Health Assessment and UC claim closed

darklight2

Hi there,

I was receiving UC due to health issues. I started working full time 4 weeks ago and my UC claim has now been closed because my earnings are higher. I still have a UC health assessment coming up next week. Would I still need to attend this as my claim has been closed? I still have health issues and not sure how long I'll last at the job.

Thanks

Sam.

calcotti

Do you know what your current maximum UC entitlement is and how it is made up? How much are your earnings? In many cases if there is a WCA pending the claim should be kept open even if there is currently a nil entitlement.

darklight2

calcotti wrote: »

Do you know what your current maximum UC entitlement is and how it is made up? How much are your earnings? In many cases if there is a WCA pending the claim should be kept open even if there is currently a nil entitlement.

Thanks for the reply. I used to get about £300 a month and also had a £500 work allowance. My earnings are now about £1700 per month after NIC but I'm not sure about the future. I'm having to cabs to and from work everyday to keep it up. They closed my claim yesterday as soon as my employer reported my earnings to HMRC.

calcotti

Were you already getting the LCWRA element in your UC?

What were your earnings previously?

darklight2

calcotti wrote: »

Were you already getting the LCWRA element in your UC?

What were your earnings previously?

Yes I was already getting it, my previous earnings were only £100 to £200 a month from a part time job.

calcotti

OK, in that case UC are correct to close the claim. I don’t know the answer to the question about the health assessment in these circumstances. Logically if you don’t have a UC claim they shouldn’t be doing the health assessment. However I’m not sure if there are other considerations which would affect your situation if you find you cannot manage the increased hours and I haven’t got time to look through guidance at the moment.

Spoonie_Turtle

darklight2 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I used to get about £300 a month and also had a £500 work allowance. My earnings are now about £1700 per month after NIC but I'm not sure about the future. I'm having to cabs to and from work everyday to keep it up. They closed my claim yesterday as soon as my employer reported my earnings to HMRC.

Not related to your initial question but this is ringing alarm bells. Access to Work may well be worth looking into, as no doubt these are higher transport fares than you would be paying if you had no health issues.

(Before my body gave up completely, I was spending 40% of my part-time income on taxis to work - I didn't last long enough to ever get round to applying for AtW though so I don't know how the process works in practice.)

huckster

I would think that the health assessment goes ahead and that the decision is added to the claim. This is just in case you needed to make a re-claim.

The theory is that your existing entiltlement to LCWRA must be reviewed in accordance with the original decision. Therefore the assessment to review whether LCWRA goes ahead and the decision is added.

If I were in your shoes, I think I would make a re-claim every time they close it due to earnings and add a journal note that you have re-claimed as you are awaiting outcome of health assessment re LCWRA entitlement.

jobseeking_help

WCA is about your capability to work - if you are in work at the time of the WCA I would suggest there is little point ? 

Spoonie_Turtle

jobseeking_help said:

WCA is about your capability to work - if you are in work at the time of the WCA I would suggest there is little point ? 

It's to do with capability to work in general. You might find a job with very accommodating employers, but it sounds like OP may be struggling to sustain it full time already. Having LCW/RA on their claim would be exceptionally helpful to prevent sanctions should they find they need to reduce their hours or even have to give up the job (of course hopefully not, but useful to have that safety net just in case).