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ESA to Universal Credit re: housing benefit

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5 years 5 months ago #219617 by wightrider
I am currently receiving Income Related ESA & PIP.
I am also looking for a home to rent.
The area I live in has already switched over to Universal Credit full service, so if I find somewhere to rent I will have to claim UC in order to get housing benefit.
I keep getting conflicting information about this: some people have told me that I will have to claim full UC, in other words I will have to give up my ESA award and start all over again with that, aswell as claiming housing payments. But in my most recent ESA letter from the DWP there is a paragraph on housing which seems to imply that I can just claim the housing payments part of UC and keep my current ESA award.
Can anyone clarify this for me please ?
Here is the exact paragraph from my ESA letter which was dated 25 Sept.2018:
"HOUSING - If you live in a Universal Credit Full Service postcode area and pay rent or council tax, you could get Universal Credit Housing Payment and/or a reduction in your Council Tax."

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5 years 5 months ago #219645 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic ESA to Universal Credit re: housing benefit
wightrider

If your area is a UC Full Service area then the only way you can receive HB is via a UC claim and making a claim for UC will mean that your ESA(IR) will also be migrated to UC, there is no way around this.

Your existing ESA award will be moved across to UC so there should be no need for reassessment, although it usually takes a couple of weeks for this to be done as it is a manual process.

ESA letters are always confusing. My reading of the paragraph that you quote is that it is actually suggesting that you claim UC, it is not saying that you can make a claim for HB via UC and retain your ESA.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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