UC50 and Assessment Lies

leftholdingthebaby123

My friend has fled domestic violence from abroad, she was threatened to be shot dead on a regular basis. She is 58 and has extremely poor physical and mental health. The UC50 was completed and sent back with loads of overwhelming medical evidence. She was given a date for a telephone interview but she is too mentally incapacitated to deal with talking to people. I spoke to a man at the 0800 2888777 number and he said we need more medical evidence from her support worker.  This was provided in full detail of her not communicating effectively etc and the police involvement  relating to the DV and firearm thteats and sent the new evidence  by email on the 14 December.  I called the above number and read out the new evidence and the lady said I'm going to cancel the telephone interview for the next dsy and send back the file to Head Office so they can recommend to the Decision Maker at the DWP to make a paper based decision.  I was also given a number to call at HO as a back up. 
Now the story changes, my friend had been offered by a Housing Association a 2 bed bungalow with walk in shower,  the second bedroom for a non residential overnight carer. My friend currently receives UC at £409 per month until she is put into a UC50 Group and Housing and Council Tax Benefit.  The housing authority did the income and expenditure and said she could not afford the property,  even though there was an available income of £100 a month and that's without being placed in the support group. So now the housing association have said unless the DWP email them to say she will be paid the higher sickness benefits, she can't have the bungalow.
Going back to the assessment centre,  I called the number the lady gave me if my friend didn't get a paper based decision in a week.  I had to put my friend on the phone to verify who she was, which was so very distressing, I conducted the rest of the conversation. First the woman said they hadn't received the support workers email, then she said well it's in a PDF I might not be able to read it  then she told me to wait. She eventually came back to the phone and said that the case was in the Wolverhampton assessment centre and that to get a paper based decision they needed more medical evidence.  I was shocked as there were pages and pages describing her condition and the new evidence from her support worker which included info on her mental health and  the police protection. The woman insisted my friend had to under go a telephone assessment.  The woman also asked who had cancelled the previous telephone assessment,  I said the Assessment Centre as they said it would be a paper based recommendation. Additionally she heard my friend shouting and sobbing in the background . The woman told me to call another 0121 number, but insisted my friend would be having a telephone interview even though she's hysterical and that I should be present even though she could not provide another date for the interview. So I called the other number and the man said I'm part of the assessment centre for Birmingham,  so don't know why you have been given my number. 
Does anyone know the Wolverhampton UC phone number and finally any suggestions as to how my friend can get the Housing Association to offer her the property as she can afford it and I think they've made a mistake but don't want to admit it, they just keep saying if the DWP confirm she will be put on higher benefits they will offer her the bungalow.  Of course the DWP are not going to do that, also her current income with housing and Council Tax benefit are the same as someone on Jobseekers,  so she can afford it. How can I make these people understand?  Should I try calling the DWP and ask for her case to be transferred back to them as the inconsistencies are unbelievable and it's upset me.  Also does anyone know the Wolverhampton DWP phone number?. It's at assessment centre in Wolverhampton at the moment.  Very sorry for long post. Kind wishes.

Rubyroobs

Presumably once she accepts the tenancy, Universal credit will give her a rent element ? Is your friend in receipt of PIP?

poppy12345

It's a free telephone number that you'll need to ring, which is a national number, you won't be able to ring Wolverhampton itself.

https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/contact-universal-credit

The work capability assessment is delt with by the Health Assessment Advisory Service, not DWP. The contact number is here.

https://www.chdauk.co.uk/contact-us

If a paper based assessment can be completed they will write a report and return it to DWP, if it can't then a telephone assessment will be needed. If they can't get enough of information from this then they will need to wait until face to face assessments are back up and running again.

As has been advised, she will be entitled to help with the rent through UC.

Alice_Holt

This is why the HA say your friend cannot afford a 2 bed property:
"If you pay rent to a housing association you will get your full rent as part of your Universal Credit payment. This will be reduced by 14% if you have one spare bedroom..."

So, assuming a rent of £500 pm, your friend will only receive c.£430 pm from UC in respect of housing costs.  She will also need to pay a contribution to council tax (possibly 20%).  The basic UC allowance is due to reduce to £329 pm in April. This will leave her with:
£329 pm less (say) £70 rental contribution pm less (say) £20 pm towards council tax. 
This leaves c. £55 pw to live on - I suspect the HA may be correct in saying the property is not affordable.    

As has been mentioned a benefit she needs to apply for is PIP -
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/before-claiming/check-you-are-eligible/
(assuming she has been in the country for 2 years - see eligibility criteria).
Are you sure this is not the "sickness benefit" the HA refers to?


For an increase in her UC amount, your friend needs to be placed in the LCWRA group.  This is the criteria:
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/universal-credit-uc/uc-faq/3904-limited-capability-for-work-related-activity

calcotti

Alice, I suspect you may have meant “I suspect the HA may be correct in saying the property is unaffordable.”