ESA to UC

AFB · November 2018

Hi
My disabled brother recently been offered adapted house for him which means he has to move and will trigger a change of circumstane as he currently gets ESA IR Support group and PIP enchanced for daliy and mobility. So i wanted to know how does the process work if he had change of circumstane and had to move on universal credit. Does it take long? Will he receive less money or more? Because im scared to move him into a property if he going to be worse off on univetsal credit.

poppy123456 · November 2018

Hi,

He will most likely be worse off under UC i'm afraid. If he lives alone and claims the SDP in with his ESA then he will lose this if he transfers to UC and this alone is £64.30 per week.

There's also no guarantee that DWP will honour his ESA award and place him into the relevant group for UC because i've heard this happen many times, even though they should honour it.

UC is paid monthly and there's at least a 5 week wait for your first payment, so he'll need to budget for this.

PIP isn't part of UC and that won't be affected. Council tax reduction isn't part of it either and needs to be claimed separately. He'll also need a tenancy agreement to be able to claim the housing element of UC.

AFB · November 2018

Hi @poppy123456

Thanks for the advice but also wanted to ask as i forgot to mention earlier on as he lives with family and he moving out which i will move with him as he does not receive SDP because he lives with family but when he moves to the new property I would be living with him but would he be still worse off on universal credit.

poppy123456 · November 2018

He maybe yes because like i said they don't always honour the ESA award, like they should and no premiums are paid on UC. Your income wouldnt affect his anyway, so that part doesn't matter. I'd advice using a benefits calculator to see what the difference will be.

AFB · November 2018

Thanks @poppy123456

Archie82 · November 2018

Will i lose my severe disability premium on universal credit. Im on contribution esa support group.

[Deleted User] · December 2018

Hi @AFB

It sounds like you brother has an opportunity he might not want to miss for independent living. It's hard to decide what to do, given the state of flux of these benefits. I'll try to offer some more information here.

(Your brother's age comes into this as personal allowances are less if you are under 25 on both ESA and on UC).

If your brother currently has £127.15 per week - that's support group of ESA plus enhanced disability premium, and moves into new accommodation, so triggering a UC claim, his UC will be £317.82 plus (providing the DWP transfer the support group element - if they don't, you'd have to challenge this) £328 LCWRA. This is £646.14 per month.

Housing costs - see Shelter's website for how much this would be, the calculation is the same as under housing benefit rules - are added to this £646.14.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/housing_benefit/how_to_claim_housing_benefit/how_much_housing_benefit_youll_get

There is a 5 1/2 week wait for the first monthly payment. Though you can ask for an advance to keep you going.

The UC entitlement is potentially £149.10 per week plus rent; - council tax reduction is paid separately; altogether this is actually more than his current award. But as Poppy and others have indicated, there are lots of possible pitfalls.

I hope this helps.

Gill_Scope

AFB · December 2018

Thanks @Gill_Scope

ESA to UC

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