I had a phone assessment, and noticed my UC payment has gone up. Can I get backdated payment?

bh1977

Hi I had a telephone assessment recently and have now noticed that my universal credits has went up and I now get £341 a month, the girls on the phone said the assessment should have taken place last year but due to Covid this was them just getting round to it, I have been asking in my journal since last year for a breakdown of UC as I don’t get any money, last time I lost a job due to my condition I was put on ESA but this time I was told it was all in the UC, with me now being given the extra money would I be entitled to a backdated payment?.

poppy123456

HI,

Everyone that claims UC receives a statement on their journal every month and in this statement there's a breakdown of everything that's included with your claim as well as any deductions you may have from any other income. UC is 1 monthly payment made up of many different elements. If you sign into your journal the statements will all be in the payments section. You will receive the statement on the same day each month and this should be 6 days before you receive your payment.

When you had your work capability assessment you should have had a decision letter uploaded onto your journal so have a look. If you have been awarded the LCWRA then this is an extra £343 per month, although you say you receive £341. Whether you're owed any backdated money will depend on when exactly you reported your health condition and when your payment dates are because there's a 3 full month waiting period.

Do you work? Do you claim UC with a partner? because £341 per month suggests that maybe you're claiming with a partner that works or you're working yourself and you have some deductions each month.

bh1977

Hi poppy sorry I put the wrong figure in it is £343 like you say, I received a letter the next day after my assessment in my journal  saying I wasn’t capable of working and that if any changes are to me made to my UC then I would receive a letter but I haven’t received a letter only this month in the payment section does it list the payment of £343 to me but I have had no letter saying I was getting it only noticed when checking my payments.

poppy123456

The decision letter would have told you that they've decided that you have limited capability for work and work related activity. (LCWRA) you may get extra money because of your health condition. Any changes to your payments will show up in your statements. The extra money is awarded 3 months after you gave us evidence of your health condition.

Whether they owe you any backdated money will depend on when you reported the health condition and the exact date of your payments because there's a full 3 months waiting period.

If they owe you any money you'll eventually receive another letter on your journal telling you how much they owe.

bh1977

Hi poppy

The letter did say exactly what you wrote but I have noticed in my payments this month like I said earlier that I’m being paid the £343.

I told them of my condition on the 11th of February 2020.

Is it backdated money your saying can take up to 3 months to come through 

poppy123456

The 3 month waiting period means that you don't receive any extra money for the first 3 full assessment periods of your claim. If you continued to send in fit notes for the whole time with no gaps then you should receive backdated money from either June or July 2020.

I can't tell you exactly when it will be backdated to because i don't know the exact date you reported the health condition or the dates of your assessment periods (or when you usually receive payment).

It can sometimes take a few weeks to receive the money because all of your statements need to be recalculated for them to work out how much money is owed. So do be aware that once they recalculate your statements you will lose the current ones and they will be replaced with new, so if you want to keep the currant ones then you should screenshot them and save them.