Uc and carers element/disabled element

missy123

Good morning
Bit of a long question 

In march of this year I was moved onto uc from ESA support group
Due to medical reasons I had been on ESA for around 8 year prior to been moved onto uc
Iv been handing fit notes in from the 1st month I started my uc claim I had finally been sent for a medical last week for my uc after waiting months 
My daughter is also disabled and in August we finally won our appeal for her dla claim my partner claims carers allowance for me 
And my daughters support worker advised us to make a carers allowance claim for me for my daughter which I did 
There are 2 carer elements on our claim for uc
My work coach stated that if i was to get the disabled element once we get a decision back from my medical my carers element will change to the disabled element 
She also stated it would be back paid from the 14th week from when my claim started which I think was the same with esa 
But my partner forgot to ask will it be backdated the full amount or will they take off the £120 carers premium that iv been receiving 
We are finding this all too confusing and we are really struggling on uc my work coach did state if I fail the medical she will help with a mandatory reconsideration then also help if it comes to a tribunal but were thinking worse cases scenario 

Any advice will be very appreciated 
Thankyou 

poppy123456

Hi,

May i ask what the reason was for claiming UC in March? When you claimed UC were you still receiving ESA?  It's really imported that you answer this question please.

As you were in the Support Group for ESA when you claimed UC then this award should have been honoured and you should have been given LCWRA for UC and the LCWRA element should have been paid to you from the start of your claim. I'm assuming because you sent in fit notes then your ESA award was not honoured in UC?

If this is correct then you need to ring UC and speak to your case manager and tell them that when you were claiming ESA you were in the Support Group. You need to ask them to send the MPG1 form to ESA for your details to be passed across to UC.

As you've now had another work capability assessment then that decision will overrule the ESA decision. However, because you had previously been assessed as having limited capability for work with ESA there should be no waiting times for you. If you're awarded LCWRA then this payment should continue.

Your work coach is correct, for UC you can't receive the LCWRA element and the carers element at the same time, you will receive the higher element. This means that you will receive an extra £216 per month.

missy123

Thank you for your quick reply
I had a medical due for my ESA and due to moving house around that time ESA sent the 1st medical to my old address which we only found out when I got my medical letter to my new address
My partner rang to rearrange that appointment because I had been at the hospital to say my last goodbyes to my grandparent as she was dying so we assumed it was a valid reason and they would accept that the lady on the phone stated I had already missed one medical and we cant rearrange so while at the hospital my partner tried so hard to fix it all with the help from my mental health worker and they even admitted fault of sending the first letter for my appointment to my old address the lady apologised and said that they will send out a form to fill in with all the proof of why I didnt attend the 1st and 2nd appointment the 1st being a fault of theirs and the 2nd proof of my grandma dying in hospital well my partner asked what sort of proof and we sent what we could then we got a letter 2 weeks later saying I failed my medical assessment and I'm no longer entitled to ESA I was in too much of a mess to know what to do my partner was advised we need to claim universal credit and my work coach as been working really closely with us since because she even said this was not the way we should of been treated she tried to get my old ESA awards put on because I never actually failed any assessment I just missed 1 in the end her advice was to get this medical done for uc 
So this is where we are now and in such a financial mess 
We cannot even afford new beds for our daughters 1 being disabled our local authority declined our welfare assistance form because there was no damage from fire or flood ect 
We have used the food banks 3 times since claiming 
When we spoke to our work coach she stated that the back pay (if I actually get awarded the disability element) should help us back on our feets shes very supportive but I dont feel like this is how a family of 5 with a disabled adult and disabled child should be living in 2019 

poppy123456

I'm sorry to hear that. Am i right in saying that you were found fit for work for failing to attend? If so then did you request the Mandatory Reconsideration then Tribunal for that decision?

If you didn't request that then once the decision is made on this work capability assessment because your UC is classed as a new claim if the decision is LCW and not LCWRA then because your claim started after April 2017 then you won't receive any extra money each month. You will only receive extra money if the decision is LCWRA.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @missy123. Now your daughter is receiving DLA, have you notified UC? Assuming she receives the care component of DLA I just wanted to check they are also giving you the Disabled Child Element of Universal Credit?