Claimant had previous UC live service claim; cannot reclaim UC because area no longer live service.  Loss of £

Dear all,

Apologies if this has been covered somewhere before. 

Is there any way a claimant who was previously living in a Live UC area can reclaim UC in the same area now that it has been deemed no longer a live service area and not yet a FS area?

Case details: claimant lives in the M46 (Manchester area).  He is 23 years old.  He claimed UC early 2017.  He was working in a bar on low wage/low hours at the time.  His hours went up as the bar became busier and his UC entitlement stopped due to higher earnings.  After a period of several months, his hours/wages have decreased again.  He tired to claim UC and was advised by the DWP UC no longer available in his area and that he should claim tax credits.  They neglected to tell him he is too young for tax credits and hours also too low.  His current earnings are £7.05 ph (NMW 21-24 yr old) x 6 hours a week = £42.30.  He could of course claim income-based JSA, however he would be better off on UC according to QBC by £10.85 pw.

I have had a read of https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/676595/adm1-18.pdf 

The client is going to ask me why this has happened - it is just because DWP decided to change the roll out and unintended consequence (?) some claimants like him loose out financially in the short term?

The area he lives in becomes full service in April 2018.

Advice gratefully received.

Many thanks,

EKS

Hi Emma

The only way he could reclaim UC is if it is less than 6 months from when he last received it - under the rapid reclaim. But if it is more than six months he is limited to legacy benefits and will have to wait for full service before he can claim UC again.