Receiving LCWRA has ceased our protected transitional element

sulamaye
sulamaye Community Member Posts: 9 Listener
in Universal Credit (UC)

hi,

My partner and I were forcibly moved from WTC to UC. At the beginning of our claim we had a disabled child in college and she was part of our claim. She had to make an independent claim last year so our protected element dropped to approx £900. I also got the disabled element on wtc.

I am technically self employed and my partner, who is 70 in September helped me do my work. Last September she couldn't keep helping me and i became too ill to do kore than a few hours a week and so claimed LCWRA.


I was finally assessed in April (it made me very ill) and was awarded LCWRA in full. To begin with the LCWRA just reduced our protected element and we got just under £500 in UC. THen i asked in my journal if it would be backdated, and we reported that my partner was no longer being paid by the business because she had stopped working in it.

When i came to report my earnings for this month there was a note on my journal from May (hadn't been emailed about it) saying that as i no longer hot the minium income floor (or it could have been that my partner didn't it is very unclear) all our protected element was being removed, we owed them 1.2k and were now entitled to £10 a month.

Because of my partner's age she had never had a coach, never had to work at all, so if it is her why has her having to stop work (she has developed cervical spondilosis) removed our protected element.

If it is that i have been awarded LCWRA because i can't work more than 16 hours a week then how can that totally remove (not reduce) our protected element.

I feel totally cheated, no body warned me that this would happen. We have now lost approx 6k a year in UC all because i claimed LCWRA. I went through hell to make that claim and can't understand what law means it results in ceasing the protected element? I don't know what we are going to do. I have said i want to appeal but as the precise cause and effect of the ruling is unclear i have no idea if what they have done is correct, and if so why do all my internet searches talk about a reduction in the protected element when you get LCWRA, but not the total end of it?


please help.

Comments

  • sulamaye
    sulamaye Community Member Posts: 9 Listener
  • Kimi87
    Kimi87 Community Member Posts: 8,917 Championing
    edited June 13

    Transitional Protection erodes when your UC award increases, and ends with a major change of circumstances.

    Unfortunately because you are no longer earning, the Transitional Protection ended correctly. Due to it being classed as a major change of circumstances.

    See "significant changes in circumstance"

    https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/universal-credit-uc-transitional-protection/when-will-my-universal-credit-uc-transitional-protection-end

    Also "If your earnings drop below an agreed amount for 3 months in a row"

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transitional-protection-if-you-receive-a-migration-notice-letter#changes-that-can-decrease-your-transitional-protection-payments

    It's not connected to your LCWRA claim, and you have no grounds to appeal because that is how Universal Credit has been designed to work.

  • sulamaye
    sulamaye Community Member Posts: 9 Listener

    thanks. No one agreed any amount of earnings with us, we were still in our first year when i made the LCWRA claim. Why didn't UC tell me that being awarded LCWRA would immediately wipe out our protected element. I would not have claimed it if i had known this, i would not have put myself through the trauma, i would rather have just ended the claim than put myself through that for minus benefit, and why wasn't the protected element immediately ceased after my LCWRA? For the first two payments made following it being awarded it operated as i expected, the LCWRA diminished the protected element equal to the award, but it was not wiped out. It is with two months hindsight this has suddenly been implemented. Why? If it the law, the algorithim, why did it calculate it differently before, why wasn't it immediately? We now owe them 1.2k but they have nothing to take it back out of.


    it seems insane that my daughter gets awarded LCWRA and now gets £700 a month and i get £10. I simply don't understand.

  • sulamaye
    sulamaye Community Member Posts: 9 Listener

    Kimi87 the link you sent does not say that just getting an award ceases your transitional payment, it only says if your earnings drop below x and they were x or more at the time you made the claim they will cease. Our earnings were sporadic and varied as a self employed people. Our UC claim started on the 19/12/2024 and our first months declared profit on the 13/1/25 was minus £16, the next was minus £168, the following month it was minus £213. So how can they argue that we started the claim with the level of earnings or higher than the link states? We did also get my partner's state pension but even with that it does not add up to the couples amount. The link does not state as soon as you are awarded LCWRA your protected element will cease.

    I don't see how we fit their formula. How can they apply this rule to us given this information?


    Is there somewhere i can read the actual rules the DWP are using, because Turn2us are either mistaken or the UC calculation is making several assumptions. Surely you need to be informed of the minimum income floor before you can be penalised for not meeting it, and as i was off sick from sept 2025 until the LCWRA award was given how and when can it have been implemented.


    please could you advise where i can detailed and specific advice with someone who can look at our specific circumstances as on the face of this it isn't adding up, even within their guidelines.

    Thank you

  • Kimi87
    Kimi87 Community Member Posts: 8,917 Championing
    edited June 15

    UC works by adding up entitlements, then making any deductions with the remaining figure being paid.

