migration ESA to UC - LCW decision on ESA claim not accepted for UC

Hi
This is regarding a claimant who was on ESA in WRAG for some years now. He moved back into LB Hammersmith and Fulham in October and had to claim UC because of his housing costs.  His ESA should be income-related.

He is currently subject to work search requirements (look for work and apply for jobs recommended by work coach). He has explained about ESA but work coach was not interested.

His support worker went to a meeting with him today.  He provided work coach with all some of the information linked in the thread about UC and previous ESA claim without assessment: http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/10437/  I would have thought this would have made it double clear that someone who had actually passed WCA would have his LCW carried over to UC.

But work coach said that transitional provisions do not apply in digital area (???) and that he needs to be assessed again from scratch.  Although she also to the support worker that there was no waiting period as claimant was already on ESA.

It is actually not clear what if anything he is being paid at the moment, his support worker has not found anything resembling a decision on claimant’s UC online account, although there is something in the journal about no waiting period and that his ESA award will affect his UC.  I have asked support worker to check whether client is actually still receiving ESA payments.

I just wanted to check whether the work coach could actually be right about LCW being lost when claiming UC in digital area, even though this does not seem to make any sense?

And if they are wrong, how can the claimant get his LCW recognised in his UC claim, if there is no formal decision he can challenge?

Hi Andrea

As far as I can see reg 19 of the UC(TP) Regs allows for the LCW element to be included on transfer to ESA - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1230/regulation/19

Having looked in the Sweet and Maxwell books commentary too, there is nothing to suggest that this does not apply in a full service area - I would definitely go back to them - let us know how you get on

Hi Daphne

Thanks for that. I think regulation 19 of the TP regs was one of the pieces of paper the support showed to the work coach, but she was not impressed.

This whole UC system is so frustrating, as there seem to be no proper decisions made (or if they are, they are not communicated), so there is nothing that can be used to start a formal challenge.

This case could even more bizarre, as it looks as if the claimant might still be receiving ESA at the moment.  The support worker is going to check on this with JCP.

And I have to check the client’s old documents ( I think he might be one the handful of clients I have whose award of IS was converted into ESA CB for no apparent reason).  If he is on ESA CB, then according to the work coach’s logic, this guy would be subject to a separate (UC) WCA for receiving his housing costs alongside his ESA CB.

Another possibility is that the work coach misunderstood the meaning of work related activities. The claimant commitment is headed with something like work-search requirements, and the messages inviting him to the fortnightly meetings have work-search in the title.  The commitment document itself looks like a mixture of WRAs and work search.  He is supposed to look for work,but only for 12 hours a week, and to apply for jobs suggested by his work coach: But he is also supposed to go to a computer course and do some voluntary gardening work (in winter?).

I will keep you up-to-date.