ESA Migration to UC

Dear Mods/forum members,

A little over a month ago I emailed my MP about the ESA to UC migration process and the work coaches requesting fit notes to process the claim despite it not being required according to the Governments own legislation. My MP(or one of his staff) forwarded my email to the Ministers at the DWP and today I received a reply signed by Stephen Tims.

So I thought this may be of interest to fellow members and perhaps even useful to quote for anyone who still encounters the fit note issue when migrating.

'In preperation to start the migration of Employment and Support Allowance(ESA) benefit combination customers from July 2024,additional changes have been made to ensure that claimants migration from ESA with an established Work Capability Assessment (WCA) decision are not required to provide fit notes.

From 24 July this year, claimants who declare a restricted ability to work when making a new claim will be presented with a new question asking if they currently receive ESA. If the claimant asnwers 'No' to the question they will be asked to provide a fit note as per the current processes. If the claimant answers 'Yes' they will not be asked to provide a fit note.

After the claimants identity has been confirmed the service will validate the answer against any ESA award. If the claimant has a current WCA decision, 'business as usual'actions will proceed and their Limited Capability for Work (LCW) or Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) status will be migrated to Universal Credit.
If it is found that the claimant answered the question incorrectly, or they are still in the early stages of a New Style ESA claim and there is no current WCA decision to migrate, the service will post an automated message to the claimant's online Universal Credit journal asking them to provide a fit note from the outset of their claim.
The new Government is very concerned at the undermining of the social security safety net over the past 14 years. Our aim is to make the system fit for purpose in the course of a decade of national renewal, to which the Prime Minister is committed.

(There is also a short paragraph about waiting for the migration notice before claiming UC)


Gaddy