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Been awarded LWCRA need help

noobautistnoobautist Member Posts: 19 Connected
in Universal Credit
Hello, I recieved a letter on my online journal about 3 days ago stating I have been awarded LWCRA and that I'll recieve a letter in 7 days explaining if I'm owed any money.

Online I get quite a lot of conflicting information, some places are saying you get your first pay three months after initially providing medical evidence, I assume by medical evidence this means a doctors fit note, if this is the case I made both the claim and submitted the note on the 7th of November 2020 but have been claiming UC since about January 2020.

My question is will I expect to be paid the limited work on my next payment? I get paid every 2 weeks also will I be backdated? I literally know nothing of the process please help guys
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Replies

  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    HI,

    It's unlikey that you will be owed any backdated money but i can't tell you for certain without knowing your assessment period dates. Or the exact date in which you claimed UC in January 2020 and then i'll know when your assessment periods are.

    You providing evidence in November but the waiting period is 3 full assessment periods and then the LCWRA is paid from the 4th month of your claim.
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • noobautistnoobautist Member Posts: 19 Connected
    "You providing evidence in November but the waiting period is 3 full assessment periods and then the LCWRA is paid from the 4th month of your claim."

    Sorry to sound dumb but could you simplify this for me please? I read this quite a bit online but can't really make sense of what is meant by full assessment periods, does it mean if you apply in nov you shouldn't get first payment until March?
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    edited January 9
    When claiming UC the start of your assessment period starts on the very first day you started your claim ( for you this will be sometime in January 2020) this will then last for 30 days. So if you started your claim on 10th January 2020, your AP dates will be 10th to 9th of the month. It will also tell you on your journal when your AP dates are. 

    Edit to explain further. If for EG your AP dates are 10th-9th, putting your fit note in on the 7th of November then that AP doesn't count, therefore the 3 month period will then start from the following month because it has to be 3 full APs.

    I'll happily help further if you can tell me those exact dates of your AP or when you first claimed UC in January 2020.
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • basket123basket123 Member Posts: 19 Connected
    I was informed when my referral was done by Universal credit for LWCRA, that it was after 3 months waiting.
    mine should of been paid this last week, but wasn’t, so have let them know as requested to do.
    but I will still receive a certain amount from Universal Credits
    but can guess each case and circumstance is different.
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    basket123 said:
    I was informed when my referral was done by Universal credit for LWCRA, that it was after 3 months waiting.
    mine should of been paid this last week, but wasn’t, so have let them know as requested to do.
    but I will still receive a certain amount from Universal Credits
    but can guess each case and circumstance is different.

    When you report a health condition, your work coach is supposed to refer you 29 days after that, although this doesn't always happen that quick. The LCWRA element is then paid from the 4th month of your claim starting from when you first sent evidence of that health condition. Everyone's assessment periods are different so each indiividual claim will be different.
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • basket123basket123 Member Posts: 19 Connected
    Each case is different as you say.
    I had someone helping me from U Credits . A situation that has happened bin my life which has had massive effect on my whole life, the person helping decided to do the referral to help take pressure off myself.
    But there have been hiccups with it been sorted out due to people not picking up messages.
    I aren't asking for advice just sharing my experience 
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  • noobautistnoobautist Member Posts: 19 Connected
    poppy123456 said:
    When claiming UC the start of your assessment period starts on the very first day you started your claim ( for you this will be sometime in January 2020) this will then last for 30 days. So if you started your claim on 10th January 2020, your AP dates will be 10th to 9th of the month. It will also tell you on your journal when your AP dates are. 

    Edit to explain further. If for EG your AP dates are 10th-9th, putting your fit note in on the 7th of November then that AP doesn't count, therefore the 3 month period will then start from the following month because it has to be 3 full APs.

    I'll happily help further if you can tell me those exact dates of your AP or when you first claimed UC in January 2020.

    My very first Assessment period: 19 July to 18 August 2019 but I am not sure if this is for a previous claim, this is on my journal, but 99% of them afterwards are for the 8th/25th every month, some AP's show 9 instead of 8 but vast majority are 8
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    If you make another claim for UC within 6 months of your previous one ending then you keep the same assessment periods, regardless of when your 2nd claim was started.

    If your AP dates are 19th to 18 of the month and you put you sent evidence on 7th November your waiting period will look like this.
    19th October to 18 November ... doesn't count because you put you reported the health condition in the middle of the month.
    19th November to 18th December = 1 month
    19th December to 18th January = 2 months
    19th January to 18th february = 3 months

    19th February to 18th March LCWRA starts and will be recieved in this payment. I note that you receive payments twice which means it's just split in 2, with 15 days apart from each payment.

    Either way, there is no backdated money owed. Hope this helps and great news on the decision by the way!
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • noobautistnoobautist Member Posts: 19 Connected
    I have a message in my journal saying "your payment will start on 19/02/2021 to 18/03/2021" in regards to lwcra, so I will be paid this on a different date from my UC? Is it biweekly in the same way my uc is or is it a monthly?

    Also interestingly I recieved a letter on my journal saying I am entitled to the work element of UC again so I am owed £123 on Tuesday, despite having an advanced payment  does this mean they will now take the payments from my lwcra instead or is it still UC? can I have a rough idea how much I'll have a month if I had an advance of £340 with £311.66 to repay?

    Thank you
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    So my calculation was correct. As you recieve your payments twice monthly the payments are divided into 2 equal payments, rather than 1 payment. So you will be entitled to an extra £341 per month. To know what you'll receive just divide the total amount by 2.

    As you work then yes you will also have the work allowance, (not work element) , which means you can earn a certain amount of money each month before the 63% deductions apply.The work allowance is £292 per month if you claim the housing element or £512 per month if you don't receive the housing element.

    Any debt owed will be a percentage of your standard allowance.

    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • noobautistnoobautist Member Posts: 19 Connected
    I do not work. I am unemployed, also I do not earn housing benefit I live with parents
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    So the work allowance doesn't apply to you.
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • noobautistnoobautist Member Posts: 19 Connected
    So why did I recieve a letter today stating this 

    19 December 2020 to 18 November 2020. This is because you 
    are now entitled to the work allowance element for UC. 

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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    edited January 9
    It's called the work allowance, not the work element. Yes, you are entitled to it if you work but you're not working so it doesn't apply to you. If you read the link i posted above it will explain what the work allowance is.

    If you're a single person then the elements you'll be entitled to is the standard element and the LCWRA element.
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • noobautistnoobautist Member Posts: 19 Connected
    So with the 311 left to repay for the advance would you say combined I get at least 400-500 per month? Single, 20 and living with parents 
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Community champion Posts: 22,187 Disability Gamechanger
    Single person standard allowance (under 25's) £342.72 and LCWRA element £341.92 = £684.64 per month. You would need to deduct your repayment from that amount because i've no idea how much you pay back each month.

    Also do be aware that the standard allowance of UC has been increased by about £90 due to Covid19 and is expected to return to it's normal amount from April 2021. From April it will be approximately £255 per month. Unless they decide to continue with the increase further than April 2021. ,
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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