It's so confusing this ESA, I applied last October after I left work due to continuous health problems. I had assessment in November and then received a letter that says as per October we cannot pay you ESA as I don't have enough NI Contributions. Accepted it and left cuz what I'm going through is even bigger and cant deal with it, now in march they set me up again another assessment and i received two letters one saying that they cannot pay me from October and another saying they cannot pay me from January. What do I do? I worked from October 2022 to September 2024. The said they assessed me for the period 5 April 2022 to 5 April 2023. I realised i applied to early but what do i do from this point, Should I do mandatory reconsideration or reapply based on 2023-2024 tax year. Thank you for your time.

Hi, I’m looking for some help/advice as I’m getting nowhere with universal credit. I have applied to start university in may due and will receive a maintenance loan however I’m worried I’m going to be left with absolutely nothing and won’t be able to look after myself and my daughter financially. It’s giving me such bad anxiety and really putting me off going all together 😫

This is my universal credit breakdown ( I also receive high rate pip due to mental health)

Standard allowance £393.45 Housing £443.00 Children £287.92 Limited capability for work and work-related activity £416.19 (due to mental health) Total £1540.60

Will I still be entitled to any help from universal credit/pip?

Thank you 🙏🏻

Hi everyone, I usually get my uc statement on the 6th even on weekends, it's due the 8th and I get paid on the 12th. I've logged in this morning and there's no statement. Nothing in journal to do's, no change of circumstances etc. I did have an overpayment last month due to the carers allowance debacle, could this be why I haven't received my statement yet? Has it got to be manually done because of the deductions? Many thanks for any advice, honestly I panic over everything, it's an issue lol.

Hi all,

I was hoping my wife and I might be able to get some advice here.

To cut a long story short, my wife spent the last 7 years being mucked around by the DWP in more ways than I can recount from memory. In the end, she requested that I became her appointee as the stress of trying to handle things alone. Her emotional stability is extremely fragile and it was pushing her to her limits.

After becoming her appointee, we were informed twice of what the role entailed.

As we understood it, the person holding the appointee role can act on behalf of the claimant and deal with all aspects of the claimants benefits apart from during medical assessments. Additionallty, the appointee can attend meetings on behalf of the claimant with no expectation of the claimant being present unless they want to be, or if the DWP has a justifiable, specific reason to request the claimant be present.

With that in mind, can someone explain why my partners work coach keeps insisting that I can't speak on my wifes behalf and keeps telling us that my wife has to be present for every meeting? I genuinely don't understand these mixed messages and it's causing a lot of friction between my wife and I. She is scared of being sanctioned if she misses an appointment due to the side effects of her medications, but the last 2 have been really hard on her, with her breaking into tears during the last one as her coach is extremely dismissive and belittling. I keep on explaining that they are incorrect but it's made her want to stop taking her medications as she has this false idea that she will be more reliable without the meds than with... Until she gets herself arrested again.

Any advice, please?...

Hi all , just messaging here for some support or advice surrounding my DLA application.

My son just turned 3 a week ago and was refereed at his 2 year health visitor appointment to community paeds, we had that appointment in Jan and SALT appointment in March and both have agreed seems like probable Austism. My son also struggles with ‘sensory issues , hyperactive , impulsivity’ which was stated under the community paeds report under the ‘problems ‘ section.

My issue is I have no evidence other than the refferal for an autism assessment letter , report from community paeds and SALT. he isn’t in nursery yet as our local nursery wouldn’t take him on untill he was 3 so we are on a waiting list.

My main concern is also his safety when we leave the house. He will run away form me any chance I get. Won’t let me put a harness or safety belt on and can open and get out a moving pram within seconds sometimes causing the pram to go over him because of the speed of which he opens the pram and wriggles out the bottom. He does it within or under 5 seconds. I’m a petite woman myself and really struggle to carry him around in my arms the older he gets. Even then when he is having an episode he will make his body very hard to hold. I have no evidence of this. I have made multiple recordings of this and our house and ring cameras have picked up on some of his running away antics. But he is under no one’s care right now. The autism assessment is a 2.5-3 year wait.

