Cold weather payment

gjw59help

I have already applied and recieved some money but it only covers around a weeks food shopping,with food you can cut down a lot but Gas and mainly Electricity prices are ridiculous now taking most of my money and once again the energy supplier only helps Income Related benefit claimants so in fact you are wrong,sit down and work out all the help IR claimants can get on top and you will be surprised,even things like Fishing Licences,club memberships and many more are discounted,all I am saying is the net should cover more people who are ill or disabled.

poppy123456

I have sat down and worked it out, all the figures have been done a few times for you. Even with all the cost of living payments you are still better off annually than you would be if you claimed IR. Anyway, i won't comment further on the subject so i'm out.

calcotti

gjw59help said:…I have shown you my letter from the DWP which tells me these things but you always say I/we are better off on CB benefits which is not true,I admit it would be for people who have savings etc but not in my case

The reason you would get less income if you were not entitled to contribution based ESA was fully explored in previous thread
https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/88566/income-based-versus-contribution-based-benefits/p1

and revisited in

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/92781/employment-support-allowance/p1

I agree that the loss of income could be mitigated by some discounts that might be available to you were on income based benefits but I think it unlikely this would result in being better off.

I can’t see that poppy has been patronising to you, rather she has gone out of her way to respond to your queries and offer advice.

MadCow1

Hi @poppy123456,

I would like to say thank you & everyone else for all the advice/guidance you have given me since I joined this forum. I have found it extremely helpful & I am very appreciative of it.

Have a Happy New Year each & everyone of you.🥳🎉👍

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StillIRise

ShieldsRED said:

Hi @poppy123456 - It's the LCW group I am in, and no, I haven't been working since July. I was only doing PT, and been on UC about 19 months now, so I believe I should be entitled too it. Thank you.

Did you ever get your Cold Weather Payment?  I'm in a similar position except I am in the limited capability for work and work related activity group.  Definitely due a cold weather payment but they seem to refuse to pay it.  I've contacted them and they just referred me to some generic website link about eligibility.  I do not work and am not employed at all.

MadCow1

Hi @StillIRise,

No I didn't, came to the conclusion that I wasn't eligible for it. It would have come in handy though.

poppy123456

StillIRise said:

ShieldsRED said:

Hi @poppy123456 - It's the LCW group I am in, and no, I haven't been working since July. I was only doing PT, and been on UC about 19 months now, so I believe I should be entitled too it. Thank you.

Did you ever get your Cold Weather Payment?  I'm in a similar position except I am in the limited capability for work and work related activity group.  Definitely due a cold weather payment but they seem to refuse to pay it.  I've contacted them and they just referred me to some generic website link about eligibility.  I do not work and am not employed at all.

Are you claiming UC with a partner that is employed or self employed? If so then you won't be entitled to the CWP.

StillIRise

MadCow1 said:

Hi @StillIRise,

No I didn't, came to the conclusion that I wasn't eligible for it. It would have come in handy though.

Do you meet the eligibility criteria?

MadCow1

Don't think so,not working, not in any support group for LCW. I only had my WCA for UC yesterday morning.

MadCow1

I don't have to do job search as I've been sending fit notes in. 

poppy123456

MadCow1 said:

Don't think so,not working, not in any support group for LCW. I only had my WCA for UC yesterday morning.

You need to be found to have either LCW or LCWRA before you're entitled to the cold weather payment. (and not be employed or self employed)

MadCow1

I thought that was the case,as time went on,but thanks anyway. 

StillIRise

poppy123456 said:

StillIRise said:

ShieldsRED said:

Hi @poppy123456 - It's the LCW group I am in, and no, I haven't been working since July. I was only doing PT, and been on UC about 19 months now, so I believe I should be entitled too it. Thank you.

Did you ever get your Cold Weather Payment?  I'm in a similar position except I am in the limited capability for work and work related activity group.  Definitely due a cold weather payment but they seem to refuse to pay it.  I've contacted them and they just referred me to some generic website link about eligibility.  I do not work and am not employed at all.

Are you claiming UC with a partner that is employed or self employed? If so then you won't be entitled to the CWP.

I think I responded to this same question on a different thread.  I've no partner, it's a single claim and I'm not employed at all.

StillIRise

@ShieldsRED
It definitely sounds like you are entitled to it.  What a shambles!  It's really meant to be paid automatically without you having to chase it.  I'm definitely entitled to it as well but the UC staff seem to have no idea how to sort the situation out.

MrsCactus9

We were denied the cold weather payment because my husband works.. which is BS! Some months he doesn’t even earn £300. We have a child under 5, I get LCWRA and my husband is my carer as I get daily living PIP element. I wrote on my UC journal and they’ve put in for a MR, which I didn’t ask for I simply asked why we didn’t get it and told them the excuse of “your husband works” wasn’t really a good enough excuse since he earn peanuts due to being my carer and being in a job where like last night he didn’t even work a full hour due to no deliveries.

poppy123456

ShieldsRED said:

Hi @StillIRise - Apologies for the delay in replying. Well I've spoken to someone else in the jobcentre, who have actually told me that the person who told me I'm not entitled to it, is incorrect, so I've asked her to look into it further. I'm in LCW group, haven't worked since May, however, I was only put into LCW group in 2021, so I'm assuming this is why they've declined me, but I've been told that it doesn't state this on the govt website, so I am actually entitled to it. I don't think some of them understand what's right and wrong for eligibility.

It does state either LCW or LCWRA on the Gov website.

Universal Credit

You’ll usually get Cold Weather Payments if you get Universal Credit and you’re not employed or self-employed. One of the following must also apply:

• you have a health condition or disability and have limited capability for work (with or without work-related activity)

https://www.gov.uk/cold-weather-payment/eligibility

MrsCactus9

@ShieldsRED MR is mandatory reconsideration I didn’t ask them to put one in, they just decided for me. We manage to get by okay so I wasn’t chasing it up in a need for it, more a query as to why I hadn’t received one and then I asked them to further explain why we didn’t get it because of the reasons I stated in my comment here and they replied saying they’ve put in a mandatory reconsideration :’) 

calcotti

ShieldsRED said:

- I have my letter still from being put in LCW group in May 2021, and no end date is specified, and I claim both elements of PIP for several health conditions, and I last worked in May 2022 PT. I was told that I'm not entitled to it because I don't get the higher amount of LCW pay ( which online states that this will affect people being put into this group after April 2017 ) - I have contested this, and left another message in my journal asking them to look into it again.

You still have LCW if that is what your WCA decided. The fact that people no longer get paid money for it is irrelevant.