limited capability for work and work-related activity payments 20 months still waiting?

leewill31

Hello new here hope you can help me please as i would like to know what the situation is with LCWWA payments since june 2019 i have been on universal credit with my wife and havent had anything paid to me concerning LCWWA since? i had a medical assessment phone call in December thats 18 month after i signed onto UC is this right in any way and if not what should i do please??

poppy123456

HI and welcome,

This is rather a long time to wait but it's not unknown. Have you been sending in fit/sick notes the whole time, without any gaps?

Has a decision been made on your work capability assessment now, or are you still waiting for the decision?

janer1967

Hi and welcome it does seem a long time 

When did you send off your forms? Did you get the payments before june 2019 ? 

If you have had an assessment in dec then you should get a decision soon and if awarded the LCWRA you will get any back pay you.are entitled to 

leewill31

hello thank you for the reply as far as i know there have been no gaps with sick notes  and i havent been told anything since the phone assessment in december what so ever and still waiting on a decision i presume? i have sent a note to the work coach all so today asking about the situation and waiting on a reply.

poppy123456

Can you confirm that you've sent in fit notes since the start of your claim? Either way, if they don't answer your journal message you can ring them. Although once the assessment is done, there's no timescales for a decision and i realise you've waited all this time.

Hopefully they were able to get all the information needed through the telephone assesment because if they didn't then you'll need to wait until face to face assessments start back up again and there's no news of when this will be. Some people have had phone assessments but more information is needed and they have to conitnue to wait.

leewill31

Yes they have had my sick notes every 3 months since my claim so far i just dont understand how i only just had an assessment in December and all of this  never dawned on me until recently that i have waited so long thank you for all the help. 

poppy123456

It's a very long time but it's not unheard of. If you are awarded LCWRA then you'll receive backdated money to the 4th month of your claim. Hopefully not too much longer to wait.

Adrian_Scope

Did your work coach or case manager get back to you at all @leewill31? Hopefully a decision will be with you soon.

leewill31

Hello thank you for asking Adrian i spoke to my work coach on phone after 20 mins of her having no idea whats going on she decided to send a message to case manger got a reply and he has told me there is activity on my referral from Decembers medical assessment i had which indicates progress but still being dealt with so heres is hoping.

It will be 20 months in February i have been waiting and i see from your forums its a on going problem i know the pandemic has not helped what so ever but i can only presume that these kind of wait times happened even before the pandemic i can not justifies though what they put people through and the time they make people wait its horrible.  

leewill31

poppy123456 or Adrian_Scope i need some help and clarity on this situation please so i have recently found out my work capability assessment was in december but that was with ESA? i phoned them up today and the report says i have been put in support group yet i received no letters or phone calls concerning this decision and does that now mean i have have lost the right to appaeal and will this all so effect my UC for trying to claim LCWRA i presume it does?

ESA lady i spoke to has sent a note to somebody to phone and explain to me more im lost with everything at the moment just recovered from a bad bout of Covid-19 my mental health has deterioated so much i dont even now where to start any more over 4 years ago i lost my job to this damn thing i havent stepped out of my front garden for nearly 4 years i am in debt up to my eyeballs my family have suffered because of all this and i am really at breaking point.

leewill31

leewill31 said:

poppy123456 or Adrian_Scope i need some help and clarity on this situation please so i have recently found out my work capability assessment was in december but that was with ESA? i phoned them up today and the report says i have been put in support group yet i received no letters or phone calls concerning this decision and does that now mean i have have lost the right to appaeal and will this all so effect my UC for trying to claim LCWRA i presume it does?

ESA lady i spoke to has sent a note to somebody to phone and explain to me more im lost with everything at the moment just recovered from a bad bout of Covid-19 my mental health has deterioated so much i dont even now where to start any more over 4 years ago i lost my job to this damn thing i havent stepped out of my front garden for nearly 4 years i am in debt up to my eyeballs my family have suffered because of all this and i am really at breaking point.

sorry report said  work-related activity group reviewed in 12 months

calcotti

Whatever the WCA decision is should be applied to both ESA and the UC claim. If you have been put in the Support Group that is the most desirable income so there is nothing you would want to appeal. I would expect you to get a letter in respect of ESA but any communication for UC will be through your journal.
You should be due a significant amount of arrears but this can take time for DWP to work out.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @leewill31, sorry I didn't realise you were claiming ESA as well. Have you claimed it for the full 20 months as well? Usually as a dual claimant the assessment should still be done via UC, with them taking 'ownership' over your claim. 

