ben cap removal on migration to UC

Hi
Can someone advise whether the LA be asking for ben cap to be removed when a clmts JSA/IS ends and the customer has migrated to UC?

Have an example:

10/05/2019: UCDS received advising that UC had been claimed 02/05/2019
15/05/2019: ATLAS received - IS ended 02/05/2019
20/05/2019: remove cap request sent to DWP
22/05/2019: ATLAS - remove cap received

17/06/2019: HB Transition to UC Payment awarded at full rent for period 02/05/2019 to 16/05/2019 (no cap applied)

If someone can point me in the direction of the correct regs/guidance/circular, Id be really grateful! I thought the transitional payment should be the HB award less any amount for the cap?

The regs do not allow the benefit cap to be applied to someone entitled to UC. See Reg. 75F(g) here.

However, this only applies if the claimant is actually entitled to UC (a stop notice is issued upon claiming UC, even if there is no entitlement).

The circular guidance is at paragraph 32 here. It says you should wait for an ATLAS notification before removing the cap. Presumably this is because some claims for UC do not end up with actual entitlement, as above.

perfect - thank you!!

I hesitate to recommend that anyone should ignore official guidance, but there are two further reasons (part from the one Charles mentions) why I don’t think the cap should apply.

First, the basis on which it is calculated no longer applies: HB benefit cap cases normally have a significant amount of Tax Credits … but that terminates as soon as you claim UC.  So how can it be right to apply a cap calculation that relies on Tax Credits as benefit income?

Second, if the claimant’s HB was capped before s/he claimed UC there is every chance UC will be capped also.  So capping the two week transition payment means they are hit twice.

The whole idea of the transition payment is to provide a non-specific float to tide the claimant over while their UC is assessed.  There’s no logical reason for capping it.