Transferring from ESA to UC and getting stuck - help?

Hello. This is my first time posting on the forum tho I've used your guides for years.

Background

I'm transferring from ESA to UC. I've been in ESA Support Group or equivalent for 20 years and receive DLA high rate care & mobility. I'm autistic, have a number of physical health conditions causing pain, fatigue, spasms, cognitive impairment etc I use a wheelchair most of the time, need support with communication eg with new people/understanding systems and struggle to understand/process/remember on the phone so don't do phone calls.

I have some support from local council under a direct payment to help with personal support, laundry, admin and planning, shopping, cooking etc. I'm also co-administrator of my mother's estate (4 beneficiaries, probate just come through, not yet sold her flat - that will hopefully be in the autumn now we can start clearing it).

After doing some gentle voluntary work, in the last two years I've been doing some paid disability training alongisde a more experienced colleague on a freelance basis, under permitted work. It's very well paid (£50/hour) but occasional 90 mins around once a month online, plus 3 or 4 times a year on site for 3-6 hours. I didn't understand what to do with the money so put it safely in my friend's spare savings account while waiting for advice. DWP didn't respond to my requests for instructions so it's all sitting there. (I'm autistic and need to understand rules, I'm petrified of getting things wrong).

ESA transfer to UC

I filled in the ESA form using your guides and with the help of an old friend who has acted as my advocate for some years (eg reading forms, advising what things mean, phoning DWP when problems etc).

We got stuck on a couple of things. We got advice from the CAB to state that I was self-employed, adding detailed notes to my journal about the training and all the bank accounts - two which are in my name but not my money, and one that is my earnings but not in my name.

So far, it's been exhausting, confusing and really stressful. I've had lots of notes in my journal telling me to do things right now but not answering my questions. I've gone to the Job Centre once to take along bank statements but need to go back again with more proof of the different accounts not being my money, and the account which is my money and not in my name. I have lots of paperwork re the direct payment account but not sure what to take re estate account.

Q1 What would be sufficient proof that my mother's estate account is not my money? (It's a normal joint account as my mother died without a will and we couldn't open a probate account until probate came through - which it did last month after 10 month delay).

Q2 We're having trouble getting bank statements on my friend's savings account. Should I ask her to transfer all the money back to me, so DWP can see and assess it - or something else?

Phone calls

Last week I had 24 hours notice of a phone call asking me to prove what I am doing to raise my self-employed income above the Minimum Income Floor. This is despite a journal entry re disability adjustments saying that phone calls don't work for me. I wrote a reply note in my journal to draw attention to this and to ask for my adjustments to be pinned to the top of my file.

I also queried why I was being invited to talk about increasing self-employment when I was transferring from ESA support group.

I didn't get any responses. Instead the DWP called me at the time they'd said. When I didn't answer the person wrote a note in my journal saying it was a missed appointment. They added a note to say that because I'd failed to answer the phone to make an alternative arrangement it would count as a missed appointment. They assured me that the note about disability adjustments was already pinned to the top of my file and If I called them they could arrange an appointment eg with wider doors, quiet space etc.

I wrote again that phone calls don't work for me, that it was a disabilty request and to not meet the need was a failure to provide adjustments. I said it was making me really anxious - which it is. I also asked why I was being told to attend an appointment to raise my income above the minimum income floor when I was transferring from ESA Support Group.

One person said they would let the job centre know. Then the job centre have sent me an appointment on Friday, 30 mins after my bank account proof appointment, to discuss raising my income above the Minimum Income Floor. I'm really struggling to find someone to come with me at this time, and it feels like a disaster waiting to happen.

Q3 Is this what should be happening re self employment/permitted work?
Q4 Can I ask them to rearrange the self employment conversation for when I can have support, or will that count as another missed appointment?
Q4 What should I take along with me to this appointment?

Any advice you can offer would be hugely helpful. This process is making me hugely anxious because I don't understand it, people don't communicate or respond to notes, everything is Must do it Now and as though I'm getting it wrong.

Thank you.

NB I don't have any of my mother's assets now as the estate won't pay out until the flat is sold.

My most urgent questions are around Friday's appointment, as above. I have now got support in the appointment, but neither of us understand what's going on. Help?

I attended both appointments today. The first one didn't make any adjustments - I was in the middle of a busy room, with people talking either side of me, a very quietly-spoken DWP person and fluorescent overhead light.

I gave them copies of the documents I'd prepared - for my mother's estate account, this was death certificate, correspondence with her bank, the pages of the probate application form that related to her bank account, and all the bank statements for the estate account. For my Direct Payment account, this was correspondence with the council setting out my contribution amounts for 2024 and 2025, payment notifications for 2025 - which include details of what the money is for, how much I contribute and that any excess funds will be clawed back, plus all the bank statements for 2025 and one from last summer to show the annual clawback amount for last year. They took copies of the paperwork and said they would send it to the decsion maker this afternoon.

the second appointment was with another person who helps with complex cases in the transfer process, but he is not a work coach or a decision maker. He was really helpful. He confirmed that MIF doesn't apply because I'm in the LCWRA group. He explained that the only reason I'd had repeated information about this being a conversation re MInimum Income Floor was that it's the only way on the system to book a half hour appointment. (This seems a bit strange - I can't be the only person transferring over in this situation)

They had asked for copies of 3 months bank statements and invoices, which I showed. He confirmed that although I do occasional training as self-employed it doesn't count as being 'gainfully self employed'. But I should write a note in my journal on the last day of each assessment period to say what I have earned and any related expenses, even if I have earned nothing. They are not interested in dates I worked etc just when the money comes in.

Finally I asked him what to do about the previously earned money that's in my friend's savings account. (See para 3 of my original post). . I signposted to my journal entry when I first applied which had the information, but no-one has followed up. He initially confused it with the DP and estate account, but got there. He eventualy wrote a note to the decision maker who also got confused. Eventually he suggested that I ask here, to see what advice you could offer as to what I should do.

TLDR - I think I understand better now how the system works and what I need to do. Hopefully the proof I took in re Direct Payments and Estate Account is sufficient but waiting to hear.

Q I don't know what to do with my previous earnings (2024 and early 2025) which I put to one side while waiting to hear what to do. I've reported it in my journal when I applied for UC. Is there anything else I should do?