Owed LCWRA backpayment from April 2021, DWP refusing to pay me

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danicali8888

I'm in receipt of both UC and PIP, and in April 2021 I applied for LCWRA - only because I had just found out about it, as nobody had bothered to tell me about it previously, namely the DWP when I asked them if there was any other benefit I could apply for. They initially gave me a flat "no." It was only after I asked CAB and they told me about LCWRA that DWP back peddled and said "oh yeah, you can apply for LCWRA."

Anyway, I applied for this in April 2021. I heard very little from them after I applied and submitted the evidence they asked for. Finally, this November, I found out i would be paid LCWRA from November 2021. No mention was made of any back payment. 

So I asked about it via the journals. I was initially told that I'd get a backpayment based on when I submitted the medical evidence, not when I first applied. But the next day, they wrote me and said I would not get any back payment at all, because, according to them, your award is only effective from the date the decision maker approves it, which they dated 16th November 2021. 

I was furious. I know this is a lie. DWP normally backpay from the time you apply. So suddenly, now, they're changing the rules? 

I've called them crooks, and told them I want a mandatory reconsideration, but it SICKENS me that DWP always play games like this. I cannot stand them. I don't know how they sleep at night. This is hardly the first time they've pulled sh*t like this on me.

Does anyone know whether or not DWP should pay me backpayments from either when I first applied for LCWRA, or when I submitted medical evidence a month or two later? Because I'm pretty sure they owe me back payments. It does not make sense to me that they wouldn't.  Thanks.

calcotti

danicali8888 said:

..according to them, your award is only effective from the date the decision maker approves it, which they dated 16th November 2021. 

I was furious. I know this is a lie. DWP normally backpay from the time you apply. 

Both UC and you are incorrect.
You are entitled to the LCWRA element from the fourth complete assessment period after you reported the health condition (unless you had previously been found to have LCW).
Depending on what dates your assessment periods cover and what date in April you reported the health condition you will be eligible for the LCWRA element from July or August.

Had you told UC about your health condition prior to April 2021? It is possible if you did and they did not trigger a Work Capability Assessment that you have ground for a complaint.

Post a note in your journal along the lines of
I request a mandatory Reconsideration of the decision not to pay any arrears of the LCWRA element. I believe that having been found to have LCWRA I am entitled to receive the LCWRA element from the fourth full assessment period after I reported my health condition which was on xxxxx.