× Search rightsnet
Search options

Where

Benefit

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

From

to

Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

UC full service and claimants with complex needs - case studies wanted

Daphne
Administrator

rightsnet writer / editor

Send message

Total Posts: 3537

Joined: 14 March 2014

Julia Harris at Lambeth Council is collating case studies of problems that arise for claimants with complex needs using the UC full service as she is providing information to the lead on the issue within UC , Jonathan Harris, to help inform the support they offer. The more case studies the better!

Either post examples here or message me direct and I will pass stuff on to Julia - thanks.

zoeycorker
forum member

Welfare Rights Unit - Leeds City Council

Send message

Total Posts: 88

Joined: 2 September 2013

Daphne - I’ve come across one that I don’t know how to deal with right now so this may be relevant…
20 year old female - still lives at home with her mum - in receipt of PIP due to severe anxiety and distress - mum is claiming carers allowance for her - she is not actually claiming UC or even ESA due to the severity of her anxiety and social phobia due to being attacked at the age of 11 by bullies in school - cannot make contact with anyone - when I visited the home to see the mum on a separate matter she hid in the kitchen - so I’m wondering how I can overcome the barrier to claiming UC due to the requirement to attend JCP…
any help would be most welcome.

Daphne
Administrator

rightsnet writer / editor

Send message

Total Posts: 3537

Joined: 14 March 2014

Hi Zoey - a couple of suggestions from Julia if she lives in a full service area -

Daughter makes the claim and phones UCFS claim line explain health issues and claim on line. Get fit note from GP to explain she cannot attend JCP and confirm how health issues affect her and as much supporting evidence from any involved health / education professionals and Mum asks for an appointment to take this to local JCP an explains why daughter cant attend. The issue with needing to attend the JCP to provide the evidence / make the claimant commitment is an issue I have raised with complex needs team and have yet to receive a response on how they will manage claims re when the health issues present an unsurmountable barrier to attending their local JCP and the person is not in hospital ( requirement for new claimants who are not in hospital to attend JCP for claimant commitment and provision of supporting evidence)

Consider Mum becoming DWP appointee whilst her level of anxiety prevents her from making contact with services. Mum D phones UCFS claim line explain health issues and she wants to become an appointee, makes a claim on line and DWP visting service attend to discuss the appointee. Daughter would still need to get fit note from GP and letter to explain why she cannot attend JCP   - again suggest provide as much supporting evidence from any involved health / education professionals.  Mum asks for an appointment to take this to local JCP an explains why daughter cant attend. The issue with needing to attend the JCP to provide the evidence / make the claimant commitment is an issue I have raised with complex needs team and have yet to receive a response on how they will manage claims re when the health issues present an unsurmountable barrier to attending their local JCP and the person is not in hospital ( requirement for new claimants who are not in hospital to attend JCP for claimant commitment and provision of supporting evidence)

Alice SF
forum member

Welfare Benefit & Debt Advisor, Hounslow Foodbank Project, Staying First London

Send message

Total Posts: 43

Joined: 13 March 2012

Claimant has multiple health issues meaning she is unable to travel any distance from her home and lives alone with minimal support network.  Contacted our service at the foodbank drop-in for assistance as she had her ESA claim closed for failure to attend a work capability assessment and was struggling to manage her UC claim that someone (a neighbour I think) had helped her to apply for.  She is a hoarder so refuses access to anyone she is unsure of including myself as her advisor which has made dealing with her case much harder to manage with no ability for implicit consent or acceptance of a written form of authority.  She is unable to regularly check her journal as she does not have internet access and on bad days can’t even make it to the local library.  She also struggles with technology.

Claimant had his commitments and evidence interviews booked at the job centre but became critically ill and was rushed into hospital.  Placed into isolation as he had contracted MRSA.  He had no access to the internet to be able to log in and update his journal to rearrange the appointment and could not get through to a real person at the job centre.  I was unable to visit him during this period and could not contact DWP on his behalf as he was unable to put a note on his journal giving permission.  I contacted our DWP partnership manager who contacted the job centre and was able to speak to his work coach.  Despite this, his claim was still closed whilst he was in hospital.

Daphne
Administrator

rightsnet writer / editor

Send message

Total Posts: 3537

Joined: 14 March 2014

Thanks Alice - have passed it on…

ASH
forum member

Welfare officer - St Christopher's Hospice, SE London

Send message

Total Posts: 110

Joined: 16 June 2010

Don’t have a particular case to offer and don’t know if this counts a complex needs - but almost all the UC claims we deal with do not get the LCWRA element added and we have had to chase up 3/4 times (so far) saying DS1500 with PIP.  I have 3 chasing up at the moment and another which was awarded the day he died.  Because of this I have been unable to ascertain if they backdated it properly.

One of my 3 current has died already and I am looking to get joint claim LCWRA backdated 6 months.  Not sure how that will go at all as they have wiped off all information from joint claim. 

Also they have still not made it possible to report a death on joint claims.  The client was very upset that she had to report it as the end of her relationship. 

So three issues for me .  1.  Better procedures for special rules claims and award of LCWRA
2. The partner still should be able to access details of the joint claim if partner dies
3. Reporting the death needs to be sorted more compassionately.


Actually while I am on a roll, I have just had another client,who has had to make a new claim because her husband died,  crying down the phone because she was forced to sign the client commitment and say she would take any work asap -  a week after her husband died.  I tried to reassure her that guidance says that she should not have to job-search being newly bereaved but the work coach did not seem to have the same message.

SarahJBatty
forum member

Money Adviser, Thirteen, Middlesbrough

Send message

Total Posts: 345

Joined: 12 July 2012

Case example of urgent messages posted on online journal being ignored in spite of vulnerability (or ‘complex needs’) of the claimant:

Claimant has ended up claiming UC in error due to an ESA sanction, and her ESA has therefore ended but she still has ‘Limited Capability for Work’ so this component should form part of her UC award .  Adviser spots this and helps her to write a Journal entry outlining in full the circumstances of moving from ESA to UC and specifically requesting referral of the matter to a Decision Maker.  It seems that in practice, these LCW cases are being passed by Case Managers to Decision Makers rather than the Case Manager having the authority to do it.  The journal entry specifies that the financial shortfall is causing hardship including rent arrears, and also that the customer has a heart condition and severe anxiety so is vulnerable and would like the matter referring urgently.  Adviser phones 2 months later under implicit consent to find out what’s been done.  Nothing has been done.  No reply to customer, no referral to DM, no action.  Yes, MR would have been another option, but wouldnt have necessarily resulted in quicker action and the question remains what processes are in place for ‘case managers’ picking up on messages and actioning them especially where ‘vulnerability’ or ‘complex needs’ are present.