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Mixed age couple currently ESA - claimant reaches pension age 20th Dec

Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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Following this - https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/17905/

I need help thinking this through - lack of available detail (and my scrambled mind) doesn’t help, but:

Claimant is on IRESA - he turns 66 on 20/12/21.

He also gets PIP - level not known yet.

Younger partner gets CA.

IRESA has Support Group and carer premium.

DWP have sent a letter about IRESA but it just states the amounts - nothing about retirement age, claim ending etc. Any reasonable person would think the claim would just go on. 

SRP claimed and will start 20.12.21

He needs to claim UC while still on ESA, to make sure the SG amount transfers through to UC: if he does not and he is on enhanced PIP he will get treated as having LCWRA under Sch 9, but if he is on standard rate it will just be LCW under Sch 8.

News just in - HB suspended from 17.12.21

UC claim needed right now, to make sure.

Any thoughts?

 

[ Edited: 13 Dec 2021 at 11:26 am by Andrew Dutton ]
VRW
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Livin Housing

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They need to make the claim for UC for the exact reasons youve said to get the LCWRA element automatically added for him

the only reason they wouldnt is if the younger was the main claimant for the ESA but from your post i assume its the older

i assume the letter from DWP about the ESA is just one of their normal automated generated letters that are as detailed and helpful as ever?

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Information and advice resources - Age UK

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Yes, they really need to get their skates on and get the UC claims made as quickly as possible to preserve the LCWRA element from day 1 as well as the 2-week run on payments of ESA and HB. We’ve heard from other advisers about ESA letters being less than useful here so will try and follow up with DWP contacts in the New Year.

Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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‘I assume the letter from DWP about the ESA is just one of their normal automated generated letters that are as detailed and helpful as ever?’

Ooooo, yes.

‘From 16 December 2021 your ESA will be £114.10. This is because of: an age change(s)’.

Letter sent in May of this year. Nothing further from ESA. So ESA know…but don’t quite give any proper information, whilst saying nothing about entitlement ending!

Paul, please let us know how you get on. ESA letters remain worse than useless.

Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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Claimant advised accordingly.

It would appear that nobody has told this couple anything prior to them reaching us.

If they get LCWRA they will get £350 per month UC.

If they miss the date to claim and can’t be treated as having LCWRA, they will get £7.87.

Where is the justice in this system, and who will take the blame for leaving them in the dark?

 

Ianb
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Macmillan benefits team, Citizens Advice Bristol

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I think worth noting too that even if he has enhanced PIP which means automatically entitled to be treated as having LCWRA if he claims UC after pension age the LCWRA element would not be included until the fourth AP whereas claiming prior to pension age while on ESA means it will be included from the start.

As to where is the justice in this - there isn’t any. That claimants can be penalised so heavily because they don’t know how the system works is morally unjustifiable. It could be easily improved by, for example, saying that LCWRA entitlement arises if entitled to ESA Support Group within the previous month.