Homeless and claiming IR ESA and DLA

Someone I know became homeless but is still based in the same borough of London, Wandsworth, they originally claimed their IR ESA and DLA.

(1) Can they continue to receive their ESA and DLA as a homeless person?

(2) Can they give the DWP a ‘care of’ address in Wandsworth so they can still receive benefits mail from the DWP?

(3) If this new ‘care of’ address is in the same brorough of Wandsworth that they originally claimed the above benefits, will that mean they can continue on the original old benefit (until Wandsworth eventually migrate old claimants to PIP and UC in the next years)?

(4) Would notifying the DWP of becoming homeless and giving a ‘care of’ address automatically be equivalent to a ‘change of circumstances’ that would trigger re-assessment and migration, regardless of whether the ‘care of’ address is in the same Wandsworth borough they’ve always lived?

The reason for asking is that being called for reassessment and migrating to UC and PIP now, at such a stressful and unsettled time, would be disastrous for him so we are hoping that, for the time being, a ‘care of’ address in the same borough would be equivalent to a change of address in the same borough, which wouldn’t trigger re-assessment and migration to new benefits.

Look forward to hearing from you and many thanks for your help.

Gordon,

Many thanks for you reply. We are relieved

I am confused though, as I thought that if people move to a different borough they automatically have to be reassessed and migrated to PIP and UC if that new borough has already transferred old claimants to the new UC and PIP. I read that somewhere...Could you clarify please?

Also, are you saying that if he were to make a claim housing benefit then this would be regarded as a change in circumstance for reassessment and migration to UC and PIP?

Actually, he didn’t used to claim housing benefit and hopefully he will find a place where he won’t need to claim housing benefit. So thankfully we don’t foresee this being a difficulty.

So just to double check, is the DWP are fine with having a care of address, C/O