LCWRA: do you get extra payments? How long will I be awarded it? Are fit notes the evidence?

smw91

Hi, I’m looking for some help to understand UC LCWRA.
I applied for  UC in Feb 2020 and also provided a fit note then too. I’ve continued to provide fit notes since Feb 2020 without any gaps. My first UC payment was in April 2020. It says on my UC account that my assessment period is from the 10th of the month to the 9th of the following month ie assessment period April 10th - May 9th. My assessment period  has been the same duration since. Each month it’s from the 10th -9th of the following month. 
when I first applied for UC I also got ESA contributions based along side UC. The ESA contributions stopped in February 2021.
I had a limited capability for work assessment in November 2020 and I’ve just received the decision and award letter for that assessment today (8/6/21)
I’ve been awarded LCWRA. The letter says they could owe me money 3 months after I first provided evidence & I could get backdated money. Is the evidence fit notes? And does that mean I’ll get back dated money from June 2020?
it also says that I could get more money on top of my UC. Does anyone know if that is true and how much it’ll be? Does it take a while for extra money to be added to my UC claim? 
Also how long will I be awarded LCWRA? Is there a duration for this or will they be able to re asses me again whenever they want?

I hope that all made sense. UC confuses me and stresses me out.
any help is appreciated 

calcotti

The outcome of the assessment should be applied to both UC and ESA.

This means you will start getting fortnightly ESA payments again and you will be owed arrears of ESA. You will be in the ESA Support Group.

As before any ESA you receive will be deducted from your monthly UC payments.

The additional LCWRA element (£343.63/month) will be payable in your UC from the July 2020 payment.

UC will have to recalculate all of your earlier payments taking into account the LCWRA element and deductions for ESA. There will probably have been a UC overpayment which you will have to pay back, this will be by deduction from future UC payments.

LCWRA will continue until such time as another assessment is carried out and even then will only stop if you are then found not to have LCWRA.

Tori_Scope

Welcome to the community @smw91 Just so you're aware: I renamed your post slightly to make it easier for other members to find.

Has calcotti's answer above helped? Do you have any further questions?

smw91

Hi and thank you for your welcome and reply to my questions.
I was asked to call ESA today and they said I would not be getting any payments from them. My ESA contributions based stopped in Feb 2021, they’ve been paying my national insurance credits but I won’t receive any further money from them. They said UC will ask ESA to close my account and I’ll just receive money from UC.
UC said on the journal that someone would be in touch within the next 7 working days to tell me more about LCWRA. I don’t find UC very helpful to be honest.
Calcotti - thank you for your reply and helping me out. It’s much appreciated 

calcotti

smw91 said:

I was asked to call ESA today and they said I would not be getting any payments from them. My ESA contributions based stopped in Feb 2021, they’ve been paying my national insurance credits but I won’t receive any further money from them. 

It doesn’t make any difference to your overall benefit income but that sounds wrong.

If the assessment in November was the first assessment you had since claiming ESA then the result should be applied to the ESA claim. The fact that the assessment decision was made after the ESA had ended due to the 52 week rule is not your fault. A decision that you have LCWRA means you should be in the ESA Support Group which can then be paid indefinitely until such time as another assessment says otherwise and therefore the decision to end the claim should be revised.

smw91

Hi calcotti,
apologies for the late reply. I haven’t been feeling very well & haven’t managed to access this forum. 

After weeks & months of trying to find answers from esa & UC, you seem to be correct about me getting ESA again. 

UC employees & ESA employees don’t seem to understand anything & they seem more bamboozled than I am. No body seems to understand how anything works, well that’s what they keep telling me anyway.

I initially only ever got ESA contributions based for 1 year and the money from that stopped in Feb 2021, however they still wanted me to send sick notes even after they stopped paying me. 

I claimed UC at the same time as ESA contributions based (Jan/Feb 2020) & I had to send the same sick notes to UC too.

I got my assessment in Nov 2020, however they never gave me my decision until June 2021, only after I got a benefit advisor to step in to help me. He prompted them, seemingly an investigation was raised as they had left my decision sitting on a computer and done nothing with it for months. it was ignored. I should’ve been given the decision long before June.
turns out I’m in the LCWRA group now for UC and they owed me over £4000 backdated money. I continued to ask if I’d then go back onto ESA and everyone said no. However I’ve just received a letter from esa and they said they owe me money too, a further £4000. So I’ve been given £8000 in total back dated money.
now esa are saying I’m now entitled to esa again and I’m in a support group for them too. UC have now reduced my UC payments as ESA make up the amount they have deducted.

UC have also went back and adjusted all of my UC payment statements on my journal. For example in May 2021 I was paid £758 UC But My journal statement for May now says I was paid £1100.08. All of My journal statements have been changed. I don’t know why. It’s like they have realised they had underpaid me and now they’ve adjusted every statement to look like they have paid me correctly. Probably nothing to worry about but I found it strange that they’d change every statement. 

I also wanted to ask something. Do you think I should be entitled to back dated payments from both UC and ESA? My fear is that maybe they have now over paid me in backdated money. 

I’ve yet to receive my first ESA support group payment but I assume that’ll be paid soon. 

so sorry for the long message 
I hope it makes sense.

Thank you ? 

calcotti

smw91 said:..I found it strange that they’d change every statement. 

With UC that is what happens. They have had to revise the calculations for previous months to take account of the extra money you were entitled to as a result of the LCWRA decision. When they do this they place the revised calculations on your journal and delete the previous ones (it would be helpful if they archived them instead). They then compare what they paid you with what the calculations now say you were entitled to and pay you the difference.

smw91 said:

Do you think I should be entitled to back dated payments from both UC and ESA? My fear is that maybe they have now over paid me in backdated money. 

You are entitled to arrears of both ESA and UC however you may well have been paid more UC than you are entitled to. The ESA amounts are easy to work out so the ESA arrears will (almost certainly) be correct.

For UC it is more complicated. They have to add the LCWRA element but also need to deduct the ESA. You should check to see if the calculations for past months include deductions for the ESA you have now been paid. If not they will have overpaid you in which case they will want some it back. Looking at the numbers I would say that the UC arrears are too high. I can’t do an exact calculation but I think the overpayment is of the order of £2,200.