Moving from esa support group to universal credit issues

AshleyHayes31

Can anyone please advise? I would be very grateful.

Due to a change of address, my sister was advised to claim UC. She was on ESA support group and got SDP.  I made the claim on her behalf, as my sister has a learning disability and can't use a computer. I am not sure if I had done it correctly or made a mistake. Our dad usually helped my sister, but he recently passed away.

After I submitted her claim a ID appointment was made for her, even though I sent a doctors letter saying it would be distressing for my sister. A message was sent to the journal cancelling her first appointment, and another one was made last week saying she must attend. I made it clear she is on ESA support group.

After attending the appointment, the man could see that my sister was upset, but she booked her in for a work commitment appointment? I was assured before I did the claim on behalf of my sister that it would be an easy transfer of benefits, but my sister never had to attend appointments before or even step foot in a job centre.

Is this correct? It is making her very distressed. She does not just have a learning disability, but also other serious mental health issues that she is on strong medications for. It took me an hour to calm her down after the ID appointment. She is red raw legs due to scratching them out of stress.

Can someone please help us?

Thank you

Adrian_Scope

Hello @AshleyHayes31 and a warm welcome to the community. 
It sounds as though they haven't yet received information regarding her ESA so still have her in the work-search group. 
When you made the claim did you report that she has a condition or disability that impacts her ability to work?

I would add a note to your journal explaining that she is in the Support Group on ESA and you're of the understanding that this should transition across to UC and ask them to check this has been done. 

If you log in to her journal and go to the 'my commitments' tab, what does it currently say her commitments are? 

AshleyHayes31

Thank you so much for your reply & welcome Adrian. 

It says To-do

Prepare for and attend your First Commitments appointment in a jobcentre

You need to agree your commitments before you can receive Universal Credit.

What selection do I choose for someone senior to view in the journal? as so far all I am getting is replies from people at the job centre that I feel are no help.

The appointment is in a weeks time, and I dare not tell my sister she needs to attend because the first ID appointment already was stressful.

janer1967

If you mark comments in her journal as payment or service issue then a case manager should see it 

However it is normal for new claimants to attend an initial commitment appointment buf hopefully as she is in support group already this can be amended 

poppy123456

Even though she will be entitled to the LCWRA element from the start of her claim, she will still need to attend the work commitments appointment just so she can agree to those commitments. They will just be as simple as agreeing to report any changes.

However, a change of address doesn't automatically mean you need to claim UC. Though it's too last for this now, she would only need to have claimed UC if she needed to claim for help with any rent. If she was already claiming housing benefit and she moved to the same local Authority then she could have remained on her existing benefits.

calcotti

The UC claim cannot be progressed if she does not agree a Claimant Commitment. Provided they have correctly identified her as in the Support Group the Commitment will be little more than an agreement to notify them of any changes of circumstance.

When her claim is set up make sure it includes the LCWRA element and SDP transitional element (if she still meet the conditions for SDP at her new address). The timing is unfortunate because the April increases in the other elements will reduce the SDP transitional element so she will not benefit from the April benefit uprating. She will also be getting less money on UC than on ESA.