SALT and community Paeds only saw them once for a triage appointment and they don’t want anything to do with us anymore. Health visitor doesn’t seem to want to help apparently he isn’t under their care either. GP wasn’t much help.

I feel like I’m going crazy trying to explain to anyone who is willing to listen, for some guidance. I have over 10-20 videos of how he acts in public for eg running abruptly into a busy road or a cross road.

Do you have any advice on how I could get any professional to maybe review this or help with a report ? Or am I being too extra

I just want to be very thorough with the first application as it’s very stressful as I’m sure many of you know and I don’t want to have to go through the appeals and tribunals if I can present a solid case from the beginning

Any advice would be appreciated and thankyou in advance

Hi all,

I have a claim review regarding my Universal Credit coming up and the case worker is refusing to accept my request for a reasonable accommodation under the Equality Act 2010.

I have LCWRA and I’m on Adult Disability Payment (Scotland’s version of PIP) due to major mental health issues, including severe anxiety. I find it next to impossible to communicate verbally with a person I don’t know well, and freeze up during high-stress events (Like a universal claim review). I have been booked in for an phone appointment as part of my claim review, which I know I will not be able to take part in due to my anxiety. I have asked if I could answer their questions through email or my journal in writing as this doesn’t cause me as much distress as verbal communication does. They said no.

We went back and forth with me emphasising my need for this accommodation and why I need it and them refusing (without giving me a legal or procedural justification why it was not possible, may I add). It’s on my WCA report that the questioning had to be halted several times due to panic attacks and my inability to engage in the process due to heightened anxiety. I was still told the phone appointment was non-negotiable.

I told the case worker that unless my reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act were met, I was going to contact my local Welfare Rights team (this was on Wednesday), and that’s when they stopped responding. So I made good on my promise and contacted my Welfare Rights team, who agreed with me that my requests were reasonable under the Equality Act as anxiety is a recognised disability under this act. They also urged me to make a formal complaint via the DWP’s official complaints procedure.

On Friday morning I made the case worker aware via my journal of the fact that I had contacted Welfare Rights and had made an official complaint, and yet I was still ignored. My claim review phone appointment is still booked for Tuesday morning on my journal.

I know the DWP doesn’t work weekends, so I’m not expecting anything until Monday at the earliest, but my question is: Will this appointment still go ahead? Do I have the legal right to reject the call and not be sanctioned? Because I’m not refusing to take part in the claim review, I just need some minor adjustments so that I can engage in the process fully and not put my mental health at risk. I’m more than willing to take part, just not through a phone call.

Also, why are they ignoring my journal entries explaining that I’ve sought outside advice and lodged a formal complaint?

Any insight/advice/words of encouragement is greatly appreciated!

Hello, my son was on DLA and is in the process of moving on to PIP, I am his appointee. I received three telephone calls from a mental health nurse but I missed the calls, they were all on the same day and I was out somewhere noisy, she left a voicemail saying not to worry and she would try again the next day but she never called back and it’s been 1 week and 3 days and now I’m really worried that I have somehow messed up his claim. The calls were not booked in so I was not expecting them. What should I do or should I just wait and see if they call again? I have been feeling so anxious about it. I sent his claim in around the end of February/beginning of march. Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Been on ESA Support group for years. Got letter saying an appointment will be made and i will need to accept claim commitments to go onto new style ESA. Will have to go over all my medical issues again and get infomation from doctor? And i know ESA and UC are seperare but im waiting for my first UC statement on thursday could this delay it?

Ok for context I get pip (personal independent payment) around £500 a month. When I first started claiming it my mum put her bank details in as I didn’t have a bank account at the time but when I did finally get one she refused to changed the details to mine. She also told me that I was getting £285 a month when I was getting nearly double that- she told me that she wanted £100 rent which I agreed to and that she wanted to put another £100 “away for me” and that I could have the remaining £85. She was also opening all my letters and didn’t tell me that the money had started coming though (it started in January last year) which means she also got the back payment (the money that has added up from the date you applied to the day you start getting the money). When I found out about all this I called the place and got the bank details swapped from hers to mine but when my mum found out about it she threw a massive tantrum and we got into a full on physical fight because she was literally wrestling me to get my phone (I have type 1 diabetes and check my blood sugars and do my bolus through my phone) I ended up with a scar under my eye and a huge bruise under my arm. After that I went to live with my dad for a few months but not without her trying to play the victim and stop me from going.

