Hi, my name is ronny! Myself and my wife have both been on ESA support group for years

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ronny
ronny Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
edited June 2022 in Universal Credit (UC)
Hi there, so myself and my wife have both been on esa support group for some years now but I reach pension age in october. So we will have to apply for uc. Dreading it to be honest. DWP. The stress levels are rising. I have been given advice that they only accept the lead claiment for LCWRA even although my wife is also on the support group and that she may have to be reasessed. Is this common even although someone is on the support group.  

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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    Who’s the main claimant of the ESA claim? The answer to this will determine what happens next. 
  • ronny
    ronny Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
    that would be myself 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    Sorry, one more question. You said your wife is also in the Support Group. Does she claim ESA herself in her own right? Or is it just your ESA and you receive extra money for her? 
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,001 Championing
    edited June 2022
    If you are both receiving the old ESA (claimed before 2018) you may be able to avoid UC (for the time being) depending on exactly how much you are getting and your answer to the question poppy asked
    poppy123456 said: You said your wife is also in the Support Group. Does she claim ESA herself in her own right? Or is it just your ESA and you receive extra money for her? 
    I read your post as you both get ESA but it isn't clear.

    If so one of you will be getting contribution based ESA only and the other will be getting either income based ESA or a mixed award of income based and contribution based. We need to establish who gets what in order to advise further. 

    If your wife only gets the old contribution based ESA you could give up your income based ESA and she could possibly ask to reassessed for income based entitlement to be paid on top of the contribution based ESA. She will then be able to continue to receive income based ESA after you reach pension age and you will not need to claim UC.

    You've left it a bit late to get sorted before October but if you can it will make a significant difference to how much benefit you continue to receive. UC will almost certainly pay less than you will get if she gets income based ESA with ongoing Housing Benefit.

    By the end of 2024 it is the government's intention that everyone will be on UC but if you later move from ESA to UC under 'managed migration' you will get transitional protection which will mean that your UC would be higher than if you claim now.

    How much ESA do you each get? Do either of you get PIP?
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    ronny said:.. I have been given advice that they only accept the lead claiment for LCWRA even although my wife is also on the support group 
    On UC you would both be accepted as having LCWRA but only one LCWRA payment can be made to a couple.
    ronny said: ...I have been given advice .. she may have to be reasessed. 
    Anybody on ESA or UC can be reassessed at any time.

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