Hey Mike.
My client Camilla has been on ESA for six years. She used to get £107.60 per week.
Recently she moved onto UC and now only gets £334.91 per month
Is this right?
Amarjit
Hello Amarjit,
No. It’s wrong. Understanding how and why needs a bit of history.
How It Used To Be
Back in April 2017 the government took advantage of the fact that there was no effective political opposition to introduce the biggest benefit cut for a generation.
Before then everyone who claimed ESA, or who claimed UC on the grounds of ill-health, got extra money once their Work Capability Assessment was completed.
If your assessment said that you had both Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work Related Activity – what ESA calls the Support Group – you got a Support Component and an Enhanced Disability Premium in your ESA or an LCWRA Element in your Universal Credit. .
If your Work Capability Assessment said that you had Limited Capability for Work, but not Limited Capability for Work Related Activity you got a Work Related Activity Component in your ESA or an LCW Element in your Universal Credit.
The Cut
With effect from 3rd April 2017 the rules changed so that people who had LCW but not LCWRA no longer qualified for the extra component or element.
If you were already entitled to it, you continued to get it, but people assessed after this date could not get the extra amount.
At current rates this is a cut to ESA of £30.60 per week, or £132.89 per month from UC
And this cruel, mean-spirited, unnecessary cut was specifically targeted at people who have been assessed by the government’s own system as having a health problem or disability that puts barriers in the way of working.
Camilla’s Situation
The important point to continue to get this extra money is the date that your Work Capability Assessment took effect, not date that you made your claim.
Camilla’s was assessed as having LCW but not LCWRA before the cut took place, so she got the extra Work Related Activity Component and it continued throughout her ESA claim.
When she moved onto UC she should have been allowed the LCW Element because her old pre-2017 Work Capability Assessment carries through to the Universal Credit claim.
DWP staff often get this wrong and tell people that when they make a new claim for UC they need to have another assessment.
But even where DWP gets this right and the old assessment is carried through, this extra element sometimes gets lost.
It should be fairly starightforward to contact UC and point out the problem.
It may be necessary though to submit a revision request (aka a mandatory-reconsideration)
If you have to do this get back to me and I’ll help you do so