ESA - UC Nightmare

Hello,

Honestly I do not know where to start with this so I will add some text below to give an idea of the issues currently.

I first contacted Broadland Council at the beginning of May 2022 to inform them that I had been issued with a S21 notice to quit my rental property. At this point in time, I had been living there since December 2016.

The notice gave me 57 days to quit my property, and at that point, the council should have been more proactive in sourcing alternative accommodation for myself and my children. However, I was continually told by my housing officer that there was nothing that they could do to help me in my situation.

As far as I understand it, the council has a duty to help relieve homelessness if you are issued with an S21 notice to quit and to do so within 57 days. The law is clear in this regard that you have a duty to source alternative accommodation within the 57 days.

From July 2022 through to December 2022, the council had issued me with a housing options plan, and I was bidding on properties that were available to myself. This caused some issues for myself because the properties that I was allowed to bid on were of no use to me due to the fact that my children reside with me – this is part of the Shared Residence Order that you were shown a copy of, dated May 2012. There were also problems with bidding for properties as I was being shown properties that were in South Norfolk – but I was told by my housing officer that I was not eligible for those properties in that area due to the fact that I had no local connection to that locality.

Furthermore, it took seven months for the council to offer me accommodation when it should have been done within two months. This delay has caused significant stress and hardship for myself and my children. Property bid on in November 2022 - received keys May 2023.

On February 24th, 2023, we were evicted from our property and offered temporary accommodation which was not suitable for myself and my children. The accommodation was too small and did not meet our needs. We were then offered bed and breakfast accommodation which was inappropriate considering that I could not have any of my children there with me.

After being told I was ok to stay friends house by my housing officer, and that they would continue to pay me my HB & CTR…….seeing as I was going to be moving back to the LHA from my friends temp acc it seemed like the most acceptable way of dealing with it.

Roll on to May 2023 and I discover that the council ceased paying myself any benefits from the moment I refused the temp acc?
Obviously this has had a major impact on the ability of myself to pay for the housing association (Orbit) flat that I have been given. I do not have a current claim for HB due to cancellation of benefits, that I was not informed about, even though they’d say I had a letter notifying myself of this situation? Never received it….obviously I would’ve complained about it two months ago if I know?

So for the last few months I have been paying my friend my usual HB money, which the council now say I am not entitled to that money as I refused temp acc……how can this be allowed to happen? Are they allowed to cancel all my benefits because I refused to accept their b&b and chose to house myself for the few weeks it was going to take the council to get the flat ready for me via Orbit at my friends house, where I could have my children with me.

Now I have a two bed flat, which I have still not moved into and have been struggling to pay the rent for on that and am an awaiting the council to review the suitability of flat…..orbit told me it was not suitable due to my requests concerning my disability….N&C. Asked for no bath and no stairs- I have stairs and a bath?!


…on top of this issue, I now have to make a claim for UC, but unfortunately no one can tell me if I will receive transitional protection - if I don’t then I will continue to claim ESA and DLA.

If I make a new claim for ESA I will lose £ potentially if I do not get those SDP payments.
Will making a new claim for ESA due to change of LHA mean I am better off? No one can tell me and I am losing the will to live, I can’t work it out for myself…can’t stay awake one enough or focused enough to get it sorted…..unless I drop a ton of meds….which is not really helpful either!!!

Orbit coach went through i with me, but she is not 100% that she has got it correct?

UC calculation if you are eligible for Severe Disability Transitional Protection


standard allowance 368.74p
LCW 146.31pm as LCW started before 2017.
SDP transitional protection 313.79
Housing 405.24p (minus 14% bedroom tax taken off)
Total = £1234.08pm

PIP is additional to UC. I currently don’t receive pip - still on DLA, would a UC application also effect my DLA? As in being asked to apply for PIP?

Apologies for all the questions and if some of what I’ve said does not make sense - I did a ton of meds to get this done so apologies i I actually rambled for 75% of it!

Thank you

Robe