UC first payment help

Edingirl40

Hi all, sorry for the long post.. but I'm really confused and hoping someone can help me.

Recently moved onto universal credit from esa. I was doing permitted work but earned 2 pounds a week more than the threshold of allowed earnings..

Just had my first statement. I'll add a image if I can. Basically it says my payment this month will be 286. Total award is 702 pounds.

It then tells me they can pay 

367.46 for rent.

I work part time (14 hours) 

It then tells me total deductions are -415.91. Does this include the deductions for my rent? Or do I have to pay my rent from the 288? I'm very very confused with this.

Can anyone help? 

Thanks x 

calcotti

You have to pay your rent to your landlord as stated on the first screen grab.

Unfortunately, because you were not receiving ESA when you claimed UC you are now treated as fit for work. If you want to be reassessed you need to report your health condition supported by a Fit Note from your GP saying that you have a health condition that limits your ability to work. You will have to have a new Work Capability Assessment and if you are found to have Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity you will receive extra money in your UC from the fourth month after you report the health condition. 

However you cannot be referred for an assessment at the moment because you are earning more than 16 x NMW/week unless you are in receipt of a disability benefit. 

Most of the deduction is due to your earnings (55% of your net pay) and a deduction from the housing help because you have a spare bedroom (which you were presumably previously having deducted from your Housing Benefit previously).

Edingirl40

calcotti said:

You have to pay your rent to your landlord as stated on the first screen grab.

Hi, 

But the question I'm asking is this. Is the 288 payment meant to be used for the rent? Because it only says I get 288 this month and they've said they will pay 367 rent. I jusy don't understand it.

Edingirl40

Hi again, 

I kinda get that, what I don't get is do I have to pay my rent from the 288 payment I'm getting? Because I only get 288 in total. Sorry, these are really stupid questions.

poppy123456

Edingirl40 said:

Hi again, 

I kinda get that, what I don't get is do I have to pay my rent from the 288 payment I'm getting? Because I only get 288 in total. Sorry, these are really stupid questions.

Yes you need to pay your landlord yourself out of your UC and earnings. The reason your UC has been reduced to that much is because of the earnings deductions. Although you only received £288 from UC you have your earnings as well.

Edingirl40

poppy123456 so I need to make up the 150 or so shortfall myself ?

poppy123456

Edingirl40 said:

poppy123456 so I need to make up the 150 or so shortfall myself ?

Yes.

bg844

@Edingirl40 Yes.

poppy123456

Can i just double check something, did your ESA definitely end before you claimed UC?

calcotti

poppy123456 said:

Can i just double check something, did your ESA definitely end before you claimed UC?

If the ESA claim stopped because of breaching the permitted Work rules that the ESA stopped first I inferred that OP then claimed UC but you are right that might not be the case.

Unfortunately OP appears to have suffered a significant loss as a result of the rules. Had they realised they were going to earn more and applied for UC before the earnings increased they would be better off. 

poppy123456

calcotti said:

Unfortunately OP appears to have suffered a significant loss as a result of the rules. Had they realised they were going to earn more and applied for UC before the earnings increased they would be better off. 

Indeed, as you know they would have had the work allowance too. 

calcotti

poppy123456 said:

calcotti said:

Unfortunately OP appears to have suffered a significant loss as a result of the rules. Had they realised they were going to earn more and applied for UC before the earnings increased they would be better off. 

Indeed, as you know they would have had the work allowance too. 

Indeed, a total of £543/month (LCWRA and WA). Ridiculous that a claimant can be penalised so much because they don’t know the rules.

Edingirl40

Hi all, just a little update. So after going back and forward with UC and ESA they've now backdated my claim to the day my esa ended. It went of to a decision maker and came back today.

When my case manager messaged me about this initially she said that when they backdated the claim they'd recalculate my payments (as she could see that I was in esa support group)
Are they likely to give me the money back they deducted last month and the limited capability payment back from last month aswell? 

Is getting a claim backdated so it shows no gaps in claim usual? Have no idea why the woman said she needed to do that 

Thanks

calcotti

That’s a great result. If they have backdated UC to the date ESA ended that means that you were receiving ESA on the date of UC claim and therefore the LCWRA element should be backdated to the start of the claim. You should therefore have a Work Allowance applied too.

Edingirl40 said:

Is getting a claim backdated so it shows no gaps in claim usual? Have no idea why the woman said she needed to do that 

Having no gaps between ESA and UC is essential to getting the result described above. The continuity is what allows the LCWRA to be carried over from ESA. The gap is what was causing you the problem, as described in the earlier part of the thread.

Edingirl40

So I get the work allowance and limited capability allowance automatically? Or is that another fight I'm going to have to have? 

Thanks for the reply 

poppy123456

Yes both the work allowance and LCWRA should be backdated too.

Edingirl40

Thanks poppy. Will I need to fight for that too? Or should it automatically happen? And because its being backdated does that actually mean the limited capability will for sure go on now? Sorry for asking all these stupid questions 

Thanks Michelle 

poppy123456

They will need to recalculate your past statements first but if you've only received one payment of UC then there will only be 1 statement to do. Once it is done you'll receive a letter on your journal telling you how much they owe.

Out of curiosity, had your ESA ended when you claimed UC? If it had then i'm surprised they've allowed this so yes a very good result.

Edingirl40

Hi poppy. 

That's a relief, I was thinking ot would be a struggle. 

Yes, randomly they didn't migrate me for my earnings when they said they would. So I had to make a claim for uc 3 days after esa was closed. Zero idea why I've been so lucky just glad I was.

So, they can't get out of giving me the backdated payment now for limited capability or work allowance? 

poppy123456

Edingirl40 said:

Yes, randomly they didn't migrate me for my earnings

I don't know what you mean by that. No one is automatically placed onto UC.

Edingirl40 said:

So, they can't get out of giving me the backdated payment now for limited capability or work allowance? 

It's not about "getting out of paying you" You claimed UC after your ESA ended so they don't have to but If you've been told they will backdate your claim then you will be paid what's owed.

Edingirl40

OK thanks