UC or ESA

Has anyone had this problem and what is the solution ?

•Client was on JSA whilst he was appealing ESA decision (income –related )
•Signed off JSA as he took on a job for a very short period which did not work out . 
•Returned to claim benefits online but instead of JSA , he went to claim UC because he gave incorrect information about the gateway conditions.  (did not indicate that he was appealing an ESA decision )
•UC went into payment from April 2015 .  Subsequently , in June ESA appeal was successful at tribunal – was placed in support group.
•Client continued to be paid UC and received arrears of ESA up to the date of UC claim.
• After some battling with DWP – they agreed to end UC claim in order to re -  instate his ESA with SG . They advised that this may create O/P’s on award and can clear with the arrears owed on ESA , which client accepted
•As there was a large break in his claim they advised that he also submits a new claim for ESA and requests it to be backdated to the date UC was awarded from.
•client made the claim but DWP have accepted it is as a complete new claim and refuse to   to re –instate from April as they are now saying that he has not claimed within 12 weeks . He will only be   paid at assessment rate pending a new   medical.

My questions are :
Could he have remained on UC with LCWRA if they implemented tribunal’s decision as the WCA on UC is exactly the same as ESA ?
If not, how do you go about the benefit loss from April onwards ?

Were the DWP correct to withdraw his UC claim in order to reclaim the older benefit ? As my understanding is that once you are on UC there is no turning back to the old benefits .

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Tahra

I haven’t spent hours systematically picking my way through the 2012 Act commencement provisions - I have just had a skim read of Articles 3 and 3A of the No 9 Order to refresh my memory, but I will stick my neck out and say that because a payment of UC had been made before the incorrect information came to light, the claimant should have stayed on UC and should have had the LCWRA component from Day 1 of the UC award; anything else DWP has done in the meantime is subject to revision on the official error ground.