Universal Credit and LCWRA element

ADEAN

Hello i was wanting and needing advice on behalf of my Brother

He was on ESA limited capability for work and work-related
activity he started this on March 2014 and he stayed on this up until Dec 2018 and he got put on to Universal Credit since then he got a rate of 319 pounds per month, as he had been deemed unfit for work at the time he was put on to the UC and had been for the Work Capability Assessment Determination in relation to the ESA claim he felt that he should be in the same group or something similar on the UC but they put him in to the able to work group he asked for a mandatory reconsideration this was done on Jan 2019

He then got asked to go for an assessment and got a letter stating he was being put in to limited capability for work and work-related
activity on the UC, i did a little research for him as he struggles with anything like this and finds it hard to communicate due to his illness i told him what i found out and that he should get extra 318 pounds each month

What i have not been able to find out for him and he keeps asking is this amount backdated to when he asked for a mandatory reconsideration back in Jan 2019 or how does this work

Thanks in advance for any assistance in this matter as any help with be of great help to me as to can tell my brother (who is drive me nuts at this point and i be joining him on what he on lol )

poppy12345

ADEAN wrote: »

Hello i was wanting and needing advice on behalf of my Brother

He was on ESA limited capability for work and work-related
activity he started this on March 2014 and he stayed on this up until Dec 2018 and he got put on to Universal Credit since then he got a rate of 319 pounds per month, as he had been deemed unfit for work at the time he was put on to the UC and had been for the Work Capability Assessment Determination in relation to the ESA claim he felt that he should be in the same group or something similar on the UC but they put him in to the able to work group he asked for a mandatory reconsideration this was done on Jan 2019

He then got asked to go for an assessment and got a letter stating he was being put in to limited capability for work and work-related
activity on the UC, i did a little research for him as he struggles with anything like this and finds it hard to communicate due to his illness i told him what i found out and that he should get extra 318 pounds each month

What i have not been able to find out for him and he keeps asking is this amount backdated to when he asked for a mandatory reconsideration back in Jan 2019 or how does this work

Thanks in advance for any assistance in this matter as any help with be of great help to me as to can tell my brother (who is drive me nuts at this point and i be joining him on what he on lol )

I'm confused by your dates because you state Jan 2019, i'm assuming you mean Jan 2020? If so then he will receive the LCWRA element of £336 extra per month from the date the decision was made to place him into the LCW group.

ADEAN

Hi poppy ,
No he asked for the mandatory reconsideration of the claim on Jan 2019 and they got back to him November 2019 and sent him for a health assessment in December 2019 and got the LCWRA element , are you saying that he will only get paid the LCWRA element from Dec 2019 and not from Jan 2019 when he asked for the mandatory reconsideration , even though he was put on to the UC from ESA with not being able to work

Alice_Holt

I am also confused by your posts.

It is possible the LCWRA element should be backdated. I will try to explain the circumstances where this might happen, and you can decide if it fits your brothers situation.

If someone claims UC, and moves on to Universal Credit from Employment and Support Allowance and has already been assessed as having limited capability for work then the additional UC elements can be paid as you were from the start of the UC claim (if the ESA claim pre-dates April 2017).
This could apply to your brother if his ESA appeal was successful, and his ESA SG was reinstated.

I would suggest he takes all his paperwork to his local advice agency to see what they advise. The key is whether at the time he moved to UC he was entitled to the ESA SG rate.

Did the MR relate to his ESA claim?
What was the result of the ESA MR?
Did he go to appeal, to regain his ESA SG?
At the time he moved to UC was entitled to the ESA SG rate?

poppy12345

ADEAN wrote: »

Hi poppy ,
No he asked for the mandatory reconsideration of the claim on Jan 2019 and they got back to him November 2019 and sent him for a health assessment in December 2019 and got the LCWRA element , are you saying that he will only get paid the LCWRA element from Dec 2019 and not from Jan 2019 when he asked for the mandatory reconsideration , even though he was put on to the UC from ESA with not being able to work

In addition to Alice's questions.



I'm still confused by this because they don't usually send you for another work capability assessment for the MR.



Was the work capability assessment in December 2019 another re-assessment because they can re-assess you anytime from 3 months. When they "got back to him in November" was he sent more work capability assessment forms.



Lots of questions need answering before any further advice can be given.

Spoonie_Turtle

From my understanding: if he was in the ESA support group at the time of being transferred to UC, they should have put him in the equivalent group on UC, which is LCWRA.

The question really, is Why didn't they? As AliceHolt said, "the key is whether at the time he moved to UC he was entitled to the ESA SG rate."

If everything went as it should have done, he should have been receiving the LCWRA element from when he was transferred.

The other question is, why was he moved to UC? 'Managed migration' started mid-2019 according to all the sources I can find.
Did any of these apply to your brother? https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/changes_that_trigger_Universal_Credit

Alice_Holt

Spoonie_Turtle wrote: »

The other question is, why was he moved to UC?

