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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

Mixed age couple

JayKay
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Benefits adviser - Penwith Housing Association, Penzance

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Long shot I know but…

A mixed age couple - he is 73, she is 61 so a long time before she will hit pension age herself.  He gets SP.  She was working but has just been made redundant.  Have made a new claim for UC.  He gets lrc DLA - this must have been in place since before 2012 when he turned 65.  So he is treated as having limited capability for work under schedule 8 para 5 of the UC regs.

As he has been over pension age and getting DLA since before 3/4/17 is there any reg under which he would be entitled to be paid the LCW element with his UC?

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Information and advice resources - Age UK

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No afraid not.

Ianb
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Macmillan benefits team, Citizens Advice Bristol

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Perhaps they just need to make the UC claim and make a complaint to local authority with a request for compensation for the financial loss suffered as a result of the advice given.
Are the circumstances possible grounds for getting one.month backdate on the UC?

Vonny
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Welfare rights adviser - Social Inclusion Unit, Swansea

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would the 73 year old now meet conditions for high care?
would a sympathetic GP provide a sick note and would he meet criteria for lcwra?
if not high care - could he meet lower AA and claim that instead?

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Information and advice resources - Age UK

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Vonny - 28 January 2021 09:45 AM

would the 73 year old now meet conditions for high care?
would a sympathetic GP provide a sick note and would he meet criteria for lcwra?
if not high care - could he meet lower AA and claim that instead?

That’s a good point actually and demonstrates how completely absurd the current rules are.

If the client was entitled to HRC DLA, then he’s passported to the LCWRA element. This would also be the case if he was entitled to either rate of AA.

If he tried to claim AA, the interchange of benefit regs allow DWP to treat that claim as a DLA claim and could therefore simply revise the DLA entitlement and award him MRC DLA. That wouldn’t be sufficient for the LCWRA element.

Yet by virtue of precisely the same qualifying conditions for MRC DLA, he could establish entitlement to lower rate AA and this would entitle him to be treated as having LCWRA.

Further, the interchange of benefit claim rules are not appealable so DWP can prevent the AA claim being processed on that basis. Might try and go back to DWP on this issue, if I can find the time.

JayKay
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Benefits adviser - Penwith Housing Association, Penzance

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Looking at increasing DLA / moving onto AA, and also at fit note re LCWRA

Frustratingly local authority advised not to claim UC, better off on HB - it was Citizens Advice that told them to make the UC claim instead.