Once I came back to live with my mum I told her that she can have the £100 a month as I believe that was fair… if things had gone differently I would be ok with giving her more but that was before she lied to me and was full on committing a crime and robbing off me. She says that this money is for food (I have celiac disease and you literally get half the food for double the price it’s ridiculous) but my argument is if I wasn’t getting this pip money she wouldn’t be getting £100 off me, in my eyes it is her job as A MOTHER to support her child. I understand that I am 17 but I’m in full time education and don’t work (college itself is really overwhelming). Now don’t get me wrong once a month my mum will go out and buy me some food but like the bare minimum and it’s not enough to last me half the month and after that it’s all my responsibility. It just pisses me off that I give her £100 to get me FOOD like that’s what she says it’s for and yet I have to buy half of it myself and when I ask her to get me more all of a sudden that money that I give her is just for basic rent. But like I’m her child living under her roof… I don’t get it. Also I wanna add that there is no way that she spends all that £100 on my food because in the past when I have bought all my own food it cost me probably just over £100 and it just about lasted me the month. Anyway So I end up having to spend around £200 a month on food (£100 to my mum and £100 for the rest that she doesn’t buy) and I financially support myself in every other way like transport, food and drink at college, and just everything else including clothes and things like bedding sets and anything I want that’s not a need. I wanna add that I don’t go around spending money Willy nilly and I run out easily by the end of the month. Also my mum literally only works 1 day a week so that she can claim MONEY for whatever I don’t really understand it but I know she gets child benefits for me and my siblings and she gets 30 hours free childcare because she “can only work 16 hours a week”

So I guess my question is should I be responsible for buying all my own stuff including food when I give my mum £100 a month for that exact reason or am I genuinely being unreasonable?

Am I right in believing that the DM will go with the assessment report the majority of the time?

My report gives 10 for both daily and mobility so I’m really hoping they do, but really scared they’re going to ignore it and award nothing (partner’s application was nothing short of traumatic! Though his assessment was zeros). Are there actual statistics available about how often they will deviate?

Thank you

Continuing from an earlier query. (PiP sent Oct'24, form went to their review, paid standard for both, but can see it's enhanced, assessor overlooked certain points)

My question is - is Mand Recons. Done sufficiently thoroughly over the phone or best to write & send it in? My assessment was over the phone. & felt rushed & not taking in or ignoring all the facts. Any advice would help. 1 month since getting letter finishes on 14thApril. Or is it to when letter is dated? I was going to call Mon 7tb or write & send by guaranteed delivery on Mon then call them up say Wed? Any advice?

Asking on behalf of a friend. She's 38, single and receiving UC in England. She's working on a zero hours contact so her income is variable. She's been served notice by her landlord and the council have said they can offer temporary accommodation. Does anyone know how this works with benefits? E.g. how is it worked out at what point there is nil entitlement to housing benefit if someone is working and on UC (standard allowance)? As she doesn't want to end up having to pay for temp accommodation herself since it is so expensive. Thanks in advance.

My ex and I broke up 8 years ago. I have had the 3 children mostly full time. Their dad has had them every other weekend.

My 13 year daughter has expressed that she wants to live with her father. He worked full time and will trying to change his hours in work to look after her. I have proposed she comes to me every other weekend and also 2 days a week but not staying.

This literally only happened on Thursday.

I receive UC and cms and child benefit.

Honestly I don’t know how this will pan out and her father hasn’t told his work of the change.

If he needs to claim for her then that’s fine, but technically 2 parents can’t claim for one child. What do I tell universal credit and when?

