Another Person Migrating From ESA IR To U/C Questions

Starbright2

Hello,

Sorry if these questions have been asked before, I've looked through threads but everyone's circumstances are different.

I'm on ESA with an IR top up Support group. I am on housing benefit I only pay for one spare bedroom. I'm on council tax benefit & I don't pay anything. I'm also on PIP low care high mobility which I know is not affected by this move. 

I understand when I apply for U/C I will get one more payment of ESA. Does the housing benefit stop & I have to pay the full rent while the U/C is being sorted out?. 

And what happens with the council tax will that stop & I need to pay until the U/C is sorted out for that too. 

I have no photo ID so I know I will need to be verified by a phone call as I'm housebound (I'm hoping I can ask for that because I won't be able to get to a job centre) 

My ESA prognosis date was 2022 I've read that moving from ESA to U/C won't trigger an assessment because it's totally different people doing them both is this correct?

Thank you & sorry if these questions have been asked a million times before 

KxMx

You will get one more payment of Housing Benefit also. 

As your UC Housing Element is then paid one month in arrears, that does produce a gap each time you are paid.
Each UC payment is for the previous calendar month, known as the Assessment Period.  

When migrating I paid that gap myself so my first payment then put me one month into credit with my rent.
Other landlords set up a payment plan to clear the arrears and get to a point where the UC payment puts your rent a month into credit.
A few landlords aren't bothered about the account being in arrears each month.

DWP does share information with Council Tax, CT will re assess your CTR award on your new UC income.
Rules for Council Tax Reduction are decided upon locally with each area running a different scheme.
Some areas treat UC differently to legacy benefits and this means some people have seen the amount they need to pay towards CT increase.
You don't need to pay anything until you get your reassessed bill once receiving UC. 

Migration from ESA means you are entitled automatically to the UC equivalent of your ESA award so no new medical assessment is required. 

Newcad

Hi Starbright,

welcome to the MSE forums.

ESA-
Your ESA is two parts, CB ESA with IR ESA top-ups. (That's what we did on Youreable back in 2019 with that LEAP exercise).

That means that your ESA will not stop completely but the CB part will continue to be paid alongside UC*.

The CB ESA will be converted to New Style ESA and paid each fortnight as it is now, it will currently pay £140.55 a week (£281.10 each fortnight).
*It will then be deducted £ for £ from your UC payment at £609.05 a month. (£140.55 x 52 / 12).

The IR ESA will be migrated into UC and become a LCWRA Element.

Moving to UC will not trigger a new reassessment on its own, we are almost all overdue one anyway and they don't appear to have the capacity to do reassessments so mainly do just new claims.

HB-
Your UC Housing Element will be the same amount as your HB was - with the difference that it will now be paid as a monthly amount, ie. your weekly HB amount x 52 / 12.

You will still have to pay for the spare bedroom.

If you currently have your HB paid direct to your landlord/HA then that can continue in UC, but you have to ask for it when claiming. (and I believe that the first HE payment is paid to you regardless).

As noted there can be some adjustment needed at the start to get your rent account so that it isn't constantly in arrears. (Although if you have already been having direct payments of HB those are 4-weeks in arrears so that any needed adjustment may have already been done).
The fact that HB runs-on for 2-weeks after you claim UC helps there, for those 2-weeks you get both Housing Benefit and then later UC Housing Element for the same 2-weeks, and don't have to pay it back.

Talk to your landlord/HA tell them you have the migration notice, and ask about getting the rent account straight

PS. I used to have my HB paid direct to the HA, but when I migrated to UC I did it differently.
I had the UC HE paid to me, and set up a Direct Debit to pay a months rent on the day that the UC went into my bank.

It works the same as direct payment to landlord, my UC HE goes into my bank and straight out again to pay my rent for the next month. I don't have to do anything other than keep an eye on my rent balance.

Council Tax Reduction-

CTR is not migrated to UC, it's a  reduction not a payment so there is nothing to be migrated.
However CTR does work differently under UC than it does under IR ESA.

Under UC there is no longer 'Passporting' to full CTR and so the council has to do an income calculation like they do for anyone not on a legacy IR benefit.

That can mean that after migrating to UC some find that they do have to pay a few pounds in Council Tax, it depends on the council.
If that happens to you and they ask you to pay something then do come back (because we know that some councils can get it wrong if a TE is involved), but that's several weeks off yet.

ID-
You should be able to do a 'biometric' ID by phone, or in extreme cases with a home visit which can take ages, although at the moment there does seem to be an issue with some DWP staff not knowing that and insisting that it has to be FTF at a jobcentre.
I think that's covered your questions above, come back if it hasn't or if you have more questions now.

GinnyBubbles

I’ve just migrated from ESA to UC and my Council Tax has gone up to £2233 after reduction.(was £480) per year. I’m in housing association and cannot afford it. Not sure if UC triggered this or new April 1st rules, my council says it’s correct. This is a huge increase, not just a little. I’m disabled and not able to work now. Age 60. 

Starbright2

Thank you KxMx I've looked at my local council website for U/C council tax payments. It says if I have no job then I pay £0. But I won't believe that until I see it in writing.

Thank you Newcad I keep going to type Nuke lol.

The amounts of money you have written does that also include the transitional top up. I get £81.50 because I'm severely disabled so it says on this years April increase letter.

I'm emailing my HA rents dept at the mo because a figure has come up on my rent account. Looks like I've been over paying since the rent increase in April. I emailed the rents dept & they told me to pay that amount!. So I have just mentioned that I have received the ESA to U/C migration letter & thinking of claiming this month I will see what they say about that. 

jockmowgli I'm so sorry to read that, that's just so awful. 

Rubyroobs

jockmowgli said:

I’ve just migrated from ESA to UC and my Council Tax has gone up to £2233 after reduction.(was £480) per year. I’m in housing association and cannot afford it. Not sure if UC triggered this or new April 1st rules, my council says it’s correct. This is a huge increase, not just a little. I’m disabled and not able to work now. Age 60. 

They each have their own rules. one of our local city councils has this year also started treating standard rate of PIP as income wheras it did not before which obviously has meant disabled people getting less council tax support. 

Newcad

Starbright2 said:

The amounts of money you have written does that also include the transitional top up. I get £81.50 because I'm severely disabled so it says on this years April increase letter.

No the amounts I gave there are purely about what the NS CB ESA will pay and how much will be deducted from UC each month for those NS ESA payments
That deduction for what you have been paid seperately as ESA is made after everything you are entitled to in UC, including any Transitional Element due, has been totaled up.

Newcad

GinnyBubbles said:

I’ve just migrated from ESA to UC and my Council Tax has gone up to £2233 after reduction.(was £480) per year. I’m in housing association and cannot afford it. Not sure if UC triggered this or new April 1st rules, my council says it’s correct. This is a huge increase, not just a little. I’m disabled and not able to work now. Age 60. 

Do you have a Transitional Element included in your UC?

If you do then ask your council to look at your Council Tax Reduction again, politely reminding them that the amount of TE you get in UC should not be counted as income for CTR purposes.
There are apparently a lot of councils getting that wrong at the moment and counting UC-TE's as 'Extra Income' above what you get as UC when they shouldn't be doing that.
Classing the TE as 'Extra Income' means that they are not giving as much CTR as they should be, and so charging too much Council Tax.

Some councils are now aware that they were doing it wrong and are putting things right where it has happened, but no doubt other councils will still be getting it wrong.

For those interested in technicalities there is a thread on rightsnet about it: https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/21058

Apparently it's an ambiguity in the ATLAS computer system that communicates between the DWP and councils that has caused some of them to get it wrong.