / capital this will affect the amount of Universal Credit you can get. The DWP will take off £4.35 a month for each £250 (or part of £250) of capital above £6,000 in each assessment period.

You'll no longer be eligible for Universal Credit if you have £16,000 or more in savings / capital.

Trish46

Thank you for your help x

poppy123456

Trish46 said:

So we get same amount deleted from uc as we are getting now?  We won't be any better off will we? 

This is not correct. Please see my calculation above, although you will have money deducted from your UC you will receive the housing element and also £217 per month. You need to take a look to see what housing element you're entitled to, which will be based on your circumstances. This means that you will most definitely be so much better off claiming UC as well as your existing benefits.

Yes, you'll need to contact your local council to claim council tax reduction.  To start a claim for UC you will need to do that online but your partner will also need to claim because you will claim as a couple. You will then be given an appointment to verify your identity at your local job centre and you will need to take ID with you for both of you.

Once you've done then your first payment will be in 5 weeks. You will then continue to receive your UC payments every month. On top of that you will continue to receive the benefits you're already claiming.