UC LCWRA appeal

poppy12345

tifo said:

Got LCW.

Which puts me in a worse position than I am in now.

What makes you think this? You already said that you didn't have any work search requirements. Of course you won't receive the extra money with LCW but you already had the work allowance so that doesn't change.

tifo

poppy12345 said:

tifo said:

Got LCW.

Which puts me in a worse position than I am in now.

What makes you think this? You already said that you didn't have any work search requirements. Of course you won't receive the extra money with LCW but you already had the work allowance so that doesn't change.

 It means that now i have 'prepare for work' commitments whereas before i didn't have any due to income above AET. This was discussed in some earlier posts.

I think it should have been LCWRA because i still won't be able to do many activities on most occasions, depending what they are, for work preparation.

They gave LCW under 'mobility' descriptor and schedule 8 'Risk to self' but could've done the same with LCWRA under schedule 9 if they wanted.

tifo

I'm going to ask for the statement of reasons then see my options.

I was disadvantaged because of the delay. Had I had the WCA assessment and appeal within a year of the DWP accepting the claim i'd have got LCWRA as was in a much worse position. Is it worth writing to my MP about this delay and disadvantage? The DWP and tribunal didn't even look at the delay as they only look at how I was on the day of the assessment.

NedS

tifo said:

I'm going to ask for the statement of reasons then see my options.

I was disadvantaged because of the delay. Had I had the WCA assessment and appeal within a year of the DWP accepting the claim i'd have got LCWRA as was in a much worse position. Is it worth writing to my MP about this delay and disadvantage? The DWP and tribunal didn't even look at the delay as they only look at how I was on the day of the assessment.

What does the law require them to do? Assess you on the day of the assessment or something else?

There is no point writing to your MP unless there has been a procedural error in law, unless you are asking for your MPs support to lobby for a change in the law, which isn't going to help you now.

In reality you will be required to attend an appointment once every 3-6 months for a friendly chat - how hard is that? You may even get something beneficial out of it.

tifo

NedS said:

tifo said:

I'm going to ask for the statement of reasons then see my options.

I was disadvantaged because of the delay. Had I had the WCA assessment and appeal within a year of the DWP accepting the claim i'd have got LCWRA as was in a much worse position. Is it worth writing to my MP about this delay and disadvantage? The DWP and tribunal didn't even look at the delay as they only look at how I was on the day of the assessment.

What does the law require them to do? Assess you on the day of the assessment or something else?

They can take as long as they want?

I know there'll be delays but I think 3 years is unacceptable. Maybe others think it's fine, that's how the 'system' works. In my case I lost out from it, they gained an advantage.

It was mentioned on here that I could complain about the delay.

Alice_Holt

tifo said:

I'm going to ask for the statement of reasons then see my options.

I was disadvantaged because of the delay. Had I had the WCA assessment and appeal within a year of the DWP accepting the claim i'd have got LCWRA as was in a much worse position. Is it worth writing to my MP about this delay and disadvantage? The DWP and tribunal didn't even look at the delay as they only look at how I was on the day of the assessment.

      The time to have involved your MP was when you were experiencing that DWP assessment delay.

     The tribunal is independent of the DWP. The assessment delay is not of their making.

     The tribunal is charged with deciding if the DWP made the correct assessment decision, so they will be looking at your situation at the date of the assessment (which they doubtless explained to you).

    Requesting a S of R necessitates more work for the tribunal judge (so adds to tribunal waiting times for others). Unless you have valid grounds for suspecting that an error in law was made, requesting a S of R's is not really helpful (particularly as you don't have a representative). Identifying an error in law by a FFT is specialist work usually undertaken by a few Law Centres and advice agencies.   

   I really think you should accept the outcome and move on. Requesting the S of R is not going to suddenly open up more options for you. 

poppy12345

The problem i seen here was clear, you seemed to join your two appeals together. You sent your PIP assessment report for the LCW Tribunal and your WCA report for your PIP Tribunal.

Just because DWP included some things in with your bundle, it didn't mean you should have done the same. Including quotes from guidence isn't going to help anyone's case.

What you should have concentrated on is how your conditions affect you in any work place. It seemed like to me that you were focusing on the wrong things and this didn't help your case.

tifo

Alice_Holt said:

tifo said:

I was disadvantaged because of the delay. Had I had the WCA assessment and appeal within a year of the DWP accepting the claim i'd have got LCWRA as was in a much worse position. Is it worth writing to my MP about this delay and disadvantage? The DWP and tribunal didn't even look at the delay as they only look at how I was on the day of the assessment.

      The time to have involved your MP was when you were experiencing that DWP assessment delay.

I wasn't in a state in 2019, the year they should have done it. A year later when they asked me to complete another UC50 it then got delayed due to covid regulations in the 2020 second year, the third 2021 year delay was because of the backlog.

In the May 2020 telephone appt the assessor could only recommend LCW or LCWRA but they didn't so I had to wait for a face to face appt which didn't happen anyway, it was another telephone appt in September 2021. Now that I've got a LCW decision from the tribunal doesn't that show (not prove) the DWP was wrong?

poppy12345

tifo said:

Alice_Holt said:

tifo said:

I was disadvantaged because of the delay. Had I had the WCA assessment and appeal within a year of the DWP accepting the claim i'd have got LCWRA as was in a much worse position. Is it worth writing to my MP about this delay and disadvantage? The DWP and tribunal didn't even look at the delay as they only look at how I was on the day of the assessment.

      The time to have involved your MP was when you were experiencing that DWP assessment delay.

 Now that I've got a LCW decision from the tribunal doesn't that show (not prove) the DWP was wrong?

Indeed but it's not going to help you qualify for LCWRA.

tifo

I'm not working but looking at what the rules are for LCW/LCWRA because i've had to sign new commitments to spend X hours preparing for work. They've not said what this preparation is.

I'm thinking, I've made it clear from the start of my claim that my conditions don't affect me 100% of the time but more than 50% which means I can do things in the minority of days. In reality what employer is going to let me take (possibly) half the time randomly off work so it will have to be self employment. But I was self employed before my problems in 2018 and have previously been told MIF will apply as it's an 'existing' business even if i've not worked for many years.

So self employment won't be for me as we'll lose all our UC. A job is hard because I can't randomly take days or weeks off. This means i've no real prospect of working in the near future.

A question about work allowance for LCW. I've seen the below info:

You can still be accepted as having limited capability for work/work-related activity regardless of the number of hours you work or how much you earn if:

• you have already been assessed as having limited capability for work/work–related activity yes or
• you are entitled to Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance or Armed Forces Independence Payment  - possibly.

If none of the above conditions apply, you will be automatically treated as being fit for work IF your earnings are above a threshold. This threshold is the equivalent of 16 hours per week paid at the national minimum wage. It is not the number of hours that is relevant but the earnings you receive (e.g. you could work for 10 hours but earn more than the national minimum wage and exceed the threshold).

So my question is:

16 hours a week at £9.50 is £152 x 4 is £608 so this is the current threshold. Because at least 1 of the conditions listed above apply, does that mean I don't have a threshold of £608 and if I earn above it they won't automatically treat me as fit for work?

As a couple we already use our work allowance of £573. Under LCW I would get a work allowance anyway. In this case I personally don't get a work allowance because we're using a work allowance as a couple with child and no housing benefit. Is that correct?

So anything I earn will be taxed at 55%? (we already get a deduction).