Move to Universal Credit

shar64

Hello all
my husband and I are having to move to UC from legacy benefits after getting migration letter. I have an appointment at jobcentre but as my husband is disabled they are going to do a home visit to verify his ID, they have said this could be 6-8 weeks away and we are not entitled to any payment until both of us have had ID verified, how are we supposed to pay rent, bills and eat during this time?! our other benefits are only going to continue for 2 weeks so we could be without money for ages, we are both very stressed by all this and would appreciate advice, thank you

KxMx

Your husband can request a biographical id check, this is done by telephone and involves him answering questions about his personal details only he would know the answers to.
Would that be suitable? 

born_again

Is there no way you can get your husband to a JC to do the ID checks at the same time as yours?

shar64

they have told us it has to be a face to face interview, he is bedbound so really hard to get him out!

8dayweek

Your previous benefits won’t stop until ID verification is complete. 

Essentially the ID verification is the “trigger” that instructs the other benefits to end etc. on the basis a UC claim has been instigated. 

iklepig

shar64 said:

they have told us it has to be a face to face interview, he is bedbound so really hard to get him out!

We were in a similar situation. We were told that there would be 2-3 months long wait for a home visit and no UC payment during that time. I had exactly the same thoughts as you regarding paying our rent, heating, food bills. I was told these are the rules. They wouldn’t allow us a phone verification. The alternative was try to get my partner into the job centre somehow. We simply couldn’t afford to be without money while we waited (the 5 week mandatory minimum wait was going to be bad enough)!so we borrowed a wheelchair and a couple of friends (one with a car) helped me physically get my partner to the job centre. We had a brief appointment (10 mins?) they had to ask a series of questions as we didn’t have the ID they wanted. Then had to get my partner home. Without the 2 big lads, a neighbours wheelchair and the car then I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. 

I feel it was unreasonable and the hassle of getting my partner there was unnecessary. I feel it was to check that they are still alive and I’m not claiming for a dead partner! I also feel like the long waits for home visits without money is to put you under pressure to find a way to get ill people into the job centre for the DWPs convenience.

I don’t know the extend of your partner’s health issues but we had the same issue and found the DWP were steadfast in their position (no matter how difficult it was for us).if there’s any way you can get you partner to the DWP office then I would do that. The appointment itself was extremely brief and no more appointments needed. As I said, I’m sure they just wanted physical sight of my partner to check the were alive!!

shar64

thanks all for replies, we have now bought a wheelchair and my son is taking time off work to get him to JC, they are so nasty about things! I explained he has no driving licence as it was taken away after his stroke and no picture ID but they were really sniffy about it all! they told us previous benefits stop 2 weeks after claim for UC so we really stressed now, this is so hard to cope with, half the time he cannot talk or walk, he is incontinent, immobile and hard to cope with, this is just going to make things worse, he is nearly 75 and I feel this is a poor way of treating people, our local high street is full of drunks and druggies and feel like asking why they not hassling them? sorry, rant over!!