Moving from ESA to UC, deduction from first statement

Client has been on IRESA since 2005, in WRAG. Due to moving area, claim for UC made 24/08/2022.

First UC statement has ESA deduction of £215.20, client queried on journal and work coach says ESA claim ended 05/09/2022, and ‘On our payment records we have a payment of ESA of £171.64 on the 5/9/22 and 19/9/22’.

Client should be entitled to two week run on of ESA, which shouldn’t be deducted from UC, I’m assuming that’s the 19/09/2022 payment.

I must admit I am rather struggling this week with stomach flu, and cannot understand their maths on this at all.

Can anybody help? I might just be being really daft.

215.20 is two weeks’ ESA(c) including WRA component.  Doesn’t get you a lot further - if claimant has ESA(c) they should be deducting a month’s worth and the disregarded run-on would only cover the ESA(ir) top-up.  There are ways that someone could be on old-style ESA(c) in WRAG in 2022, but not very many.

Madeleine - 05 October 2022 10:05 AM

Client has been on IRESA since 2005, in WRAG. Due to moving area, claim for UC made 24/08/2022.

First UC statement has ESA deduction of £215.20, client queried on journal and work coach says ESA claim ended 05/09/2022, and ‘On our payment records we have a payment of ESA of £171.64 on the 5/9/22 and 19/9/22’.

Client should be entitled to two week run on of ESA, which shouldn’t be deducted from UC, I’m assuming that’s the 19/09/2022 payment.

I must admit I am rather struggling this week with stomach flu, and cannot understand their maths on this at all.

Can anybody help? I might just be being really daft.

The £215.20 could be irESA for 2 weeks, if there were no premiums (& no income to deduct), and if your client was getting the work-related activity component, which going on when he started on ESA, I’m guessing he did.

ESA is paid fortnightly in arrears, so the 5.9.22 payment would be for the fortnight beginning 23.8.22

Obviously he’s entitled to all of that payment because UC only started 24.8.22

Then he’s entitled to another day of irESA, so up to & including 6.9.22.

But he’s not entitled to most of the irESA paid on 19.9.22, because it’s for the 2 weeks going back to 6.9.22 - he’s only entitled to one day of that (I think - my counting might be a bit out!)

So my best guess is that irESA didn’t stop soon enough. That does happen, & it’s just taken off as income where the overpayment falls within a UC assessment period. Having said that, unless my counting is out, the deduction should be a bit less than £215.20. I know that doesn’t quite fit with what the work coach has said, but I’m wondering if they mean irESA entitlement ended 5.9.22 (which would give your client a 13 day run-on?? so doesn’t look right), but payment didn’t stop when it should have.