ESA to Universal Credit

Hi Mikey, just seen your reply, your quite right it is none of my business, but like you say the mods on here do it of their free time and .... geez people like me chirp in every now and then to lend a helping hand if i have an answer to help someone like you its called a community, i was not trying to be cheeky but like i say people now have a lot on there plates so am pretty sure the mods on here are grateful for any help in helping others. ps sorry for this late reply. Logan.

Hi

I’m ignoring the other post mentioned by Catherine concerning your moving house which obviously suggests you may be in a position where you have to deal with DWP which under certain circumstances may involve a move to UC as Gary has pointed out, your current post suggest you may want to move to UC as a choice. I’m sure plenty of people would advise against such a move if you can avoid it.

I don’t see any reason why somebody (not necessarily you) may choose to switch to UC. I realise that the use of the word ‘transfer’ may be key. You cannot ‘transfer’ by choice as I’m sure Gary and Catherine would agree. But you can switch pretty easily if you are not too bothered about losing some of your benefit income.

Take me: I’m getting ESA support but don’t want to go through another ESA assessment. I’m prepared to tolerate a PIP assessment as I think it is worth the effort as once you’ve gone through MR and appealed you might get something as there are a few combinations ranging from nothing to enhanced in both with half a dozen outcomes in between. No longer have a support worker to take me. Will not be going on my own as if I tried it that’s pretty much game over for my ESA claim as attending on your own with mental health problems is likely zero points in all but the exceptional cases. So by not attending I will lose ESA (no doubt after a bit of two and fro between me, Atos, and the jobcentre. Up shot of all of this is eventually I’ll say close my claim down. At which point I can (if I want and I hope I won’t need to) apply for UC. Voila!

It’s probably not relevant to your scenario as I’m sure you would prefer to stay on ESA as would anyone but the choice is open to anyone who has simply had enough of the ESA process to walk away from it.

The only thing that concerns me about UC is the stupidity of expecting you to spend 35 hours a week looking for work. It’s doable but with someone who has mental health issues it may not be appropriate.

What I intend to do is wait until I get the ESA assessment form and then approach the jobcentre and see if they can help me into work. Permitted work in the first instance as I will still be on ESA at that point. This will give me little motivation in wanting to remain on ESA. Obviously all this assumes that my condition hasn’t worsened when the time comes but even if it is still the same I don’t want to continue with it anymore. COVID in a way has made the process a bit easier what with the telephone assessments and thankfully it was a lifeline for me as going to any appointment even sitting in a waiting room is tough for me. It’s given me a bit more time. It’s getting harder to get these benefits and I think it makes sense to prepare for the inevitability of coming off at some point. Look at skills that interest you and get ready for when you have no choice but to get work rather than UC. Even a skill that lets you work from home. Unfortunately I’m struggling to find something. Looked at proofreading but it is much more difficult than it looks.

Anyway, this might be my last post as I think I joined this time last year. Can’t remember exact date does not appear on profile. I don’t think there is likely to be anything else I need to ask before it ends. But I would like to thank the mods and others who have responded to my questions. Just wish I had found this forum much sooner.

P.S. Can I keep the PDF’s after my subscription ends for my personal use? I appreciate they might be out of date but I’m sure they will still have plenty of information that I can use (mainly for PIP).

Thanks again.

Mark

Mark wrote: Hi

I don’t see any reason why somebody (not necessarily you) may choose to switch to UC.

Mark

Mark,
There is a huge reason some people, injured veterans in particular want to switch from ESA to Universal Credit.

Namely that under ESA there is only a £10 disregard of War Disablement Pensions, but under Universal Credit the whole basic War Disablement Pension is disregarded.

The difference can amount to over £140 per week in favour of the claimant.

However, if any War Pension additional supplementary allowances such as War Pensioners Allowance for Lowered Standard of Occupation (ALSO) is paid with the War Disablement Pension, be sure to get a manual calculation carried out by the Veterans Welfare Service or RBL Money as the on-line benefits calculators (and often the DWP) fail to differentiate between pre-April 2009 claimed ALSO and post-April 2009 claimed ALSO (the former is not counted in working out Universal Credit, but the latter is).

Thus, for injured veterans with a War Disablement Pension the online benefits checkers are invariably inaccurate.