Migration to UC and LCWRA

Hi

Client recently transferred over to UC - was in payment of ESA with the Support Group (LCWRA) element in place.

According to the TP regulations, that should be transferred over automatically and paid within the first assessment period (that’s my understanding of it).

She’s been asked to provide a fit note and is unsure why. Surely a fit note is not necessary if she will automatically get LCWRA element in the first assessment period (not had a first payment and statement not prepared yet!).

Side note: Should UC be looking at what benefits she claimed prior to the UC claim? Not done many migration claims yet and have noticed no section to include that she has been migrated over (is it done automatically by the DWP?)

Thanks

Adam

Hi Adam,

The LCWRA will apply from the first payment but people often get asked for a fit note before the first payment because DWP can’t ‘see’ the LCWRA yet. If she tells them she was getting ESA directly before and therefore doesn’t need a sick note, it should be fine. I’ve not had one where LCWRA hasn’t transferred for a number of years.

It’s either a badly trained or badly organised Work Coach. CIS Searchlight is now the hub for all DWP Benefit information both Legacy ( ESA LCWRA ) and UC.

The following CIS update for Spring 2024 included….

      Additional UC data items on Searchlight. Specifically, these are:

the amount of any transitional protection

the amount of any deductions by type

if the claimant is in receipt of a Limited Capability for Work payment

if the claimant is in receipt of a Limited Capability for Work – work related activity payment

the amount of any benefit cap that has been applied

the date the decision to terminate the UC payment was made

the date the UC payments terminated

the reason why UC was terminated

the reason why UC was refused

the amount of any UC Housing Element paid to the claimant

when the two-child limit has been applied by clarifying:

the number of children on the account

the number of eligible children on the account along with their name and age

where there has been a change to the eligible child, the date of the change will be provided.

    If the Work Coach is not aware of the above then a Journal message routed to the UC Case Manager ( via The Payments option ) should suffice.

It’s a pity they don’t put the children’s name and age on the payment page. Not having this information causes great problems for families when applying for Scottish Child Payment especially if they are not yet in receipt of Child Benefit.

Jim