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ESA migration to UC first payment advice

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1 week 3 days ago #297677 by Pukdog
Hi I need some advice about payments after migration from ESA to UC. I have been migrated now. I applied 2 days after receiving the migration letter, and I am well within the deadline date of 7 February 2025.

All ESA payments I recieved in the assessment period were deducted from UC.

I recieved a letter from UC saying that ESA Payments would stop on 20 November.

I recieved a reduced ESA Payment on 4 December.

On the government site www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-credits-and-some...-to-universal-credit it says

Moving from other benefits
If you’ve applied for Universal Credit, you’ll keep getting your current benefit paid for 2 more weeks. You must still be eligible for your current benefit. You will not need to pay back these extra payments and they will not affect the Universal Credit you might get.

This only applies if you’re getting:

income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Income Support
Housing Benefit

I asked UC for a written explanation about the payment as I was still recieving IR ESA when I was migrated. They replied and said I needed to ask ESA.

I called ESA they said they hadn't deducted anything and that I needed to speak to UC. They said I hadn't been fully migrated yet and it would be soon.

I asked UC in the journal for a written explanation again as I didn't understand. They replied saying that the payment summary was the written explanation.
It does say in the payments section that you can ask for a written explanation but they are not providing one.

The payment summary shows 2 separate deductions for ESA - 1 for ESA not entitled to and 1 for ESA (no explanation).

After a few days I called ESA to ask for help. They explained that I am now (and until any changes to my claim e.g. cancelling / change of circumstance/ assessments) getting Contribution based ESA, which is paid by ESA. I had been getting IR ESA with underlying entitlement CB ESA. This I didn't know. My ESA claim started as CB ESA then after a year changed to IR ESA. My claim has been long unfortunately so I had the IR ESA for the past 11 years.

ESA explained that as I have CB ESA underlying entitlement ESA is kept as it provides class 1 NI contributions whereas UC is class 3 NI contributions, and that the computer system therefore chose to keep my claim with ESA.

The transitional protection amount is being paid by UC minus the ESA payments which will be deducted every assessment period. So I continue to recieve ESA and UC unless I cancel the ESA claim.

So my questions are
1. Do I qualify for the 2 week amount of IR ESA not being deducted from UC as i was claiming IR ESA with CB ESA underlying entitlement?
2. Is there any difference to me if I close the ESA claim and move to UC
a) will that trigger a reassessment?
b) would that remove transitional protection? (ESA didn't know)?
3. If I do qualify for the 2 week amount of ESA not being deducted from UC how do I ask them to address this if they won't provide an explanation? If I ask for mandatory reconsideration will the UC stop until they have made a decision? Will I be reassessed?

Thank you for taking the time to read as its a long post.
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1 week 3 days ago #297679 by David
Replied by David on topic ESA migration to UC first payment advice
Hi Pukdog,

It appears to me that you were in receipt of Contributions Based ESA and were getting a top up of Income Based ESA. What happens on UC Migration is that your old Contributions Based ESA is turned into New Style ESA which is basically the same thing. Your previous Income Based ESA is replaced with UC.
To answer your questions--
1. Do I qualify for the 2 week amount of IR ESA not being deducted from UC as i was claiming IR ESA with CB ESA underlying entitlement?
The rules that you quoted ( www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-credits-and-some...-to-universal-credit ) apply to Income Based Benefits and not Conts Based ESA. So your extra 2 weeks of ESA will be just the Income Based top up.
2. Is there any difference to me if I close the ESA claim and move to UC
a) will that trigger a reassessment?
b) would that remove transitional protection? (ESA didn't know)?
No it will not trigger a WCA assessment.
As far as Transitional Protection is concerned any increase in the UC standard allowance erodes Transitional Protection. So if you stopped claiming New StyleESA this Benefit would no longer be deducted from your UC. So in theory your standard allowance is not being increased, it is just the UC is no longer subject to the deduction. I would phone Citizens Advice Help to Claim to verify this. The phone no is on page 2 of your Migration letter.
3. If I do qualify for the 2 week amount of ESA not being deducted from UC how do I ask them to address this if they won't provide an explanation? If I ask for mandatory reconsideration will the UC stop until they have made a decision? Will I be reassessed?
Again I would phone Citizens Advice Help to Claim about this. See the recommendation of this service pinned to the top of the forum.
Please let us know how you get on.

David

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