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ESA to UC

  • julie@spen-crowson.co.uk
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4 years 2 months ago #243202 by julie@spen-crowson.co.uk
ESA to UC was created by julie@spen-crowson.co.uk
My 28 year old son is currently on income related ESA and is in the Support Group. He is about to move into rented accommodation for the first time. He has been told that in order to be able to get housing benefit he will have to register a claim for UC and cancel his claim for ESA. We are really anxious about having to do this as I can't seem to find out what will happen regarding his illness when we do this. Will they just take account of what his ESA status was and continue to regard him as unfit for work, or will he have to start from scratch and prove his incapacity for work?

If he is asked to attend some sort of medical assessment before he is awarded UC how long is this likely to take?

My son has Asperger's and suffers from chronic anxiety, I am worried that having to switch to UC may just prove to be too difficult for him. I would appreciate any information anyone can give.

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4 years 2 months ago #243203 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA to UC
ctrikey

Does he receive DLA or PIP in addition to his ESA?

If he doesn't then I'm afraid the only route available to him for Housing Benefit is via a Universal Credit claim.

His existing SG award should be transferred to UC without reassessment unless he is due to have his ESA reassessed in which case he will be reassessed under UC, the criteria is exactly the same as ESA.

The only difficulty he may have is that is the transfer process is a manual one so he will need to contact the ESA department to start this process off and it will need to be managed as there is the potential for an overpayment if teh ESA and UC are paid at the same time.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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  • julie@spen-crowson.co.uk
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4 years 2 months ago #243204 by julie@spen-crowson.co.uk
Replied by julie@spen-crowson.co.uk on topic ESA to UC
Thank you, that's really helpful. He doesn't receive DLA or PIP, but we have just put in a claim for PIP. Just one more question, will he need to send in sick notes for UC as we haven't needed to for ESA?

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4 years 2 months ago #243206 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA to UC
ctrikey

He shouldn't need to but sometimes the DWP staff don't understand the process very well, if he is asked to provide one then he should push back on the requirement.

Gordon

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  • julie@spen-crowson.co.uk
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4 years 2 months ago #243208 by julie@spen-crowson.co.uk
Replied by julie@spen-crowson.co.uk on topic ESA to UC
I have just thought about something else, we have been told that as soon as we make the claim for UC we need to ring up and cancel the claim for ESA. Is this correct? I am worried that by doing this they would say he is not currently claiming ESA and therefore not in the support group. (I am possibly overthinking this!)

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4 years 2 months ago #243210 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA to UC
ctrikey

I understand your concern but it should not be an issue, however, it is important that he explains why he is closing the claim. he also needs to make sure that the UC claim is accepted before closing the ESA claim.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: julie@spen-crowson.co.uk

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