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No back dated award of UC after New Style ESA claim refused
We have a case here where a client had applied for New Style ESA at the start of September 2019 – his claim was refused because he’d forgotten he’d had a significant break from employment meaning he didn’t have full NI contributions. So then claimed UC a month later, and is now half way through the 5 week wait period. UC are refusing to provide a back date because they say ‘good reason’ hasn’t been given. Has anyone successfully challenged this? Seems rather unfair considering NSESA is part of the UC system. Any help appreciated!
Are you saying the client wants to backdate the UC claim to the date NS-ESA was claimed? If not, ignore the below.
NS-ESA and UC are seperate benefits - If one is claimed, it doesn’t mean the other is claimed also.
NS-ESA isn’t under the UC system in the sense that they are one and the same like ir-ESA and old style C-ESA, it means that a new claim for New Style ESA/C-ESA cannot include an income related amount in a UC full service area. Making a new claim for ir-ESA is abolished with the exception that client was getting an SDP in ir-ESA, ib-JSA or HB.
The client would needed good reasons to get UC backdated, such as illness, disability, bad advice, claims system down etc.
Might be worth having a look at this thread?
“Backdate request can only be made within one month of the start of the claim”