Income Based ESA to UC- massive issue

Hi sgbd

Katrina said that Lisburn CMA is closed all next week.
The ESA section in NI has made a mistake and should not have closed your ESA claim at all as it appears to be just a change of circumstances. Having said that you need to claim UC if renting. I think you should phone the NI ESA section on Tuesday and check if you were receiving Contribution Based ESA as well as Income Based ESA. The Contribution Based ESA should not have been closed either and could be re-opened. But it would be very difficult to re-open an Income Based ESA claim once UC has been claimed.
Here is the information regarding the Transitional SDP Element. Remember this is completely separate to Transitional Protection someone gets on UC Managed Migration.

"`What is it?
The transitional SDP element is an extra amount of UC, paid in qualifying cases where person entitled to the severe disability premium (SDP) undergoes natural migration from legacy benefits to UC.
It is treated ‘as if’ it were an element included in the UC award calculation. The element is treated as if it were an amount included in the UC maximum amount before the deduction of the claimant’s income.
The payment is introduced by a new version of Schedule 2 (‘Claimants previously entitled to a severe disability premium’) of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014, No.1230 (‘the UC (TP) Regulations’), which applies where UC begins on or after 27 January 2021. That has been inserted1so as to replace the Schedule previously inserted in 2019.2That preceding version introduced the very similar (but not identical) ‘transitional SDP amount’.
A saving provision ensuring that the preceding version of Schedule 2 continues to apply to awards of UC where the first day of the award falls before 27 January 2021 – ie, so as to continue the transitional SDP amount in such cases.
The conditions
There are two conditions that must be met by the claimant, or each of the joint claimants, for a transitional SDP element to be included in the calculation of the UC award.
The first condition is that the UC award was not made as a consequence of the claimant becoming a member of a couple with someone already entitled to a UC award.3
The second condition is that the claimant must:
•have been entitled (or been part of a couple where one member was entitled) to an award of income support (IS), income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) or income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) that included an SDP within the period of a month preceding the first
day on which s/he became entitled to UC;
and
•continue to meet the eligibility conditions for the SDP up to and including the first day of the UC award.
Once someone has met these conditions, s/he continues to have the element included in her/his calculation regardless of whether or not s/he continues to satisfy the conditions for an SDP (subject to the provisions described below).
The UC award is not to include a transitional SDP element where the claim is a qualifying claim (ie, a claim made by notified person(s) on or before their final deadline for claiming UC4) as part of the UC managed migration process and the award is to include a managed migration ‘transitional element’ as a result.
The amount
The amount of the transitional SDP element in the first assessment period is set at the highest of whichever of the following amounts applies:
•£405, in the case of joint claimants if the higher SDP rate was payable;
•£285, in the case of single or joint claimants if the limited capability for work-related activity element is not included in the award; or
•£120, in the case of single or joint claimants if the limited capability for work-related activity element is included in the award.
These amounts are the same as those in the preceding version of the Schedule – ie, they are the same as for the ‘transitional SDP amount’. The DWP says the payments reflect the rate of the SDP in legacy benefits while taking into account the increased value of the limited capability for work-related activity element in UC. The amount of £120 was an increase on the £80 initially included in the draft of the preceding version of the Schedule. That lower rate had been successfully challenged in the High Court, a judgment upheld by the Court of Appeal.5However, the £120 rate results in awards lower than some claimants might otherwise have been entitled to in legacy benefit6and was, as of July 2020, subject to further challenge."

David

Hi sgbd

It is the first day of your UC claim which is the day you click the green submit button on the UC online form. So that would make the 9th April.

David