TRANSITIONAL RELIEF ESA TO UC SDP REMOVED

Absolut
Absolut Online Community Member Posts: 6 Listener
in Benefits and income
Hello everyone i have just found this site and am looking forward to getting to know it and you all well.

Goiong to keep this simple.  Firstly, i receive ESA and UC.  Apparently a rarity.  Is this so?  Unique situation (mitigating circs) led me to leaving a gap of time before applying for UC whilst receiving reduced ESA  , probably 6 weeks approx.  Because of this gap i have had 200 pounds a month severe disability premium removed.

I am at the Tribunal point. CAB have said that they will not support me because of this 'time gap'. I therefore sought a Solicitor who will look through the paperwork for the Tribunal for 500 pounds and advise me accordingly. 

That is a lot of money for me, for us all.  Do mitigating circumstances really matter?  Would they impact the decision?  The whole ordeal has left me traumatised and dealings with the dwp leave me triggered, frightened and feeling disempowered.

The mitigating circumstances are pretty unusual but i am so upset at this decision and  i have had two further diagnoses since this all happened a year ago. 

Any advice help and i mean ANY would be so appreciated. Even if you think it is not worth doing.

Thank you .











Comments

  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,000 Championing
    edited June 2022
    It's impossible to comment properly without more information.

    However the regulations are clear that to qualify for the SDP element in UC you need to have been receiving it in your ESA not more than one month before your UC claim. I don't think there is any provision in the regulations for mitigating circumstances so if the gap is greater than one month i cannot see how you can qualify.

    The only thing I would like at in that situation is whether or not there were mitigating circumstances that prevented you claiming UC earlier than you did and your UC could therefore be backdated by one month (the maximum permitted). If that were the case your UC claim would then be within one month of the ESA SDP ending and you would therefore qualify for the SDP element. 

    Paying a solicitor £500 seems a lot - if you do go down that route are you confident atet they are specialist in welfare benefits. Have you looked to see if you have access to a Law Centre that could support you without cost?
  • Absolut
    Absolut Online Community Member Posts: 6 Listener
    Thank you so very much for your wonderfully helpful reply.
    I have a long history of complex ppgysical and mental health issues. I was dx Autistic last year also. My sole family members are abroad. Otherwise I am alone. Mental HeLth Resources are very punder resourced here I live  and when I have a severe episode of mental illness I go to stay with my daughter or sister whi  give me the right  support to avoid a full breakdown.

    I have low vision which is now deteriorating at a pace . There is nothing else treatment wise that can be done. 
    Two years of surgeries culminating in me losing sight for 5 months, to cut a saga short ended up with me in early 2021 alone on the verge of breaking down.. I was advised by GP and a Psychiayrist to travel and stay with my daughter. I also asked my MP as it was still lockdown. He said because of the nature of my exceptional circumstances it was better that I was with family who could care for me.

    My daughter had started a  new job and could not travel. 4 days after arriving I broke my fibula and severely sprained my  ankle. I could not walk on either leg.i was in a wheel chair for 2 months before I 
    Could move to crutches.

    Dwp were informed. Stopped income based esa with sdp premium. The reason was that I would have to stay longer than 4 weeks because I was unable to travel. I incurred a lot of expense during this time. My daughtecontacted dwp who gave differing advice. I won't go into it but we had conflicting information as to what we should do and given many varied explanations. There was no uniform answer 

    Cut to July 3rd when I got back to UK . I was  able to do a couple steps on crutches by now. Fir the main I went on my knees to get around.

    I reached out for advocacy. By now I was in a really poor state of mental health and ended up having the breakdown I went originally to avoid. I will also say the dwps handling of this case impacted  strobglyon this. 

    I was unable to talk to dwp without breaking down. Mental crisis supported me but I could not find advocacy to speak on my behalf. In the end it was impossible to speak coherently.

    At this point I was advised to apply for UC. This is where the mitigating circumstances are involved.

    I had no one to speak on my behalf in the midst of the BD. My  mental state was very disturbed. It was the worst I have ever experienced and I am still recovering a year later. Added to this was the lack of mobility, eyes and I also received the Autism dx . I was dx with adhd.

    With everything that happens to the human mind when one is experiencing breakdown  is this considered enough of mitigating evidence? I have left out all the details because I am trying to save anyone who is brave enough from reading this novello to not lose the will to live.

    Today I am still triggered by contacting dwp. Equally I do not understand that because of an accident I have less money ta even though I am  more disabled.

