Declaring Savings/U.C Reviews

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Comments

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    dealing with these people terrifies so many of us, hopefully we’ll be able to get it all sorted and they’ll leave us alone.

    Keep us updated on here if they ask for statements please . Thx 🙏

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    Ok thx , I’ll probably have to do that too soon and then by end of year or before I’ll probably be over 16k and that mean UC will end along with LCWRA . Do you know if you have LCWRA on UC and go above 16k and it closes when you drop below 16k and reclaim do you need to start the whole process of filling in a UC50 and have an assessment again ? Also provide receipts showing why you’ve dropped below 16k?
    I know pip and UC are completely different but if you get enhanced pip for both would this make any difference to reapplying for UC and the WCA ?

  • charlie72
    charlie72 Online Community Member Posts: 156 Empowering

    I will certainly let you know what happens if they decide to ask for statements etc, keeping my fingers crossed they'll leave me alone😊

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    they seem to make up rules as they go along 🤷‍♂️

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 4,208 Championing
    edited February 2

    Yes, you would lose UC, LCWRA and Housing Element if you get that, the claim closes completely if you pass £16k. Currently you would have to start the entire process again when savings drop below £16k, and go through a another WCA. PIP does not make any difference to the process.

    There is a workaround for this. You can make a 'Credits Only' claim for New Style ESA before your savings reach £16k. That way, you keep getting NI credits after UC ends, and also keep your LCWRA status. Meaning that when you reapply for UC after savings drop, you would not have to go through another WCA.

    New Style ESA can only be claimed by telephone unfortunately.

    Also bear in mind that your new UC will not include any Transitional Protection if you get that now.

    I am a few months ahead of you in this process. Still hoping to move before I reach the £16k, but realistically that's unlikely to happen.

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    thanks so much for .
    Does new style ESA have anything to do with NI contributions ( I haven’t worked in years and when I did it was part time so not enough paid ) Sorry I just don’t understand ESA IR and ESA CR and new style ESA .
    the whole thing is really stressful and like you I’m hoping to move before the end of the year and that’ll probably take a chunk of my savings ( new furniture etc )

    I was being frugal with my backdated pip that was thousands but I wish I’d just have spent it all and I wouldn’t be in this situation - I also still need to look into a private pension that’ll take a good chunk per month .
    thanks for replying

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 4,208 Championing

    It is confusing so you're not alone with that.

    Basically New Style ESA does require NI Contributions if we were going to get payments from it.

    However, because we don't have enough NI contributions for payments, it will just add NI credits to our record instead. Hence the 'credits only' claim.

    The credits go towards the state pension, so they are worth having. But the important part for us is that it maintains our LCWRA status (albeit called Support Group on ESA) so that we wouldn't have to go through another WCA when we apply for UC again.

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    thanks .
    is this something I should do now do you think or when I get over 10k ?

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing

    You can put a claim in for New style ESA at anytime but it must be before your UC ends due to excess capital.

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 4,208 Championing

    I'd leave it a while yet. For other benefits where you can switch to NS ESA, they say to apply up to 3 months in advance. So I'm intending to do mine around 3 months before I expect to reach £16k. As this is quite an unusual process, I haven't seen anyone quote exact timescales so far.

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering
  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    Thx OverlyAnxious, I’ll probably leave it for a while then.

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing

    The up to 3 months in advance that you're referring to are for those that are claiming SSP from their employer. This is the stage where they would receive their SSP1 form and can then start a claim for NsESA. Payments would not start until 7 days after SSP ends because both can't be paid at the same time.

    Usually a claim for NsESA shouldn't take any longer than about 1 month but in your case, there wouldn't be any payments anyway so the claim should be much quicker than that.

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    is this as simple as calling them up saying I want to make a claim for ns ESA? Does is affect UC LCWRa? Sorry I don’t understand so if I can call esa and do this anytime does it mean I’d have 2 claims open UC and ESA ? and I’d still be paid my UC but ESA be paid nothing ? So when I go over 16k my UC closes completely but ns ESA stays open?

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing

    You can claim online here, rather than ring.

    https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/how-to-claim

    It would not affect your UC or LCWRA because you won't be entitled to payments for ESA and it would be a credits only claim because you already have LCWRA. No, you wouldn't have 2 claims open because a credits only claim for ESA is not an actual claim as such, it's just credits only.

    Once you go over £16k yes your UC claim ends. The NI credits for ESA will continue as normal but when your capital goes below £16k because you've claimed ESA you would not need to go through another WCA assessment again and your UC would include the LCWRA element from the start of your claim.

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 336 Empowering

    thanks So much poppy I really appreciate it , I don’t know what this forum would do without the help and advice from people like you and overlyanxious. It doesn’t stop my heightened anxiety but at least I know what legs I’m standing on . X

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,115 Connected

    Hi Poppy ,

    Hi OverlyAnxious,

    i would like to thank both of you from me for sharing a very important information and rules and great knowledge regarding the declaration of savings in relation to uc and regarding new style ESA., i dont know these rules and all the information provided here will be very helpful to me .

    Kind regards.

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 4,208 Championing
    edited February 3

    Thanks Poppy. I was just working on the idea that it shouldn't take any longer than 3 months based on that.

    In my case, I will be trying to do it all online, which will most likely take longer than people who can do it over the phone.

    Although they allow online applications now, it still says they'll phone you for evidence (not sure whether any is needed for us on UC) and I'm also aware that usually the commitments would be accepted by phone as well. So I'm expecting a delay or even a total refusal by trying to do it all online. Do you know if there is anywhere on the online form to ask for adjustments? I will just try the standard DWP email address if not.