UC claimed and then sick note issued pre dating date of UC claim - ESA claim possible?

Apologies if this has been covered already. Claimant claims UC but then issued with a sick note pre dating the UC date of claim. Can they then claim ESA from the earlier date [they are within 3 months] with the UC claim lapsing because at the date of UC claim they did not meet one of the gateway conditions i.e. being fit for work? Thanks, Brian.

No - unfortunately once UC has been paid you can’t go back unless the claim comes to an end - if they haven’t been paid yet you can give the correct information and the UC claim should be stopped and the ESA claim should go from the date of the UC claim.

The question is whether they met the gateway conditions at the point of claim which either they did as there was no sick note at that point - or they answered incorrectly and ticked the boxes to say they weren’t sick. Whichever it is, if they ticked to say they met all the gateway conditions when they claimed - and they must have done to get through to the claim if it was online - then the claim is valid.

There’s some very useful discussion about the lobster pot and gateway conditions from Martin Williams at CPAG here - http://www.cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/CPAG-opening-gateway-UC-claims-conference-notes-Sept2015.pdf

Thank you for the reply Daphne and the link. It’s as I expected. Brian