Sdp and Universal credit

They won't force you to look for work.

Assuming you are in the Support Group, you will be entitled to LCWRA (the UC equivalent of Support Group) from the start of your claim.

This does take a few weeks for ESA to confirm your status with UC. You can safely ignore any requests for a Fit Note as you aren't required to give one.

Regarding the SDP. There have been other Scope users in the same position.

Unfortunately there is no timescale for a SDP claim to be processed.

The advice is hang on as long as you can for SDP to be awarded, then apply for UC.

If time is getting a bit tight, go ahead and apply for UC before the expiry you've been given. Once the SDP is awarded and backdated to your application date, UC will know you were entitled to it upon transfer and adjust your claim, by adding Transitional Protection, as SDP is not payable under UC.

Transitional Protection is designed to top up your UC award at the time of transfer, so you aren't worse off compared to legacy benefits. It does erode over time as other elements go up or new elements are added to your award.

If there's entitlement to SDP depending on the date you need to claim UC by you may want to wait. If you claim before the benefits increase then your Transitional Protection on UC will erode by the same amount so you won't be any better off.

You can ring the Managed migration phone number on the letter and extend the deadline to claim UC but you'll need a good reason why you want to this.

If you are entitled to SDP and it hasn't been added to your ESA by 1st April you can still claim UC and your Transitional Protection will be recalculated once the SDP is in payment.

However, a claim for SDP going forward should only take up to about 4 weeks.

For the avoidance of doubt, to be entitled to SDP you must be claiming daily living PIP, live alone, so no other adults live with you, including a partner. If they do live with you they must either be registered blind or claim a qualifying disability benefit such as PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care or AA. No one must be claiming either carers allowance or carers element of Universal Credit for looking after you.