ESA to UC migration info

FannyAdamski

TimeLord1 said:

To the question on work, if your doctor or specialist has stated you're unfit to maintain employment then all you say' is I'm unable to do so because of medical reasons don't be ashamed not your fault you became unwell. Happy new year to you. 

@TimeLord1, 

To be honest, I wasn't expecting that question, so it threw me. Because of what I'd read from other people, I thought I would just be getting my ID verified in order to progress my UC claim to payment, whatever that will be (where's the LCWRA element in today's entitlement calculation?) I should have answered the question in the way that you have quoted. My appointment today has confirmed to me that ESA Support Group status means f--k all in this process. Thanks for your kindly reply, TimeLord, and a very Happy New Year to you.

FA 

FannyAdamski

poppy12345 said:

Your UC will include standard element £393.45/month plus LCWRA element £416.19/month, as well as help with the rent, if you claim this. 

If part of your ESA was contributions based this will continue as normal and your fortnightly payment will be £276.40. This will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement at a rate of £598.86/month and then UC will top up your income. Therefore you would receive ESA fortnightly and UC monthly. 

If all of your ESA was IR then it will stop completely after 2 weeks and all your money will be through UC once a month. 

As your ESA didn't include the SDP then LCWRA with UC will pay more than what your ESA did. 

Thanks for your reply @poppy12345.

When I got my UC migration notice I didn't actually know what type of ESA award I have been getting. Had assumed both Contr-ESA with I-R top-up, but more recently was quite convinced I-R only. I did the calculations for both and came up with the same amounts as you have quoted. I know what I should end up getting, depending on type of ECA, etc, but what the Jobcentre employee told me today regarding my entitlement didn't quite make sense to me. She said that my ESA would continue (along with the UC standard rate) and repeated that - but without mentioning Contr-based ESA or New Style ESA - even when I expressed my belief that my ESA would stop. So maybe I was/am getting Contr-ESA. Or she was actually referring to a final 'run-on' ESA payment. Either way, my calculated UC entitlement does not seem to include the LCWRA element, although I was in the ESA Support Group. 

 

Happy New Year, Poppy

Newcad

Hi @FannyAdamski

Good to hear that you found the JC staff not to be as bad as you perhaps expected.

To explain a couple of things that you bring up:

The question about work is a standard question that they have to ask everyone to be able to tick a box onscreen.

A lot of the questions are like that, just to let them tick a box that they know needs ticking anyway, but they still have to ask first.

She didn't add the LCWRA element on that post-it note and only put the 'Standard Alliwance' - That will simply be because that was all that her screen was showing her at that time, - your Support Group status from ESA will not have been fully confirmed yet, it can take a week or two  but it will (should) be confirmed well before your first UC payment is due.

PS. The computer already knows that it's waiting for that confirmation from ESA, if it didn't already know that then it would be asking you for a Fit Note.

FannyAdamski

@Newcad, thank you for your reassuring clarification re: the fact that there is still a bit of a delay in the system confirming & applying the LCWRA element. I had wrongly assumed that because the recent 'fix' to stop the system generating requirements for fit notes, etc, for ESA migrants meant that LCWRA was now being immediately applied. Of course, I understand that the Jobcentre employee could only tell me what the system was telling her at the time. Happy New Year to you. 

ElvisDog

Ive migrated from ESA SG to UC, im certainly worse off,  rather than better off. I have received a CT bill saying that i no longer receive full CT benefit that i received before i migrated but I now only get £4.00 a week CT benefit. Ive recieved a bill saying i need to pay £398.40 by 1st Feb 2025. I'll also get a new CT bill for April 2025 up to March 2026 which is expected to be more than 24/25 year's CT bill. I have also had a weeks rent deducted from my payment,  because UC migration takes 5 weeks before you receive a payment. 

My mental and physical health has deteriorated considerably the last few years and this migration has been anything but easy. I've received different information from the different advisers I've spoken to. I'm struggling to cope now as I don't know what my rights are regarding other benefits, the ESA severe disability premium i get fortnightly is taken off my UC claim which I get monthly, I don't know how it's worked out on 5 week months, does it mean that 5 weeks ESA is deducted from the UC which is the same payment every month? This would mean that I'll be worse off on the 5wk months. 

I've seen information that claims that UC pays 52 weeks every year, where as on a leap year the Housing benefits are worked out as 53 weeks that means I have had to pay for the extra week from my benefits I receive. 

Frustrated and confused it's been a bad experience migrating to UC from ESA SG. It's been so much harder than I ever imagined it would be. I'm grateful for any advice. I also live with my two sons who both have Autism and other Neurodivergent disorders. Im an underlying carer for my older son, both myself and older son have carer's with direct payments. My youngest son who left full time education in August has UC without any premiums.  He wants to find work or an apprenticeship placement but he has to provide sick notes from our GP, just to get support that he needs to accomplish this.

