esa migration to uc

wendywoo22 wrote:

how did your phone call go please.

Hi Wendy

My phone call went well (I think). The lady who phoned was from my local job centre and she asked me three questions to verify my identity online. She first went through my security questions (the ones you have to access your journal online), asked me my NI number.

The first question was "What was my previous address?"
Second question "Do I receive any other benefits, if so, what are they"
Third question was "Which benefit have I been claiming for the longest?"

These questions were computer generated, i.e. the lady was told by computer what questions to ask me. She did say at the beginning of the call that the computer may not accept my answers and, if so, I would need to come into the job centre to verify my ID.

It was very much a case of us both "keeping our fingers crossed" that the computer would accept the answers given by me and I thought I would fail the last one, but thankfully I didn't.

I did ask her about New Style ESA as I'm currently on both Contributions and Income Related ESA, it became clear that she was not familiar with this but she had a go at guessing the answers and saying that NS ESA was a different department. She was very nice but I often find that DWP staff are not very knowledgeable , however that was not the reason for the call so she was caught off guard and like I said, she made an effort to have a good guess at the answers.

So, the phone call lasted for about 15mins but 10mins of that was me asking questions.

I asked her what the next step in the process was but she seemed unsure so I will wait and see what happens next.

She never asked any other questions apart from the ones mentioned above, it was all very straightforward so try not to worry.

Hope your phone call goes well.

soulgal

I had my biographical phone call today. She was nice but i couldnt get a word in really. The questions she asked me were to stressful what benefit did i claim in 2017 and what date. What was my local council. Another date and what benefit. I said i didnt know and she changed the question. To how much esa i got. I thought i had failed. But i passed. She could see i was transfering from esa support group. Told me all about the journal and that i didnt have a work coach and to contact the call center as messgs dont get answered really if theres any problems. I checked my advance and its 400 pounds. So i guess the lcwra hasnt been added on? To me it was a stressful phone call and my anxiety is still bad. She told me to check my journal once a week. I just hope theres no problems with my benefit and its the right amount. I dont think i could go through all that again.