    You are part of a couple so your UC award is based on your joint circumstances. Your partner at 70 presumably has a pension income which is taken into account when calculating your UC entitlement. State pension and any private pension is classed as unearned income and deducted in full from your UC award.

    With Transitional Protection some changes reduce the TP by the same amount (such as LCWRA), others end it entirely as explained in the links I provided (click on the purple text).

    I believe yours has ended because you did not meet the MIF.

    Unfortunately the onus is on the claimant to be aware of the rules. DWP administer claims rather than being a benefits advice agency.

    You might find it useful to contact a local welfare rights organisation where a trained benefits advisor can take a look at your paperwork to make sure everything is correct.

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

    The specific UC Regulation dealing with Transitional Protection ending is here:

    https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1230/regulation/56

  • justsaying2025
    justsaying2025 Community Member Posts: 82 Contributor

    Hi - kimi87, you clearly have much knowledge - but wouldn't his LCWRA status mean he could ask for a reconsideration of being gainfully self employed and therefore the MIF would not apply? I'm asking, not saying. x

  • Kimi87
    Kimi87 Community Member Posts: 8,917 Championing

    I'm not a trained benefits advisor so am unable to answer that question.

    I've given the best advice I can as an amateur 🙂

  • sulamaye
    sulamaye Community Member Posts: 9 Listener

    Kim, i understand that the protected element erodes with the addition of LCWRA, that was what the original assessment was, the. They issued new letters which had zero transitional applied. The links do jot say LCWRA is a major change which triggers this. I am contacting CAB because it does not add up. My partner is 70 the MIF can not apply to her and how can it apply to someone who can't work and has been awarded LCWRA. That would be pointless and discriminatory.

    Thank you for your help. However, perhaps it is unwise to give benefit's advice when they are so complicated if not fully trained? I didn't realise this and nearly ended my UC claim because i don't need the stress for £10 a month, however the UC journal has just confirmed it has nothing to do with my LCWRA. So please be aware that protected element should not be stopped full stop if a person gets LCWRA. Thank you i do appreciate the time you ahve given me.

  • Kimi87
    Kimi87 Community Member Posts: 8,917 Championing

    In your opening post you stated you were told by UC that your Transitional Protection had ended due to not meeting the MIF.

    My advice was given on the basis of that information and I've been very clear the ending of your TP wasn't to do with the LCWRA award.

    I never claim to be a professional and you can tell by my username I'm not one of the Scope staff.

    I have no control on what people do with my advice whether that's ignore it, act on it, verify elsewhere if what I've said is correct etc. It is their choice and in no way my responsibility.

    I wish you luck with getting it all sorted out 🙂

  • Emilee
    Emilee Community Member Posts: 77 Empowering

    I hope you're okay @Kimi87, I would reach out to you privately but I don't have access to PMs.

    @sulamaye, Kimi's advice was correct based on the information provided. It can be extremely difficult giving advice online because we only have access to information shared, which isn't always the full picture.

    Kimi did not say that LCWRA is a major change and why the transitional protection ended, she explained that it's because the amount earnt has reduced. The 'agreed amount' is set in legislation as the administrative earnings threshold (AET) for your claim.

    It's this rule here which was in the link shared by Kimi:

    "If your earnings drop below an agreed amount for 3 months in a row

    If your earnings are equal to or above your 'administrative earnings threshold' in your first assessment period, and they drop below your AET for more than 3 assessment periods in a row, your transitional protection will end."

    Just to add some context on the regulations:

    An award of LCWRA does not, in itself, cause a managed migration transitional element to end. Where entitlement increases because an LCWRA element is included, the normal position is that the transitional element is reduced (eroded) by the amount of the increase rather than terminating altogether.

    However, transitional protection can be lost in certain circumstances, including some changes relating to earnings, work status and entitlement conditions.

    Without seeing the UC statements, decision notices and the exact chronology of events, it's difficult to say whether the DWP's decision is correct.

    If I were in your position, it would be important to establish:

    • When transitional protection was awarded and at what amount.
    • When LCWRA entitlement started.
    • Whether there was a finding of gainful self-employment (and whether and when the Minimum Income Floor was applied).
    • What earnings were reported for your first assessment period and whether they dropped below the AET for three consecutive assessment periods
  • Rachel_Scope
    Rachel_Scope Posts: 4,224 Online Community Team

    Hi @sulamaye. I'm sorry that you've been through such a stressful time dealing with this. The online community is a place where we all share information, and some members, such as Kimi, have a lot of experience with benefits but are not trained as benefits advisers. We would always urge you to check the information that is given as we are not aware of your complete circumstances.

    For complicated cases, we advise that people go to a trained benefits adviser. You can find one here https://advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk/

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