Benefits and Work has published a 50 page guide for members to “Successful ESA to UC Managed Migration”, before the DWP moves from “test and learn” to the full scale transfer of 800,000 employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants to universal credit (UC).
The 50 page guide takes you through the whole migration process, warning of potential pitfalls and ensuring that you are better informed than many of the DWP staff you may have to deal with along the way.
Amongst other things we explain how to
- prepare for migration even before receiving your notice arrives
- do a trial run through of the complete form
- ask for an extension of the deadline if you need one
- decide the best time to make your claim after you get your notice
- understand what the options are for proving your identity
- challenge an unfair or unlawful claimant commitment, including using the cooling-off period to buy time
- understand how your UC award is calculated
- request reasonable adjustments, such as not having to travel to a jobcentre
- use complaints to get fair treatment
- avoid sanctions
We know that the DWP is expecting to save billions of pounds as a result of this migration process, much of that from the claimants who fail to transfer successfully.
Our guide to “Successful ESA to UC Managed Migration” will give you the knowledge to ensure that your move to UC goes as smoothly as possible.
Members can download the guide from the ESA/UC Guides page, readers can also contact the free Citizens Advice Help To Claim service here.
If you have begun or completed your mandatory migration, please share your experience with other readers here.
Full list of contents
Who this guide is for
Stages of a UC claim
What you can do before you get the migration notice
Maximise your existing benefits
Think about the timing of your UC claim
Think about how you will budget for the gap in payments at the start of your claim
Get help with any overpayments of benefits or tax credits
Check all the documents and evidence you will need
Work through the complete UC claim form before you migrate
Make sure you know how to get help
Getting your migration notice
When will you get your migration notice?
Could your notice get lost in the post?
Can you appeal against getting a migration notice?
Asking for a migration notice to be cancelled
If you are an appointee
If you get contributory and income-related ESA
Migration deadlines and extensions
Checking your deadline day
Your final deadline day
Asking for an extension
How to get help with your claim
Starting your claim
Deciding when to start your claim
Some things you might want to consider in relation to the date of your claim
How to start your claim
How to set up your UC online account
Your partner needs an online account
Verifying your ID
If you don’t have photo ID
Being required to attend a Jobcentre
Important deadlines once you have begun your claim
Information you will need to have ready to make a claim
Will you have to explain how your health conditions affect you on the form?
Will you have to provide fit notes or have a work capability assessment (WCA)?
Avoiding common reasons for a claim being delayed or failing
Completing the claim form
If you already get other benefits
Create an account
Apply for universal credit
Your living situation
The To Do List
Preparing for your first Job Centre appointment
Agreeing your claimant commitment
What is a claimant commitment?
The four claimant commitment groups
Is anyone exempt from having a claimant commitment?
Can you delay accepting your claimant commitment?
Do you have to attend in person to sign your claimant commitment?
If you must have work-related requirements, how do you make sure they are fair?
The amount of your UC award
How UC is calculated
Step 1: Find out your maximum UC entitlement.
Step 2: Calculate your income.
Step 3: Take your income away from your maximum UC entitlement.
Step 4: Check the relevant Benefit Cap figure
Will you be better off on UC?
Calculating the transitional element
How the transitional element reduces over time
When you will find out how much UC you will receive
What to do if you think your award is wrong
Mandatory reconsideration
If you were doing permitted work under ESA
Getting paid
Managed migration and other benefits
When will your existing benefits stop?
Will housing benefit still be paid?
Will you continue to receive help with Council Tax?
When will your first UC payment be made?
Alternative Payment Arrangements
Run-ons and advance payments
Once you are receiving UC
The main differences between ESA and UC
Check your journal regularly
Should you screenshot your journal?
Will you have a work coach?
Requesting reasonable adjustments
Avoiding and challenging sanctions
Making a formal complaint
Involve your MP
First stage of a complaint
Second stage of a complaint
Complaining to the Independence Case Examiner
Getting help with migration
Troubleshooting
You can’t make your claim online
You have been refused an extension of your deadline
You’re in the support group, but you’ve been asked to provide a fit note and/or to accept a claimant commitment with work-related activities.
The DWP say you will have to wait three months for LCWRA
You’re being pressured to sign an unreasonable claimant commitment
You and your partner are both disabled. Can you both have the LCWRA element of UC?
You receive the severe disability premium on irESA and have been asked to move to UC
Your contributory ESA is being deducted, but the LCWRA element has not been included
You receive contributory ESA and other legacy benefits, but no income-related ESA
You previously received Incapacity Benefit and then moved to contributory ESA with a top up of income-related ESA
You made a claim for PIP before migration day and haven’t yet had a decision. Or you are challenging a PIP decision that you received before migration day and haven’t had an outcome yet.
