Will they backdate my lcw?

yorkielass

Hi I’ve been waiting years for my wca and got a letter today to say I’ve been awarded lcw. Will they backdate this to the start of my claim and does lcw lift the benefit cap or give a work allowance please? 

poppy123456

There's no extra money each month when found to have LCW. You only get extra money if found to have LCWRA.

You will have the work allowance. You won't be excluded from the benefit cap.

https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap/when-youre-not-affected

yorkielass

Such a long wait for not a lot lol

Could you tell me what my award would be now?

At the moment we get this
509.91 allowance
1116.27 housing
405 transitional

What we take off (deductions)
-362.51 benefit cap

My husband just started work earning about £100 a week will we be worse off? 

poppy123456

You will have the work allowance which will mean £335 of your husbands earnings will be ignored. Anything above this amount will reduce your UC by 55%. The work allowance does increase again slightly from April.

If you disagree with the decision and think you qualify for LCWRA then you can request the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR.

You can see the descriptors for LCWRA here. https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/universal-credit-uc/uc-faq/limited-capability-for-work-related-activity

yorkielass

Does the work allowance get backdated as well and is there a limit how long? It’s been years since I applied and my husband did some work at the start of our claim and temp work each Christmas October to December as Santa

calcotti

yorkielass said:

Could you tell me what my award would be now?

At the moment we get this
509.91 allowance
1116.27 housing
405 transitional

What we take off (deductions)
-362.51 benefit cap

My husband just started work earning about £100 a week will we be worse off? 

Will become
£509.91 standard allowance
£1116.27 housing
£405 transitional

Earnings deduction (£433 - £335) x 55% = -£53.90
What we take off (deductions)
Benefit cap - £308.61

UC payable is unchanged at £1,668.60.

Next month you will see an increase in the standard allowance but the transitional element will reduce. If the housing element increases that will also reduce the transitional element. The UC payable will be unchanged.

The Work Allowance should be backdated to when you first reported the health condition but, because of the benefit cap, it makes no difference to the amount you were due. 

What benefit were you claiming prior to claiming UC?

poppy123456

Which disability benefit were you claiming before you claimed UC? As you have the SDP transitional protection then you must have been claiming either PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care.

yorkielass

I receive high DLA care and my husband gets pip living and high mobility but we don’t see the money from mobility as we have an adapted car.
We were on income support as I was a carer for my son who died in 2016 and we were told to change to universal credit. I was handing in fit notes since then and my husband worked on and off when he could find work he can do. Thank you for help it is hard the work allowance won’t increase the claim but at least I know his working won’t make us worse off

poppy123456

yorkielass said:

I receive high DLA care and my husband gets pip living and high mobility but we don’t see the money from mobility as we have an adapted car.
We were on income support as I was a carer for my son who died in 2016 and we were told to change to universal credit. I was handing in fit notes since then and my husband worked on and off when he could find work he can do. Thank you for help it is hard the work allowance won’t increase the claim but at least I know his working won’t make us worse off

Then you're exempt from the benefit cap because of your disability benefits. You need to put a message onto your journal under the payment section and tell them that you're claiming DLA and PIP.

You should also claim Carers element too by reporting the changes and telling them that you care for your partner for at least 35 hours per week. Although adding the carers element will just mean your SDP transitional protection will just decrease.

See link regarding the benefit cap exemption. https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap/when-youre-not-affected

calcotti

poppy123456 said:Then you're exempt from the benefit cap because of your disability benefits. You need to put a message onto your journal under the payment section and tell them that you're claiming DLA and PIP.

Excellent spot - I didn't make the connection with the SDP transitional element.
OP should be repaid all money deducted for the benefit cap as it should never have been applied.

poppy123456 said:You should also claim Carers element too by reporting the changes and telling them that you care for your partner for at least 35 hours per week. Although adding the carers element will just mean your SDP transitional protection will just decrease. 

See link regarding the benefit cap exemption. https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap/when-youre-not-affected

May not be worth the bother at the moment because, as you say, the SDP transitional element will simply reduce so no financial gain.
I would first focus on getting the benefit cap removed (and resulting arrears paid).

poppy123456

calcotti said:

poppy123456 said:Then you're exempt from the benefit cap because of your disability benefits. You need to put a message onto your journal under the payment section and tell them that you're claiming DLA and PIP.

Excellent spot - I didn't make the connection with the SDP transitional element.

Thanks. Same here. It took a little while to catch on with that one. Probably to do with brain freeze from advising so many people

@yorkielass when you put a note onto your journal you should say something like... my partner and myself are both in reciept of PIP and DLA and we are being deducted money because of the benefit cap. This shouldn't be happening because we're excluded from the cap. This has been happening for X amount of months and therefore we are owed some money because of this error.