8dayweek

ElvisDog said:

Ive migrated from ESA SG to UC, im certainly worse off,  rather than better off. I have received a CT bill saying that i no longer receive full CT benefit that i received before i migrated but I now only get £4.00 a week CT benefit. Ive recieved a bill saying i need to pay £398.40 by 1st Feb 2025. I'll also get a new CT bill for April 2025 up to March 2026 which is expected to be more than 24/25 year's CT bill. I have also had a weeks rent deducted from my payment,  because UC migration takes 5 weeks before you receive a payment. 

My mental and physical health has deteriorated considerably the last few years and this migration has been anything but easy. I've received different information from the different advisers I've spoken to. I'm struggling to cope now as I don't know what my rights are regarding other benefits, the ESA severe disability premium i get fortnightly is taken off my UC claim which I get monthly, I don't know how it's worked out on 5 week months, does it mean that 5 weeks ESA is deducted from the UC which is the same payment every month? This would mean that I'll be worse off on the 5wk months. 

I've seen information that claims that UC pays 52 weeks every year, where as on a leap year the Housing benefits are worked out as 53 weeks that means I have had to pay for the extra week from my benefits I receive. 

Frustrated and confused it's been a bad experience migrating to UC from ESA SG. It's been so much harder than I ever imagined it would be. I'm grateful for any advice. I also live with my two sons who both have Autism and other Neurodivergent disorders. Im an underlying carer for my older son, both myself and older son have carer's with direct payments. My youngest son who left full time education in August has UC without any premiums.  He wants to find work or an apprenticeship placement but he has to provide sick notes from our GP, just to get support that he needs to accomplish this.

Have you reapplied for Council Tax reduction? Some local Councils will use information from UC to automatically apply reductions etc whereas some will require you to make a whole new claim for CTR. Unfortunately UC cannot control something it doesn’t administer like CTR. 

If you had an overlap of ESA-IR in your first payment of UC this will be because your ESA-IR was paid beyond the 2wk run on period. 

You’re not receiving SDP every fortnight (it’s not a standalone benefit, it’s a premium paid on top of income-related legacy benefits). The payment you’re receiving every fortnight would be New Style ESA. 

This would be because your previous ESA award would have been made up of a combination of contributions based and income related ESA. 

Income-related ESA ends upon migration to UC but the contributions-based ESA is converted to New Style ESA and continues. 

The New Style ESA deducted from your UC will be a standard amount (UC will convert your ESA award into a monthly figure when deducting it’s it won’t vary - from memory it’s £598ish per month). 

If you received SDP within your prior ESA award, you should get Transitional Protection within your UC Award. Similarly if there was a Carers Premium of your prior ESA this would be considered when calculating Transitional Protection. Does your UC statement show any Transitional Protection? 

Regarding Housing Element - UC would convert your Rent to a monthly figure (using a standard 52 week year) and pay this. The 53 week thing is largely down to Councils charging weekly, with Rent due each Monday (which tied in with HB being paid 4 weekly). There isn’t an “extra week” in 2024, just 53 Mondays. 

I don’t understand the last part. In order to be for your fitness for work to be assessed you need to provide Fit Notes and undergo the Work Capability Assessment. Fit Notes also relax or ease somewhat your work search and work-related requirements. If your Son doesn’t want to have their fitness for work assessed because they’re able to seek or take up employment etc then they can update their UC claim to state their Health does not affect their ability to work and stop providing Fit Notes, which means their Work Capability Assessment referral will be withdrawn and they’ll continue as effectively what was a “Jobseeker” in old money. 

poppy12345

ElvisDog said:

My youngest son who left full time education in August has UC without any premiums.  He wants to find work or an apprenticeship placement but he has to provide sick notes from our GP, just to get support that he needs to accomplish this.

There's no disability premiums payable when claiming UC. They were for legacy benefits only. Your son needs to report his health condition and provide a fit note within 7 days of that. He will then be referred for a work capability assessment (same as ESA) if he's found to have LCWRA then he'll be entitled to an extra £416.19/month from the 4th month after he provided his first fit note. He must continue to provide fit notes until a decision is made on his WCA..

FannyAdamski

@Robbie64@KxMx@TimeLord1

@Newcad

Hello everybody,

Seems like I was receiving contribution-based ESA after all...


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FA 🤷‍♀️

KxMx

At least you know now. 

All you'll have to do is a commitments interview for NS ESA, this can be done by phone, and is a formality only your sole commitment will be to keep them informed of any changes.

FannyAdamski

@KxMx,

When will I have to have a commitments interview for NS ESA ? The letter above didn't say anything about an interview/appointment, though it did mention reporting any changes and came with a 'Reporting changes' booklet.

FA