Wrongly advised to move to UC

I’m sure this has been dealt with frequently before, but I just can’t find the advice on it.  My client wasclaiming ESA, in Support Group, with Enhanced Disability Premium and Severe Disability Premium.  Full Housing Benefit in payment.  Last August he moved to a new house in the same LA, but was advised that his ESA claim had to end and he should claim UC.  He’s been awarded UC, seems to have had the correct ESA run-on, but even with the transitional £120 he is worse off.  It’s clearly an official error, so is it a case of asking for a revision of the two decisions that he was no longer entitled to income-related ESA and that he was no longer entitled to Housing Benefit?  And presumeably UC continues whilst they respond to our request for revision/appeal?

Ruth

Where someone is incorrectly advised to claim UC, there is no remedy through the revision/appeals process because the decision making is correct. The claimant has claimed and been correctly awarded UC which has had the inevitable legal consequences that the irESA and HB end.

The remedy would be through complaints and special payments etc. on the basis of the financial consequences of the mis-advice/maladministration.

In the early days, it turned out that it was sometimes possible for DWP to authorise a sort of extra-legal unwinding of UC and put the claimant back on legacy benefits, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore and it would just be looking at financial compensation.

Just to add: There wouldn’t have been any decision to end ESA because he moved house (even if the house was in a new LA, for that matter) - ESA ends because there is a claim to UC (you might say claiming UC ‘triggers’ an end to legacy benefits - I’m sure Elliot will like that wording). The fact that your client had a run-on of ESA indicates this process executed as intended.

There have been some cases where the LA thinks HB should stop in this circumstance - they would be incorrect. If that had happened in this case you could appeal that decision, but any reinstated HB could only run to the start of the UC claim ( + presumably a 2-week run on).

Who gave the advice?

His Local Authority. He moved to his new home, went to the Local Authority One Stop Shop to inform them of the change to his rent, and was told that he could not be paid Housing Benefit but needed to claim Universal Credit.

Or should I just wait and rely on the TP v A3 decision to compensate him eventually for the lost of the EDP?

I’d claim the compensation. Best case scenario he gets both compensation and later a backdated EDP element.