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linking rules and ESA/UC
HI
im a bit confused! I have just spoken to someone who was on ESA with support C, SDP and EDP. He was remanded in custody 14/07 and released with a suspended sentence 27/07/17. He has not claimed any benefits since. we are in a full service area. I called ESA to check if claim was suspended or closed (not sure if ESA C or not). I was told the claim was closed but that he had been advised to re-claim ESA. I wasn’t certain but my thoughts were it should be UC. However, if it possible to keep him on ESA, that would be preferable due to the massive fall in income otherwise.
I called new claims and asked for a rapid reclaim expecting to be told we couldn’t do this. The operator started the claim, and we questioned if this was correct. She said he could claim and proceeded to take the claim.
I am now a bit worried as I dont want to see him without money if this claim should not be successful. I was expecting them to say they couldn’t link the claim so can anyone clarify this please
I asked a related question recently here, about an (old-style) ESA claimant who started work for less than 12 weeks, and then went back to claim benefits. I don’t know that rapid reclaims are relevant. I suspect the 12-week linking rule should apply, but have been unable to confirm. In our case DWP directed her to claim UC from scratch.