UC migration rent increase difficulty

Hello one of our members has had to migrate to UC from IRESA and tax credits. There have been a lot of problems and errors by UC to date. This was finally settling down, but since their rent increase came into effect on 7th April their monthly net payment has payment has gone down by £15.34 per month. I’ve queried this with UC and they say it is because the rent has gone up. They have implemented the rent increase, & standard allowance has gone up, as has LCWRA amount in accordance with annual increases, as expected transitional protection has gone down, but by more than those increases. What they have done is matched her total gross payment before deductions to the ESA payment, but because the rent has gone up the net payment has consequently gone down, even though they don’t suffer any bedroom tax deduction as they’re on enhanced PIP. Does the transitional protection not apply to increase the net payment, is it only the gross payment before deductions which has to match what was paid before , as if so, this is going to result in an effective decrease year on year? Thanks in anticipation, Rachel

Thanks David, the deductions are for water payment and water arrears plus her rent in full- the increased amount. The figures are:
Standard allowance increased from 393.45 to 400.14;
Rent increased from 463. 17 to 478.17;
LCWRA increased from 416.19 to 423.27;
TP decreased from 406.95 to 378.18;
Total entitlement before deductions static at 1679.76;
Deductions:-
Water payment static at 39.28 & water arrears deduction increased from 19.67 to 20.01;
Rent payment increased from 463.17 to 478.17;
Total deductions increased from 522.12 to 537.46;
Total after deductions decreased from 1156.74 to 1142.30
So basically although they’ve increased her rent payment and allowances, the corresponding reduction in her TP means she receives less net, and is effectively having to cover the rent increase herself, the slightly increased water payment accounts for only a few pence of the increase. Is this correct? Many thanks again, Rachel

Hi David, I had a horrible feeling that was the case in terms of the year on year reduction with rent increases. I didn’t know about the debt deductions being cancelled. They certainly weren’t so we’ll look into this with her. Unfortunately, she was migrated last October so it is way beyond the first assessment period. I’ve never been able to get details of the calculation of her TP – after an initial complaint when they told her she had a minus entitlement to UC (!) I she did get a response with a letter uploaded apparently with a breakdown, but it was uploaded in a format that was impossible to open and we’ve never been able to get them to send a fresh copy, but I will request that again now if that is what you need – can you please let me know what information is needed to check that and I will obtain it. Very many thanks again, Rachel Rees.