Have you had your decision letter by post or was it uploaded to your UC journal?

leewill31

Adrian_Scope said:

Hi @leewill31, sorry I didn't realise you were claiming ESA as well. Have you claimed it for the full 20 months as well? Usually as a dual claimant the assessment should still be done via UC, with them taking 'ownership' over your claim. 

Have you had your decision letter by post or was it uploaded to your UC journal?

hello Adrian its all  a mess in my head unfortunately i dont know which way to turn with it all so it seems im still attached to ESA as well as UC, my medical assessment in December was with ESA and they just rolled it over for another 12 months as work related group it seems and all i have been told from UC is that there as been movement on my medical portal but any decision could take up to 3 months so they say it could be up untill march what i would like to know is do  i appeal the ESA decision or wait for the UC decision like i said i am lost with it all after just getting over a bad bout of covid last 3 weeks as well has not helped me at all thanks for any help

Adrian_Scope

Have you had just the one assessment in this whole 20 months and that was with ESA? How much ESA were you receiving alongside your UC @leewill31?

leewill31

Yes to the first question and i was not getting anything extra i was on cont based ESA for a year18/19 then i went onto UC with no extra money except for the joint claim with the wife

leewill31

leewill31 said:

Yes to the first question and i was not getting anything extra i was on cont based ESA for a year18/19 then i went onto UC with no extra money except for the joint claim with the wife

Adrian_Scope

Adrian_Scope

Sorry to ask more questions @leewill31, but during that year on ESA did you ever have an assessment or fill out a ESA50 work capability form? If you can't remember, do you know how much you used to receive from them?
I'm wondering if either your assessment in December 2020 was from your initial ESA claim in 2018 (a very long wait) or a reassessment. 

leewill31

Adrian_Scope it was a reassessment from ESA  i was told after a phone call back from a DWP DM i have had absolutely nothing from UC since august 2019 concerning my LCWRA  decision other than there was activity in december concerning my medical portal on the UC system then informed that any decision made could take up to 3 months but i am still no clearer why i have waited so long or just what is actually going on i have recently got over a bad case of covid -19 and with my mental health on top of that i just dont seem to be finding answers all on my mind 24/7.

Adrian_Scope

When you were on ESA before claiming UC, do you know what group you were in? Was there a gap between your ESA ending and your claim for UC starting @leewill31?

leewill31

Adrian_Scope was put into work related when i was on cont based ESA then i went on joint claim with wife in june 2019 and that was all so the last month of my ESA which was taken off the months UC so i rolled from one finishing to the other starting if thats helping so far?

calcotti

If you were put into WRAG for ESA you must have had an assessment otherwise you would still be in the assessment phase. Because you were in WRAG your ESA entitlement would have ended after 365 days. You are therefore presumably only on UC now and the assessment you had in December would logically have been a UC assessment.

leewill31

calcotti It was definitely ESA

calcotti

I can’t make any sense of it then.

leewill31

i don't either that is why i am trying to find any help any where as i was told by ESA on the phone it was them that gave the assessment on 4th December i asked why i am still connected with them and they said it helps pay for my NI conts but has no bearing to anything else , my cont ESA finished in june so i went on to UC with the wife gave all sick notes since day one of both my ESA claim and then UC all up to date.

Adrian_Scope

It does all seem very strange @leewill31, logically your assessment should have been with UC, even if your ESA claim was still open. 
Have you received your award letter yet? 

Either way, it sounds like you've been awarded WRAG/LCW. Regardless of whether it was for UC or ESA the decision would apply to both. There's no extra money paid for this group but it does entitle you to a work allowance (an amount you can earn before deductions are made to your UC), so if either you or your wife are working and don't already have a work allowance this could mean you are owed some money. 
If you don't agree with the decision, once you have your award letter (either in post for ESA or on your journal for UC) you could look at appealing the decision.