LCWRA advise please. Are we due any back pay?

hjford

hi hi I’m new here and need some help. I signed onto uc in oct 21 and my husband submitted a sicknote 20/10 which was accepted on the journal. 

He didn’t get a work capability Assesment until may 22 and was declared LCWRA. We have a statement for this month which includes the payment of LCWRA but when I’ve enquired about the back pay I was told we are not entitled to any as the 90 assessment period started in jan 22 for some reason and the 90 days are now just up.
anyone help? I was told LCWRA would be payable front the first sick note. This is our 7th assessment period this month.
thanks in advance.

poppy123456

The extra money isn't paid at all during the waiting period of 3 full assessment periods. It's then paid from the 4th month of your claim, starting from when the health condition was reported.

If you reported the health condition in October 2021 then the extra money will be paid from either Feb or March 2022 depending on the exact date of your assessment periods.

hjford

gi poppy, thank you for the reply. My payments are made on the 27th of everymonth. May is my 7th payment. The extra payment was included in the may statement but when I enquired about any money owed I was told there is none owed to us. I think this is incorrect and you have basically said the same. I believe we are owed a few payments. 

MarkM88

hjford said:

I think this is incorrect and you have basically said the same. I believe we are owed a few payments. 

Poppy has said no such thing, please re-read what she said. 

poppy123456

That means your assessment periods are 21st to 20th of each month. If you reported the health condition on 20/10 then your waiting period will be Oct/Nov, Nov/Dec, Dec/Jan.. LCWRA payable from AP 21st Jan - 20th Feb and first payment would be 27th Feb. This means they owe you for Feb, March and April, which is 3 months money.

Money owed is paid separately to your usual monthly money and first they need to recalculate your past statements to find out exactly how much they owe.

If they've told you you're not entitled to backdated money then leave a message on your journal under the payments section and tell them that the waiting period starts from when you reported your health condition and therefore the LCWRA is payable from teh AP stated above.

hjford

Hi markm88. I meant I believe the Dwp were incorrect when they said we were not owed any back pay and poppy basically said the same as me (so agreed with me) maybe I should have worded it better. 

hjford

Hi poppy, thank you so much for the awesome reply. I have popped that in my journal and I’m waiting for a reply off the Dwp. I hope you didn’t think I was saying you were wrong above, I could have worded it better, I meant I thought the Dwp were wrong and you basically agreed with what I was saying. Thank you for your help, it’s very much appreciated. Also a payment of LCWRA was included in this month payment due 27th may, so would Imwe be owed 2 back payments or three? 

poppy123456

I did gather that you meant i disagreed with DWP. You are owed 3 months money and not 2 months. Money owed is for Jan/Feb, Feb/March, March/April.

hjford

Thank you. I’m waiting for a reply from Dwp, I’ve wrote in my journal. 

This is what they said when I asked about back payment and I have no idea what they meant.

n regards to backdating as this was 21/01/22 and you have served the 90 days after this date, this means there is no backdating required in this case, as the start date hasn't exceeded the 90 day serving period.

poppy123456

It's very frustrating when they get this wrong, which is far too often! They need to learn their own regulations!

MarkM88

hjford said:

Hi markm88. I meant I believe the Dwp were incorrect when they said we were not owed any back pay and poppy basically said the same as me (so agreed with me) maybe I should have worded it better. 

Sorry I apologise for that, I read it wrong. 

calcotti

poppy123456 said:

It's very frustrating when they get this wrong, which is far too often! They need to learn their own regulations!

It is such a basic part of UC it is indeed absurd how often they get it wrong.

hjford

UPDATE: I went over to the local jobcentre today as I was getting no reply through the journal or on the phone. A lady there got onto it and I have now received a message saying we are due three months back payments, and they didn’t know my husband had provided sick notes since I first signed onto uc. They have said I should get the back pay in the next few days. I want to thank you all for your advice.

poppy123456

Glad it's been sorted but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Thanks for the update.

Alex_Alumni

I'm glad to hear your news @hjford that must be a relief Thanks for the update!

hjford

SECOND UPDATE: uc have messaged me again this morning and said I’m not entitled to back pay as the three months was a waiting period even though I have consistently put sick notes in since October. I updated my husbands medication in January and for some reason they are saying this is when the waiting period started. I’m at a loss now, I’ve explained the situation over and over and they can see on the journal I’ve been putting sick notes in since oct 2021. I don’t know what to do next… any advice please??

calcotti

He needs to formally request a Mandatory Reconsideration of the decision. All he need to do is say "I request a Mandatory Reconsideration of the decision not to backdate the LCWRA to the date I first reported my health condition in October 2021." Then just repeat the brief summary of events again.
I claimed UC on xxx and reported my health condition at that time followed up with a Fit Note. The LCWRA award should therefore be applied from October 2021 and the waiting period calculated from that time.

hjford

hi calcotti, thanks for the reply, i have sent the following to them.

I request a Mandatory Reconsideration of the decision not to backdate the LCWRA to the date I first reported my health condition on 21st October 2021." I declared and submitted my first sick note on 22nd oct 2021. This was accepted on my journal and updated 17th November 2021 with the dates on the sicknote 22nd oct 2021-22nd April 2022. I submitted a second sick note on 13th April 2022 which covers up to 12th oct 2022. This was accepted the same day.

I attended my first commitments on 26th October 2021 and have attended all of them since via phone.

I received my work capability assessment form on 17th nov 2021.

I attended my work capability assessment on 19th may 2022.

As previously stated in numerous updates through the journal I have been submitting sicknotes consistently since October 2021. I have not missed any. I only updated medication on January 18th 2022 as requested. If you read back through the journal, you will see this as I was requested to do this by the health and disabilities assessment centre. I have done everything asked of me through both the journal and my work coach.

I claimed UC on October 21st 2021 and reported my health conditions at that time quickly followed up with a sick note and medical evidence. The LCWRA award should therefore be applied from October 2021 and the waiting period calculated from that time.

calcotti

That's very clear. What should happen is that your case should now be passed to another Decision Maker to review and they will hopefully then make the correct decision.

(As noted previously it is deeply depressing that UC can't consistently get this processed correctly - it's really basic stuff.)

hjford

Thank you calcotti. They are really making me question if I’m right In what I’m saying. I will update you when I hear back. 

Thank you. 

poppy123456

hjford said:

. They are really making me question if I’m right In what I’m saying.

No need to because they are not correct and you are.