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ashiimarie
ashiimarie Online Community Member Posts: 24 Connected
in Universal Credit (UC)

Bit of a back story 6 months ago me and my partner was told to claim UC from esa. We did and discovered we was getting significantly less money due to a rent increase, making they took that increase out of our transitional protection and we have £250 a month less. However we accepted it and just moved on and we try to live off that level of money although hard we've just about managed. Me and my husband both had single claims before our esa claims merged together in 2022, my husband was in the support group and got his own sdp edp, due to getting full pip. My claim was also the same, when we joined esa we was put in the support group and both got sdp and edp on a couples rate. A few days ago they put a notice in the uc journal for my husband saying he needs to go to a work based interview at the job centre, so we are having the argument that he should be in the lcwra like I was seeing as the circumstances was it was a joint claim esa and would both get the esa support group if we was single due to both being on pip. I told them that my husband needs reasonable adjustment as they gave him 2 days notice and he has ME/Cfs so he needs someone to help him attend the appointment and they are adamant that he needs to go and they will not do it over the phone. He's told them that he cannot look for work as he is disabled and its a bit unfair that he wasn't required to do that on esa because he was assesed as being in the support group. They are saying only 1 reward is given and the other person has requirements. Not only have we lost £250 by going on UC they are now forcing my husband to job search and do work related things. Someone suggested for my husband to claim as my carer (he does care for me just not full time) so we can get the money back that we lost and it removes the requirement of my husband having to go to work and it seriously harming his health, However my husband claims pip so will this effect his pip. So im needing a bit of advice really

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  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 5,723 Championing

    Hi,

    I think the UC staff have made a mistake here.

    It is true that you can't be paid two lots of LCWRA on a couples claim, however both people still keep the LCWRA status so he should not be asked to look for work if he was previously in the Support Group.

    As you're already aware, your husband can claim the Carers Element of UC. That would not affect his PIP. But he does have to be providing 35 hours of care for you in order to qualify. (Many people are doing this many hours without realising so it's worth double checking that.)

    Was your rent increase £250? That seems like a large increase. If it wasn't, they might have made a mistake there as well. Transitional Protection does get eroded by rent increases, but it wouldn't usually be that much.

  • ashiimarie
    ashiimarie Online Community Member Posts: 24 Connected

    He does care for me more than 35 a week yes. We moved house that was the trigger of moving to universal credit, but we had already received a migration letter in the process. The new house had higher rent as it is a place suitable for disability where as my flat was not, so yes unfortunately the rent is £250 a month more expensive. I knew they had made an error but they are telling my husband he needs to provide a sick note from his gp, he tried to give his old esa letter and it isnt enough. Its very hard to get into the gp especially for a sick note so we wont have that sick note back by the time they want the appointment in 2 days

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 5,723 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1099194#Comment_1099194

    Ah ok, I understand. The loss of TP is correct after moving house.

    The only thing I can think of here is that when your ESA claims joined together, your husband was named on your claim, and lost his Support Group status. Personally I would just go for the Carers Element in this case, that will pay an extra £200 roughly and also removes his work requirements.

    Many GP's offer fit notes through an online system nowadays, so he might be able to get one quickly if you do want to continue down that route.

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