Confused about PIP and UC connection

Shadyocuk

if you get LCWRA or PIP then you are exempt from the benefit cap , but if you only get LCW then you are not exempt from the cap ., so someone on LCW and PIP who then loses their PIP would also lose their exemption from the benefit cap.

You state you are well below the benefit cap , but are you including a Housing Element in your figure?

It is very easy for a single person (especialy in the south) , on LCW but not LCWRA to reach the benefit cap (which does not go up in April 26 nor did it last year either ) if their claim includes Housing Element (Rent)

Muttleythefrog

Is it possible to give the numbers involved…. because as above it seems suspicious that you have lost entitlement to PIP and therefore probably the benefit cap exemption (must admit I had assumed you were getting LCWRA not LCW) and they are pointing to that, benefit cap, as cause of reduction in statement.

If the benefit cap is the cause and rightly applied then obviously it puts even more pressure on overturning the PIP decision at tribunal which may take time to arrange…. but something to seriously focus on.

Bluenunn_in_the_north

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81948764#Comment_81948764

Thanks for the info.

So why was I getting the additional money after PIP was rejected? They made an error rejecting my MR as I asked for more time to get a consultants letter, who I only see every 6 months and they promised they would wait.

What if someone lives in a very expensive housing area say a £900pm housing benefit, outside London are you saying they have to live on £312pm for everything else?

I've had zero notification from DWP of any change. It just suddenly happened.

So essentially because they didn't grant the additional time they said they would for more medical evidence, ie not in receipt of PIP DLA, I have lost nearly a 1/3 of my income due to rank incompetence, plus losing PIP nearly half, with no warning or explanation.

What are my next moves to force them to reset the clock on the MR and await my new evidence. I see him in 8 weeks.

My condition has deteriorated over the last 6 months tbh. But they just completely ignored that with the phone assessment and MR.

The MR was a joke. 2 paragraphs quoting mus-leading information about supervision and prompting. Nothing bespoke about the 3 pages of A4 I sent them. No wonder people give up. Clearly that's an internal covert policy.

Many thanks.

Bluenunn_in_the_north

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949312#Comment_81949312

Hi,

Yes, that's a fair assumption about LCWRA, I didn't know myself as am not familiar with UC at all. I didn't even realise I get monthly statements, was never told or saw it clearly on the portal.

It's so complex and opaque the system, no wonder mistakes are made.

The contributor is correct, no DLA, means benefit cap.

Not being notified or having it explained and error being made is not acceptable. I've lost nearly 50% of my income in less than 2 weeks with no explanation.

I'm going to demand on Tuesday that hey reset the MR, revoke the previous erroneous decision and await the new evidence and back-pay. I called them Thursday and they said I only had 2 months to get in new evidence, I see my consultant once every 6 months.

Thanks

Bluenunn_in_the_north

Hi.

Yes I was including the housing element but made an error, I used the London rate, not rest of UK.

Thanks

teaselMay

I'm sorry for the situation you find yourself in but you have had notification of the change, every month you receive a new statement telling you exactly how much you will receive and why. It's in your UC account under payments.

It's extremely unlikely that PIP will accept that they need to wait until your next consultant appointment to proceed, that's not how it works.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949420#Comment_81949420

NedS

If your MR has happened and been unsuccessful, your next step is to appeal the decision at tribunal:

https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal

Bluenunn_in_the_north

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949433#Comment_81949433

As already explained, I've never been told that exists or knew where it was, I assure you the menu is not obvious what it contains and unnecessarily nested in tiny headings. A simple courtesy sms message to sign in, which I do get for things, would have been nice. I received no explanation whatsoever. One is not aware of things one is not aware of, just a fait accompli.

Like I said they agreed to wait for the additional evidence verbally after specifically asking that question, if that's not the case they shouldn't have said that should they!

Bluenunn_in_the_north

Thank you. I fully intend to. 🙏🏻

Shadyocuk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81949420#Comment_81949420

Unfortunately not what you want to hear , but yes if you live outside london and are single and not exempt from the benefit cap then the max monthly universal credit payment is £1229.42 which you have to use to cover your rent and all bills food etc. Fortunately the cap does not effect council tax reduction , which can be upto 100% , different rules apply in different local authoritys and given how short of money most local authorities are ,I fear that the number offering 100% reduction is only going to decrease.

You have my sympathy , I too live in an area where the cheapest studio flats are normalyy £900+ a month (i pay less than £800 but have very expensive heating ) , and everything else keeps going up in cost (the current situation in Iran is only going to exacerbate this) and there is nothing you can do about it.

The only option for a lot of people is to move to a cheaper area , but that is easier said than done (as other threads have shown even getting acceped for a rental whilst on benefits is not easy) and the longer you have lived in an area the harder it is to leave friends, family, support networks etc behind.

One "bonus" is that living on next to nothing makes you into a real money saving expert