UC, Carers Element and Support Group

I started a forced migration from legacy benefits to UK in July 2024. shortly after being approved for UC I had to fill in a form to assess whether I was fit for work. In january I found out only from my monthly UC report that I had been awarded as being incapable for work, but my money actually went down. Am aware that being awarded this extra £400 per month will decrease my transitional payments.

But I wasn't aware that being awarded as being not fit for work would mean I could no longer receive carers allowance, nor a carers element of UC. It seems like I am being penalised twice, I lose most of my transitional payment and lose the 81.90 a week carers allowance, and am not entiltled to the carers element of UC. I am losing rather than gaining. My UC payments have gone down one month to another. And I am told I owe £300 since October 28th as been overpayed UC.

1) Do I need to cancel carers allowance or does this get cancelled automatically (UC couldn't answer this question)?

2) Does getting the capability for work decision mean its decided that I am incapable of caring for anyone who is disabled, or is there a hidden carers element included (as said, my money from UC has gone down, not up). When I queried this with UC based on incapable of caring if receiving UC 'higher rate'

I said that I needed to challenge this and they said I couldn't,. But I don't understand why my money has gone down AND I am no longer entitled to carers allowance (wasn't told to stop claiming carers allowance, told them I was when I applied yet I am not allowed to apparently?) they just flatly said today I wasn't entitled to any carers element, when asked them to clarify, was just told it was the rules (what rules) and to look at gov.uk (where lol). I am still a carer!

Apparently as well as losing CA, not being entitled to Carers Element in UC, I have also been overpaid UC since October 28th and need to pay back £300. Goodness knows how. I don't understand how.

I am very very confused. They tried to read the letter out to me, asked them to send it to me so I had a chance of understanding it (short term memory problems). They seemed to find this problematic. First lady said she'd done it, she hadn't when I called back and checked. Second person when I called back (wasn't rude, or given a warning, call just cut off) said she'd send the request to a supervisor of some sort. I underlined that I needed this letter urgently. God knows why a request for a hard copy of this important letter has to cleared through a supervisor (after all its going to cost me a lot of money and I have no explanation or understanding of this).

Of course, my transitional payment has been almost wiped out. So gained nothing and lost a lot from getting the incapable for work decision.

I'd be grateful for any comments.

Thank you very much for such a quick reply. I am autistic and have physical problems that make thinking my way through complicated things quite difficult. But I am hoping I understand what has been written.

My real name is quite different to the user name on here but thank you for querying that. I understand why.

I didn't specifically ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration, but I did say I needed to challenge this decision as I am still a carer, explained about my son, and said that by claiming LCWRA they were now saying I could claim neither CA nor carers element of UC, and this did not seem right, as with losing most of my transitional payment, I was considerably worse off.

I was told the decision had been made by a decison maker and was right, that I could not challenge it. I was specifically told this. I was told there were rules to claiming UC and UC had to follow them (this was when I was told to look at the uk.gov site which is hundreds of pages long to look at the rules lol).

I also said when the person at UC read out the decision makers letter that I had short term memory problems and could not retain information so reading it out to me was unhelpful. This was when I asked for a hard copy of the letter to be posted to me. Twice. Until I get this letter I am not sure I can write asking for a mandatory reconsideration. I have nothing to base this request on other than the knowledge I have been told I can not claim CA nor Carers Element of UC, which I was also told I couldn't challenge.

Am I claiming Carers Allowance illegally at this point in time? Do I need to cancel it or risk being accused of a crime? I am not sure I can afford to manage with the other losses going on.

Also, the appeal case you referred to was interesting, but am unsure if it applies as it seems to be based on a change in the claimants health, my health has gone down but this was during a hospital admission (was in ITU for 20 days).., which was just before I had to claim UC. I have always dealt with UC issues over the phone as I have problems processing information and was still unwell when discharged from hospital and the only way I could claim UC was using assistance on the phone from UC (they filled in the forms based on my answers to their questions). I don't have access to a journal. So I don't have access to this decision makers letter.

I am sorry if I am repetitive or unclear.