Universal Credit 'change of circumstances' problems

Previous thread:

Yes, I can see you have an unusual situation because of the joint tenancy now. Most people asking for advice aren't in that situation. I do apologise if previous advice on Housing was not suitable for your case.

Housing Element is automatically paid to the person by UC. If you did not ask UC to pay your landlord directly, then your landlord has asked them instead. The landlord does have the power to do this if you are in rent arrears or have history of missing payments.

Unfortunately, you cannot go back and remove the Housing Element now. What's done is done regarding that.

You will be around £300 a month better off if you get LWCRA after the fit note and WCA so that is the thing to aim for right now. In order to get a fit note you will need to explain briefly to the GP why you are unable to work. It's not enough to just say Autism, as plenty of people can still work with Autism.

I was going on their current payments, which does not include LCWRA. Even if they do get awarded it, they could be waiting a year or more.

It's been many years since I had to get a fit note myself, so I'm probably not the best person to advise on that.

The main point of the fit note is to quickly explain why you can't work. If you were currently employed then it would tell your employer how long you are likely to be off work for. And with regards to benefits it allows you to start the process for health related elements of UC/ESA.

Your GP will have written hundreds or thousands of fit notes over the years and should know how to do it unless they are very newly qualified. I would recommend explaining to them that you haven't been able to find or remain in employment for whatever reason (lack of social skills, poor change adaption, sensory overload, whatever your specific Autism symptoms are that prevent you working) and the GP should be able to work out the correct thing to write on a fit note. It doesn't have to be in great detail, as that will come later when you do the assessment for UC in future.

It's good to hear you have a job interview coming up. It is true that you can continue to claim LCWRA if it's a part time job. However, it could be more difficult to score enough points for the LCWRA assessment if you are working at the time. Also bear in mind any income over £411 will mean some UC is deducted each month.

As you currently have a joint tenancy, it won't be possible to get all of your rent covered. Only a maximum of 50%. If you move to another private rented property on your own, then your rent would be covered up to LHA amount at one bedroom rate. In reality this is not enough and most people renting privately have to add more money to this from other benefits. If you move into a social housing property (Council or Housing Association) then you would get all of your rent covered. But it is very difficult to get social housing now, there are too many people and not enough houses, the waiting lists are very long.

If the WCA outcome was LCW then you wouldn't be paid any extra money for this.

UC works by adding up entitlements then making any deductions.

If awarded LCWRA (or LCW) you would have what's known as a work allowance on your claim.

This is an amount of money you can earn before UC make their standard deduction of 0.55p for every pound earned.

For someone receiving Housing Element this is £411 per month.

This is why you appear to be seeing a UC entitlement with a wage.

I will say though that benefit calculators are only as good as the information being input into them. If the information is wrong then the results will be too.

You would need to fill in the calculator once without any LCWRA, and once with LCWRA to see what the results are.

LCWRA is currently paid at £423.27.

The lower rate of LCWRA will only apply to new WCA's started after 6 April 2026.

Since April 2017 LCW pays no extra money for new awards.

A flat costing £750pcm? You can get a house for that where I live.