    I just want to know if these circumstances would be deemed enough to explain any delay in applying for UC. 

    I have evidence from French Surgeon advising not to travel plus a folder of supporting evidence

    I would welcome anymore advice and again, apologies for this saga.

    Thank you

















  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,000 Championing
    edited June 2022
    If you were not in the UK you were not eligible for UC at the time. Your UC claim cannot start before the date of your return.

    If you left the UK for more than 4 weeks you were no longer eligible for ESA unless the purpose was to receive medical treatment, which from your account it was not. 

    I can’t see a way around the above but I could be wrong.

    Whether you really want to spend £500 on advice only you can decide. 


  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,456 Championing
    Having read through your comments, i can see why Citizens Advice wouldn't support you. As you were outside of the UK for longer than the 4 weeks allowed i can't see how you're entitled to the SDP Transitional protecten because when you claimed UC it was longer than 1 month that the SDP had ended.
  • Absolut
    Absolut Online Community Member Posts: 6 Listener
    Thank you so much for your very helpful replies.  
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,000 Championing
    Biblioklept said: I feel like they could have supported Absolut by explaining what you and calcotti did. If you guys worked it out and were able to explain so well they should have been able to :( 
    We don't know what CAB said to OP to explain why they would not support the appeal.
  • Absolut
    Absolut Online Community Member Posts: 6 Listener
    Good morning. I won't pretend. I am still perplexed by all this and maybe that's my neuro diverse brain and how it processes information.

    I'm not in a good place I can't pretend. Thank you for asking about my daughters job. She's going through a very difficult time herself right now with the job. The world of work and its pressures seem so intense compared to when I worked.


    Do the mitigating circumstances of my mental and physical health not make any difference to the reason I did not apply to UC .  I was having distorted and confused thinking with sheet panic at this time. 
    Is the state of my health not considered at all? Is it this black and white is what I am trying to work out? 

    Again, thank you for your kindness in taking time to answer.



     






  • Absolut
    Absolut Online Community Member Posts: 6 Listener
    i arrived 3 july.  Accident happened 7th may.  I really cannot remember a lot at the time. I would say about 4 to 6 weeks.  Interestingly, my daughter was told at the time if i had had Covid there would not be a problem.

    I was in a mental health crisis. Forget all the other physical stuff i was on medication that had me in a fog and when i wasnt i was in a state of panic. There were not many  moments of lucidity or clear thought. The Mental Health Team were supporting me and i think were there when i rang uc to talk to them. 

    will anyone take into account the state of my mental and physical help as mitigating circumstances in regards of the gap.  No one at dwp told me about gaps. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,456 Championing
    edited June 2022
    Reading back through your comments and i noticed this..
    Absolut said:
     Firstly, i receive ESA and UC.  Apparently a rarity.  Is this so?  Unique situation (mitigating circs) led me to leaving a gap of time before applying for UC whilst receiving reduced ESA  , probably 6 weeks approx. 

    It's not rare for ESA to be paid at the same time as UC. Contributions based/New style ESA is not part of UC so if you're claiming any of those then it's just deducted in full from any UC entitlement.
    It sounds like part of your ESA was Contributions based £117.60 per week so this continued to be paid while you were away. Understandably the Income Related part of ESA would stop after be out of the country for longer than 28 days.
    When you returned to the UK i don't understand why you couldn't just contact ESA and be assessed again for the Income Related top up, rather than claim UC. Who advised you to claim UC?
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,000 Championing
    poppy123456 said:
    It sounds like part of your ESA was Contributions based £117.60 per week so this continued to be paid while you were away. Understandably the Income Related part of ESA would stop after be out of the country for longer than 28 days. 
    Wouldn't contribution based ESA stop after 28 days too?
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,456 Championing
    calcotti said:
    poppy123456 said:
    It sounds like part of your ESA was Contributions based £117.60 per week so this continued to be paid while you were away. Understandably the Income Related part of ESA would stop after be out of the country for longer than 28 days. 
    Wouldn't contribution based ESA stop after 28 days too?

    Ah yes, it would. I should have checked before i commented. However, i don't understand how part of their ESA has continued to be paid.
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,000 Championing
    I've got very confused by the whole thing!
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,456 Championing
    calcotti said:
    I've got very confused by the whole thing!

    Same here.
  • Absolut
    Absolut Online Community Member Posts: 6 Listener
    I am truly thankful that you are taking time to discuss my case. I think it has finally worn me down and I need to let it go for the sake of my mental welfare.

    Warm wishes to you all.

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