£300pm better off on UC?

Kris35

Well, I do think they should let us know if we are entitled to more money rather than automatically putting me on their cheaper award when I'm renting privately and am left barely able to afford to live. For four years I've had £200 a month to live on.

I'm grateful I've been getting something but doesn't seem right to me. And Poppy, I didn't claim ESA - they put me on it!

pinkjune

I was in ESA Support Group and decided to claim UC instead as figured I was better off by £100+ a month. However I wasn't receiving the Severe disability premium (that you get for living alone) with my ESA. I think if you are receiving SDP you are worse off on UC as there is no SDP element. 

calcotti

pinkjune said:... I think if you are receiving SDP you are worse off on UC as there is no SDP element. 

If you are getting the SDP you would indeed be worse off but it is a moot point because if you get the SDP you are currently not allowed to claim UC anyway.

NedS

Kris35 said:

And Poppy, I didn't claim ESA - they put me on it!

You may think that but you are wrong. No one is put on benefits. You have to make a claim, and be eligible to receive benefits. The responsibility lies solely with you.

Spoonie_Turtle

oh_really said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Kris35 said:

poppy12345 said:

Those in the Support Group for ESA are better off claiming UC LCWRA (providing they are not claiming SDP) even before the increases happen for UC due to Covid19.

Do be aware though that the increase in Standard allowance and LHA are only in place for 1 year.

Poppy can I ask you please: If I'm better off on UC, which I am, why didn't the DWP tell me? So for four years or so, I'd been getting around £950 a month in total when my rent was £695. Do you know if I can back claim the money that I was obviously eligible for?

Thanks.

It's their responsibility to administer the benefits people claim (and arguably they're not the best at that job in the first place) but it's not their job to check everyone's getting all that they should be entitled to.
[Whether it ought be part of their remit or not is a separate matter.]

Flying pigs will ride unicorn before that'll happen 

I quite agree. But with the department's track record, would you trust their advice to be unfailingly accurate and in the claimant's best interests each time?

(EDIT: Yes of course in theory that should have been part of their job from the start, but as things stand, it would probably be a terrible idea to make it part of their job in any near or medium future. So much would need to change before it could even be considered.)

poppy12345

Kris35 said:

Well, I do think they should let us know if we are entitled to more money rather than automatically putting me on their cheaper award when I'm renting privately and am left barely able to afford to live. For four years I've had £200 a month to live on.

I'm grateful I've been getting something but doesn't seem right to me. And Poppy, I didn't claim ESA - they put me on it!

That wouldn't be physically possible because of everyone's individual circumstances. There's benefit calculators out there on the internet for people to use to check they are claiming the correct benefits. Claiming ignorance also won't help.

I also agree with Neds, you're the one that claimed the ESA, they didn't "put" you on it.

Spoonie_Turtle

Kris35 said:

Well, I do think they should let us know if we are entitled to more money rather than automatically putting me on their cheaper award when I'm renting privately and am left barely able to afford to live. For four years I've had £200 a month to live on.

NedS said:

Kris35 said:

And Poppy, I didn't claim ESA - they put me on it!

You may think that but you are wrong. No one is put on benefits. You have to make a claim, and be eligible to receive benefits. The responsibility lies solely with you.

Indeed. It's not like an energy company putting you on their most expensive tariff!

The only 'putting people on' certain benefits will be if managed migration to UC ever happens, and the fact there are transitional rules in place to make sure people aren't worse off when that happens rather shows that UC is not universally the better option, not by a long way.

NedS

Spoonie_Turtle said:

oh_really said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Kris35 said:

poppy12345 said:

Those in the Support Group for ESA are better off claiming UC LCWRA (providing they are not claiming SDP) even before the increases happen for UC due to Covid19.

Do be aware though that the increase in Standard allowance and LHA are only in place for 1 year.

Poppy can I ask you please: If I'm better off on UC, which I am, why didn't the DWP tell me? So for four years or so, I'd been getting around £950 a month in total when my rent was £695. Do you know if I can back claim the money that I was obviously eligible for?

Thanks.

It's their responsibility to administer the benefits people claim (and arguably they're not the best at that job in the first place) but it's not their job to check everyone's getting all that they should be entitled to.
[Whether it ought be part of their remit or not is a separate matter.]

Flying pigs will ride unicorn before that'll happen 

I quite agree. But with the department's track record, would you trust their advice to be unfailingly accurate and in the claimant's best interests each time?

It is not DWP's job to offer benefit advice. Would you expect your bank to offer independent financial advice? No, as potentially there is a conflict of interests, hence why independent organisations exist (such as CAB) which can offer such advice, impartially and independently of DWP.

Kris35

NedS said:

Kris35 said:

And Poppy, I didn't claim ESA - they put me on it!

You may think that but you are wrong. No one is put on benefits. You have to make a claim, and be eligible to receive benefits. The responsibility lies solely with you.

Enough already. I was told to claim ESA by my support worker at that time.

poppy12345

Kris35 said:

NedS said:

Kris35 said:

And Poppy, I didn't claim ESA - they put me on it!

You may think that but you are wrong. No one is put on benefits. You have to make a claim, and be eligible to receive benefits. The responsibility lies solely with you.

Enough already. I was told to claim ESA by my support worker at that time.

That's not DWP as you stated. You also still had to claim it at that time. Also depending on how long ago you claimed ESA, UC may not have been available at that time.

I totally understand how annoyed you are but there's benefit calulators out there that you could have used. It doesn't matter how much you complain i'm afraid you won't receive any backdated money because you were claiming ESA and housing benefit and all the money you were entitled to for those particular benefits based on your circumstances.