It may be that he failed an ESA assessment (hence the MR?) and then claimed UC.
At that point he would have (correctly) been on the basic UC rate.

He was later assessed under UC and placed in the LCWRA group, and received the addition from the UC assessment date (?).

But I'm assuming this
We need the OP (or his brother) to come back and explain things step by step and more clearly, in particular we need to know what was the outcome of the ESA MR (and subsequent appeal?).

As poppy says an MR would not result in being send for a reassessment, due to this confusion on part of the OP I still think the brother should take all his paperwork to his local advice agency. As I doubt we will get a clear enough picture to answer the OP's question.

calcotti

Spoonie_Turtle wrote: »

The other question is, why was he moved to UC? 'Managed migration' started mid-2019 according to all the sources I can find.

But only in Harrogate.

ADEAN

Thanks for all the help in this and your time , i will try and give you a bit more background

He was on ESA and housing benefit (bedsit) living in England he had been for a medical assessment and was deemed unfit for work or any groups related to work, in July 2018 he moved to N Ireland and he informed the DWP that he had moved and they transfer his ESA claim across to N Ireland and the ESA payments were being made as normal

It was only when he went to claim housing benefit in N Ireland that the trouble started cause they told him that to get help with housing costs they are not able to do it any other way than if he was on UC, they said nothing else will change with regards to money he will get it will be the same as he gets on ESA it will just be paid through UC, so he went on to the UC and they told him him that cause of his illness and mental state he does not need to attend the jobcentre or any groups with regards to the UC claim cause they seen that he had been deemed unfit for work by the previous medical assessment done in england on March 2018

When he got his UC payment (think his first payment for the UC was in Jan 2019)and they had put him on the basic rate as in being able to work and he asked for a mandatory reconsideration as all that had changed was his location in the UK and the rest of the circumstances were the same

I take it this was the reason that the DWP then assessed him for a medical on Dec 2019 because he had asked for a mandatory reconsideration ?

And again thanks for all the help it's really hard at times to get information from my brother and i try my best to help him i really need him to just come with me to the jobcentre with me and try and sort this out but that in its self is a struggle

calcotti

From what you have now said it is likely that the ESA to UC transfer in January 2019 with the WCA started in December 2019.

If he was in the ESA Support Group he was entitled to the LCWRA element in the UC award from day one.

DWP can reassess Capability of Work at any time after 3 months from the previous decision. It seems more likely that the December 2019 WCA was a review after nearly 2 years. If that WCA found him Fit for Work he would lose the LCWRA element from the date of that decision.

It is not clear that he has actually received a determination on the MR about not included LCWRA in his award.

I agree with Alice that his best option is to get help from a local agency. They can look at all his paperwork and, if he will allow, look through his UC journal. It will then be possible to see what may be the best/practical way to progress matters.

Alice_Holt

"It was only when he went to claim housing benefit in N Ireland that the trouble started cause they told him that to get help with housing costs they are not able to do it any other way than if he was on UC, ..., so he went on to the UC [from ESA]"

In which case he should have received an addition to his UC from the start of his claim as he was receiving ESA at the point of applying for UC (and he had a continuous ESA claim per April 17).

If this is the case (and he was only getting the basic UC) he should:
- immediately raise an MR stating that his payments when starting UC where incorrectly calculated. The relevant regulation is Reg 19 (see below), he should quote this. This will be a late MR as it relates to payments between Jan and Dec 2019, but he is still within the absolute 13 months time limit. He will need to explain why the MR is a late appeal;
- raise a complaint with the DWP - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure
- contact his MP with a copy of the complaint, and ask them to intervene with the DWP.

Ideally he should take these actions with the help and support of his local advice agency.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1230/regulation/19

"Transition from old style ESA
19.—(1) This regulation applies where—
(a)an award of universal credit is made to a claimant who was entitled to old style ESA on the date on which the claim for universal credit was made or treated as made (“the relevant date”); and
(b)on or before the relevant date it had been determined that the claimant was entitled to the work-related activity component or to the support component.

(2) Where, on or before the relevant date, it had been determined that the claimant was entitled to the work-related activity component—
(a)regulation 27(3) of the Universal Credit Regulations (award to include LCW and LCWRA elements) does not apply; and
(b)the claimant is to be treated as having limited capability for work for the purposes of regulation 27(1)(a) of those Regulations and section 21(1)(a) of the Act.



Edit: However, I am still not clear what decision his MR challenged. Can you tell us exactly what the MR was for. I'm assuming it wasn't against the decision not to implement the regulations quoted above.
What was the outcome of the MR?
Was it taken to appeal?

As noted in previous posts this:
"I take it this was the reason that the DWP then assessed him for a medical on Dec 2019 because he had asked for a mandatory reconsideration"
- would not have been the case.

He needs to go to his local advice agency with all the paperwork, and UC journal login details.