Please help!

LTP · July 4

hello, I wonder if anyone can help me.

I moved over to UC from income support in January.

I moved over on my transitional protection date as they told me. Waited the five weeks without money and then the amount was short. Which as you can imagine: after five weeks without money was devastating.

I called them and they said “why do you think you’re entitled to TP?” I told them I had multiple letters stating I was as long as I transferred by the date which I did. They argued with me weekly until eventually they said they’d look into it. Now I get a message on my journal once a week or once a fortnight saying “still chasing this, sorry for the delay”.

I’ve tried to complain and raise complaints and been told “we’ve looked into it you can’t complain about this”.

Up until now they owe me £1171.25 which is a lot of money to not have and once my July payment hits they’ll owe me £1403.50 which is even more money to not have.

I’m getting nowhere with them other than once I escalated it for the umpteenth time they gave me this woman who claims she is “chasing it”. She has told me on the phone I am entitled to TP but she needs someone else to change my account and flag it and then “look into whether they owe me any money”. She’s only ever called me once and I can’t contact her other than her leaving these messages on my journal whenever she wants to.

I try to talk to someone else and I’m told “are you sure you can have TP? How do you know?” When I say I have letters etc they send me in circles. One man tried to gaslight me into saying I had enough money and I must just be mistaken that I am missing £200+ every month compared to my amounts before.

Has anyone had this? Is there any hope? Can I do anything else? I’ve waited seven months and it feels like it’s never ending.

My son ages out of my account in August as he’ll be 20 on October and I feel like they are dragging their heels till then so they can avoid paying me.

Any help or advice would be so appreciated!
Thank you!!

Charlie_Scope · July 5

Good morning @LTP,

I’m so sorry you’ve been going through such a stressful and frustrating experience. Have you had your calculations checked by a benefit advisor to ensure the amounts are correct?

I agree that weekly journal messages without any real progress aren’t good enough, especially when such a significant amount of money is involved.

I would suggest asking for the issue to be escalated or raising a formal complaint. Another option many people find helps to move things along is to contact their local MP. You can find your MP and their contact details here.

Sending you strength and best wishes – and I really hope you get the resolution you deserve soon.

LTP · July 5

I’ve checked on entitled to and other benefit calculators and I know how much money I was getting before and it says you’ll have at least the same amount as before so I subtracted the amount they’ve given me from the amount I had before under the old system. Then I checked that against the benefit calculators and the amounts were the same. I’ve tried to speak to citizens advice and I get stuck in a que for literally hours and then get cut off it’s happened over ten times now so I’ve given up.

I did try to raise a formal complaint and they came back and said “you can’t complain about this as the issue isn’t resolved” which makes no sense because the reason I’m complaining is because it isn’t resolved. You can’t ever speak to a person who isn’t customer service who fobs you off and talking to your work coach is no existent. I have a phone account so I can’t even send messages on the journal and whenever the customer service people send messages my work coach says back to them “there’s nothing I can do”. It’s maddening, the whole system is a farce and doesn’t make sense.

It’s bad enough that you never actually get those five weeks without money back but now after all the promises of “transitional protection. Money will be the same as before or more””moving to UC is so smooth and easy” in their adverts and all the letters they sent me, I’m just being shafted.

Does anyone know how long it’s supposed to take for you to get TP? Is it normal to wait seven months?

I have thought about contacting my local MP but I’ve tried to get help from an MP before and they weren’t very helpful. I suppose I’ll have to if they don’t do it eventually.

I just kind of feel like I’m going to be left with this deficit and have to lump it.

I would love to hear if anyone else has managed to beat this and how they did it!

Kimi87 · July 5

Transitional Protection is usually calculated ready for your first payment statement. UC rely on multiple pieces of information from multiple places to calculate TP, so it isn't always completed in time. If missing from your first statement, it's usually done at some point between your first and second payment statement.

Are you able to visit your local CA in person on a walk in basis?

Someone other than Citizens Advice may be available locally:

https://advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk/

Have you tried making a complaint online, specifically stating you feel you are owed Transitional Protection and 6 months on nothing has been progressed?

https://makeacomplaint.dwp.gov.uk/

Even with a phone UC claim the online complaint route is open to you.

Venetia · July 6

i can recommend CAB for helping with this issue. They can also arrange a three way call with you, the DWP and themselves. It can certainly take a while to get through to them at times, but it really is worth it.

Also, the site BenefitsandWork can help - they can find out the managers name of the area you're in (or something like that) so then you can mention the managers name directly.

Please help!

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