Full Service UC and carers living with their disabled partners

We don’t have full service UC yet, but it is due to come in soon.  I’m wondering how the transition is being managed for couples where one is disabled and gets DLA/PIP, and the other claims carers allowance and income support, but they have a change of circs which prompts a UC claim.  Having done the calculations, it looks like if the disabled person doesn’t go through the WCA they would be £68pw worse off.  Is there any transitional protection, or do they have to take that drop until the WCA takes place?  Does UC prompt them to go down the WCA route, or do they have to be pro-active?

Thanks

I think it will happen automatically.  A person who has been the partner on someone else’s IS claim will be a joint claimant of UC and both members of the couple will have to answer all the relevant questions: there is no principal claimant and partner anymore, they are both the claimant.  I think it would be difficult to emerge from that process without having been prompted to assert that you have LCW.

Nice question by the way - this permutation hadn’t occurred to me, but I can see how the IS Disability Premium made it unnecessary for the IS claimant’s partner to raise the issue of work capability.  They would have gained nothing from it.

There won’t be any transitional protection if they migrate naturally due to a change of circumstance, so yes I think they will take a three month hit.  Having said that, these are the kind of people who will tend to remain on legacy benefits without a change until managed migration comes along and then (we are told) there will be transitional protection.

I was thinking in particular of claimants moving from one local authority area to another, which will trigger a UC claim under full service.  We do have quite a few people who do this in order to move to more suitable accommodation when their condition deteriorates.