Forum Home → Discussion → Universal credit migration → Thread
SDP compensation through UC
By the way, on what grounds was s/he entitled to IS?
Thanks for the reply.
Our client previously received IS as a carer, but due to his health problems was no longer able to be a carer so claimed UC as someone with LCW.
So the compensation can go down but not up - so someone who claims UC now after receiving a legacy benefit with an SDP will initially be awarded the transitional protection amt of £285pm, then if later awarded the LCWRA this will be reduced to £120pm from month 4? This seems unfair for those that moved before these regs came into force - I guess it’s another way for the dwp to save money so I shouldn’t be surprised!
Thanks for the reply.
so someone who claims UC now after receiving a legacy benefit with an SDP will initially be awarded the transitional protection amt of £285pm
This should be impossible - they cannot claim UC. Although I suppose there is the debate about people who win PIP appeals becoming retrospectively entitled to an SDP after claiming UC.
Good point! It’s too late in the day and i’ve lost the will! So at the risk of asking another daft question, I guess if the same client gets re-assessed and loses the LCWRA element, he wouldn’t get an increase in the compensation payment?
Still seems very unfair :(
Think it’s time for home!
Our client previously received IS as a carer, but due to his health problems was no longer able to be a carer so claimed UC as someone with LCW.
Ok. The reason I asked is because those who moved to UC from IS on the grounds of disability can sometimes get the LCWRA element included straightaway.
This should be impossible - they cannot claim UC. Although I suppose there is the debate about people who win PIP appeals becoming retrospectively entitled to an SDP after claiming UC.
There will also be those who move over after Jan 2021.
Good point! It’s too late in the day and i’ve lost the will! So at the risk of asking another daft question, I guess if the same client gets re-assessed and loses the LCWRA element, he wouldn’t get an increase in the compensation payment?
Yes, that’s correct.
We have a client who has already been awarded a substantial amount of SDP compensation at the higher rate. Client is currently in the middle of a UC (WCA) appeal after being found fit for work, and we are hoping they will award LCWRA.
SDP compensation has been awarded at £285 per assessment period to reflect client’s current circumstances, and client has already been paid a substantial lump sum.
The WCA decision being appealed was already almost a year old when it reached appeal stage due to UC failing to process MR. Waiting times for a hearing date in our area are pushing 16 months, so the period under appeal is potentially a very long one.
Should the client be found to have LCWRA at tribunal, do UC have the power to go back and reassess compensation which has already been paid (both lump sum and ongoing payments at the higher rate which client is currently receiving)?
What is your interpretation of what happens here, please?
Someone has the SDP transitional amount
This does not form part of their UC calculation and is paid separately
Due to earnings, they temporarily cease to be entitled to UC for one month, but requalify the next month
They have lost their SDP transitional amount because it ends when UC entitlement ends
BUT, they subsequently win their WCA appeal, and with the LCW back in the UC calculation, they DID, in fact, qualify for the UC for the assessment period in which it stopped ….
Can the SDP transitional amount be reinstated?
I think even if they don’t win the appeal, they should continue getting the SDP transitional payments.
Although it is calculated separately, it is still a payment of UC, and it should keep the award going.
I see no reason for it to stop just because the other elements have been reduced to nil.
But wouldn’t that mean that they only way the transitional payments could stop is if you become a couple or cease to be a couple because your UC eligibility could never stop? I can’t think they mean that to be the case. The transitional payment isn’t included in the award notice so I don’t think it does count as UC.
on the question of the appeal - if they win and UC is retrospectively continuous then I think the transitional payment should continue as they haven’t ceased to be eligible for UC.
I think even if they don’t win the appeal, they should continue getting the SDP transitional payments.
Although it is calculated separately, it is still a payment of UC, and it should keep the award going.
I see no reason for it to stop just because the other elements have been reduced to nil.
The transitional payment isn’t included in the award notice so I don’t think it does count as UC.
The wording of the legislation is quite confusing on this. Schedule 2 paragraph 1 of the The Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 says that if entitlement to UC has not ended then the SOS must determine the transitional SDP amount payable but it also refers to the transitional SDP amount itself as ‘an additional amount of UC’. That seems to me to be circular and, in my opinion, supports what Charles has said. However Logically I suspect what Daphne has said may be what was intended.
[ Edited: 14 Oct 2019 at 11:45 am by Ianb ]I got this rather unhelpful reply from DWP when I queried this.
Q: My understanding is that before the conversion day, the SDP transitional amount is paid as an addition to the means-tested amount of universal credit and is not itself means tested. As the transitional amount is itself an amount of universal credit (new TP Sch. 2(1)), recipients will continue to receive it even if the means-tested part of universal credit is reduced to zero. Is this your understanding?
A: Eligibility to SDP Transitional Payments depends on continued entitlement to UC, so these will cease if entitlement to UC ends.
Does paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 mean that once that the transitional SDP payment is decided, the calculation in subsequent APs is then done as if it were a transitional element (like in the transitional protection amounts in the managed migration bit) so in fact the UC award could eat into it.
For example, if your transitional payment is £120 and then in a subsequent AP your max UC (not including transitional payment) is £400 and your income (after any work allowances and taper) is £500 then you would only be paid £20 because it would be as tho your max UC was £520.
One way to read it is to say that the requirement to remain continuously entitled to UC only applies down to the AP in which the transitional SDP amount is determined. Para 1 of Schedule 2 is looking back from the day on which it comes to the Secretary of State’s attention that the claimant could be in line for the payment. The transitional SDP amount is subsequently payable with no strings until the conversion day when it finally becomes integrated into the UC maximum amount. Nothing in Schedule 2 expressly provides for the payment to cease if the claimant is no longer entitled to UC - not even if they win the national lottery or get appointed CEO of a multinational corporation.
Alternatively, if the transitional SDP amount is an “additional amount of UC” as the closing text in para 1 says, then it must behave like UC when it comes to things like the capital limit and the basic conditions. And perhaps you can only have an additional amount of UC if you have an amount of UC in the first place.
It would have been clearer if there had been a paragraph saying something like “An amount determined in accordance with para 1 shall cease to be payable if, subsequent to that determination but before the conversion day, the claimant is not otherwise entitled to UC”.
Does paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 mean that once that the transitional SDP payment is decided, the calculation in subsequent APs is then done as if it were a transitional element (like in the transitional protection amounts in the managed migration bit) so in fact the UC award could eat into it.
Only after the conversion day as I read it. Basically, people on SDP compo will at some stage undergo managed migration and at that stage the compo is integrated into max UC
Only after the conversion day as I read it. Basically, people on SDP compo will at some stage undergo managed migration and at that stage the compo is integrated into max UC
Ah OK - so does that mean that until conversion day it’s non-means-tested and can’t be lost (other than forming or stopping being a couple)