On UC and then ‘developing’ Limited Capability For Work

This issue has been touched on in previous threads. Any experience of how DWP deal with this in practice gratefully received. We became a gateway area in June so issue just beginning to surface!

Client meets UC gateway and has award of UC. Subsequently becomes ill (with more than a short term condition) and wants to show ‘LCFW’ under UC (with reduced conditionallity etc).

DWP do not seem able to provide any clear & consistent process for determining a change of circumstances under UC to LCFW or for amending conditionallity while it is determined.

All our local Jobcentre Plus can advise is to provide a ‘fit note’ to work coach and discuss variation of conditionallity. They are unable to advise on the administrative process that follows, for example:

Will a ‘fit note’ trigger issue of an LCFW questionairre (is it still called an ESA50 or a UC50) and possible subsequent WCA?
Will DWP (wrongly) advise claimant to claim ESA?
How flexible in practice are work coaches on reducing conditionality pending a LCFW determination?

No answers, just more worries - will they fail to look at CESA claims just as they’ve made a muck of CJSA in UC areas?

Should everyone in this situation ask DWP to look at CESA, just to be sure?

Here’s what they say at https://about.universalcredit.service.gov.uk/kms/Pages/Long_term_health_condition_or_disability.htm

If you report a long-term health condition or disability which is likely to last more than 28 days you may be referred to have a Work Capability Assessment (WCA). This applies whether you are in or out of work.

You may need to complete a written questionnaire (UC50) to give details of your health condition and how it affects your everyday life. This will help to decide whether you need to, attend a WCA.

We have come across a quite a few UC claimants who, after submitting med certs, have been asked to return UC50s (which are to be returned in a pre-paid envelope addressed to a named person).

We have one such UC claimant who has now been given a date for a face to face assessment with a HCP. We have attempted to have this assessment rearranged to another date but this has been far from straight forward with no one appearing to know who arranges such appointments. We were eventually told to contact ‘the resource centre’ in Glasgow - who told us all UC assessments are undertaken by GPs and that because of this it is not possible to re arrange appointments over the phone; all that could be done was for the appointment to be cancelled, and that the claimant would then possibly receive a BF223 to explain why they didn’t attend!!

We’ve also got a person on UC who has now moved into our hostel (supported exempt accom.) and therefore needs to claim HB for his hostel costs but that’s another story!

ive a client with a learning disability who has ended up on this hence my searching for this thread.  it doesnt seem like things have much improved from the blank looks you were getting when asking technical questions a year or so ago.

fantastic.

see my post at:

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/9281/

which was a response to this specific issue - perhaps it should be posted here to.