ESA, UC and PIP queries

zebadeebad

Hi, i’m having real trouble with all my disability benefits!! I’m new to this and it’s turned into a complete nightmare and confusing mess! Being ill most of the time doesn’t help.  Can anyone explain 2 things to me:
1 ) My UC - keyworker advised me to apply for the: limited capability for work component of Universal Credit. I filled in form UC50 and have been awarded £341.92 a month. She said that it was the same as ESA. But I have seen that on ESA you can be awarded £113.55 a week if you’re in the support group. You may also get enhanced disability premium of £17.10 a week and you get also get the severe disability premium of £66.95 a week on top! That’s double my payment. Does ESA get deducted from UC? How does any of this work? 
2 ) Secondly, sorry guys, hope i’m not frazzling your brain. I applied for PIP, but was so ill. That I had extreme trouble filling in my forms. I missed my first deadline and telephoned and luckily got another deadline. I was banking on an outside charity group to help me fill in the form. Plus my doctor had sent me over 200 pages photocopied both sides of medical records. Because it was too much for them to go through it all! Co-19 happened and I got no support. I made myself extremely ill trying to go through all my records and to fill in the PIP form. I sent one half of it off 3 days before the cut off date and the final section a few days later. I received a decision dated on the day of my cut off day! No leeway co-19 and rejected yet again. As not received in time. I phoned up DWP and the only route available they said was tribunal. So i’ve Launched an appeal. But guess what? A month after my cut off date, the DWP phoned me. They said that my form had gone to the wrong department. It had been sent to the terminally ill section and she would send it to the correct department. That was over a month ago. Help what do I do. I have had to live off £254 for 4 months. The same amount as my council tax bill. That is another saga! Any advice! Please. even a little suggestion would be gratefully appreciated.

steve51

Hi @zebadeebad

Welcome it’s great to meet you today.

I’m one off the Community Champion’s here
at Scope.

I have got a senior member/good friend who will be able to help you with your Benefits. 

Hi @Adrian_Scope

Can you please offer me some with this post????

@steve51

Crumbled72

Hello there and welcome ?

I can only answer to question me 1. You seem to have it all right, except that yes, if you get ESA, it will be deducted from your monthly entitlement of UC. 

You can get on top of your basic entitlement a disability premium and carers premium (if you’re caring for someone but not getting CA because of ESA) 
Also, getting a bigger award for ESA will make deductions bigger too.

janer1967

Hi 

I am not too sure about your query or if you are eligible for ESA rather than UC but I am sure Adrian will be able to advise.

As for PIP it is just a waiting game I am afraid and it may not be any consolation but any award will be back dated to time you applied. They are not doing assessments at present only over the phone so it does depend on backlog and how complex your case is if it warrants f2f

Adrian_Scope

Hello @zebadeebad and welcome to the community.

zebadeebad said:

1 ) My UC - keyworker advised me to apply for the: limited capability for work component of Universal Credit. I filled in form UC50 and have been awarded £341.92 a month. She said that it was the same as ESA. But I have seen that on ESA you can be awarded £113.55 a week if you’re in the support group. You may also get enhanced disability premium of £17.10 a week and you get also get the severe disability premium of £66.95 a week on top! That’s double my payment. Does ESA get deducted from UC? How does any of this work? 

You said you're receiving an extra £341.92 so I assume you are in the support group equivalent (LCWRA) on Universal Credit and not just LCW, but let me know if that's not correct.
Ignoring Severe Disability Premium for a moment (I'll come back to that), on Universal Credit you should be receiving your standard allowance and the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activities (assuming you're in the support group equivalent which pays £341.92). You don't mention your age but the standard allowance for under 25s is £342.72 and over 25s is £409.89 a month.
So even if we take the lower amount (£342.72) and combine it with the LCWRA element (£341.92) it's a total of £684.64 a month. Which is quite a bit more than ESA pays, even with Enhanced Disability Premium on top.
If you applied for NS ESA as well (to be eligible you have to have worked during a certain period and contributed enough National Insurance over the last two tax years) it would be deducted £ for £ from Universal Credit.

Severe Disability Premium (SDP) is where many people on UC have missed out, but this wouldn't apply to you anyway. You can only apply for SDP if you are in receipt of PIP and an income-related benefit that isn't Universal Credit. You can't apply for income-related benefits anymore unless you have SDP already. So sadly this isn't an option for you.

zebadeebad said:

2 ) Secondly, sorry guys, hope i’m not frazzling your brain. I applied for PIP, but was so ill. That I had extreme trouble filling in my forms. I missed my first deadline and telephoned and luckily got another deadline. I was banking on an outside charity group to help me fill in the form. Plus my doctor had sent me over 200 pages photocopied both sides of medical records. Because it was too much for them to go through it all! Co-19 happened and I got no support. I made myself extremely ill trying to go through all my records and to fill in the PIP form. I sent one half of it off 3 days before the cut off date and the final section a few days later. I received a decision dated on the day of my cut off day! No leeway co-19 and rejected yet again. As not received in time. I phoned up DWP and the only route available they said was tribunal. So i’ve Launched an appeal. But guess what? A month after my cut off date, the DWP phoned me. They said that my form had gone to the wrong department. It had been sent to the terminally ill section and she would send it to the correct department. That was over a month ago. Help what do I do. I have had to live off £254 for 4 months. The same amount as my council tax bill. That is another saga! Any advice! Please. even a little suggestion would be gratefully appreciated.

I'm not entirely sure of your query here. Have they said whether it is still being processed now that it is with the correct department?
Why is it you only have £254 a month in income? Have you applied for Council Tax Reduction directly from your council? 

Chloe_Scope

Hi @zebadeebad, how are you doing this morning? I hope Adrian has been able to help..

zebadeebad

Hi
Sorry to get back to you all so late, but have been pretty unwell recently. Thank you so, so much for explaining everything to me. Adrian you are truly a mindful of information. I have one small question remaining. I have found that most organisations eg; PDSA, don't recognise the Limited Capacity For Work Component of Universal Credits. My daughter is my carer and her application failed for carers allowance. Because of my award. I thought it was meant to replace Disability Living Alowance. But on my confirmation letter it does not state if I am awarded the lower or higher component. Unlike the DLA. I presumed that I was on the higher benefit because there decision says. That I have limited capacity for work and work related activities. Any advice would be greatly to appreciated. The council tax do not recognise my award either and have granted me only a partial deduction. I still owe them mover £2,000

Adrian_Scope

Hi @zebadeebad. LCWRA replaces ESA not DLA, DLA was replaced by PIP for adults. For someone to be able to claim Carer's Allowance for caring for you, you need to be in receipt of the Daily Living component of PIP. 
How is your claim for PIP going at the moment?