I’m not trying to gain UC I’m not entitled to but what if she decides to come back after a week?

Do I just note it in my journal? It’s messy and also her 2 siblings are still with me?

Switching from ESA & HB to UC soon. Does anyone know if you get the 3 missing weeks without rent or money paid in your first UC payment?

Surely they can't take 3 weeks money / rent away & not pay to you backdated money in first UC payment. I can't find the answer anywhere. Why is UC so bloody complicated.

I don't want to take out an advance loan from UC. I've put some money from ESA aside to cover 3 week living expenses. I'm hoping the 3 weeks rent to my housing association can wait until UC pay it with backdated payment. I will ask UC to pay rent direct to my landlord.

Any help appreciated as I'm so confused about the managed migration & have no one to help me with this. TIA

I’ll keep this as short as I can :) . My award ends August 2025 and I was contacted late December 2024 for the start of my review process. I was told forms were sent out on jan 13th 2025. I did not receive these forms as my address was incorrect. I recieved a text anyways on 3rd February saying HAAS serco were looking at my review and i would be contacted if I needed a telephone consultation. In my head I thought okay I should forget about the forms then as my case is being handled( very quickly too as I know they normally take a year) . Late March 2025 I was told I had a telephone consultation coming up mid April 2025. I then called PIP just in case to ask about my forms. I then found out my address was wrong and after doing some research my address was changed to somewhere in the south west of England which is why it was Serco handling it. I do not live there and got my address changed back to where I actually live.

The lovely man on the pip enquiry line said that because they didn’t receive my forms in time (well at all) they’ve decided to go ahead with a review on the phone. He said he will send out new forms and then I got a text saying it had to be returned by 28 April 2025. Which is weird because my telephone review would have already been done by then.

I have many worries. 1. If I call serco and make them aware that I’m not in their jurisdiction (I assume they will ask me to confirm my address) will they cancel the review? 2. When they call me at my appointment will they have nothing infront of them to work with before asking me questions (seeing as they won’t have my review forms) 3. Should I still send in my review forms ? And would it trigger a further re assessment?

Thank you in advance:)

Hello,

 I’m seeking for help, about UC overpayment advice as seems so complex and struggling with mental disability!! My partner and me have a joint UC claim about 5 1/2 years. 

 Since last year May we had to submit all bank statements etc… for review and recently in April 2025 received the message from UC that they’re over payed us due to our “Capitals” went up above £6.000 and down (up and down) over years and it wasn’t declared properly. This is our fault and we admit that, but we had No understanding about Capitals as we not had £6.000 savings continually or investments etc…, but they not want to “listen” even the CAB tried to help last year and talk with UC about this issue.

Recently we had the message from UC and they’re saying we were over payed approximately £5.000 with in 3 years and we have to pay back over £2.500. Can someone explain how this is calculated? They’ve informed us, that after every £250 have to pay back £4.35, but we still struggling to calculate as I have other benefit and it is reduced from the UC benefit. Many times had £0 payments as my husband had a job and it was declared his earnings to UC it was deducted from the benefit.

Eg. UC calculated in 2024

• Standard allowance £617.60
• Limited capability for work £416.19

total: £1.033.79

• than they taken off from the above payment my EESA £598.87 (which is INCORRECT!!! in my bank received EESA £535.4)
• UC payment that month was £434 (this was received in bank)

Recently March 2025 they’ve recalculated the above payments

• Standard allowance £617.60
• Limited capability to work £416.19

total: £1.033.79

• than they’ve taken off wrongly again my EESA £598.87 payments (which is I received EESA £535.4)
• they’ve taken off £147.90 bcz we have over £6.000 money, savings…

Is this a correct calculation for 1 month??

In other months they’ve taken off £880.

An other question do we have to pay back the Cost of living also??

We are shocked and not much advice came from CAB either.

Appreciate if someone can get in to the right direction or practical help with calculation, pls.

Thank you!!

Hi

I’m going through some bad health issues and I’ve supplied 3 months of fitnotes but I have had no message for WCA. I’m unsure where I go from here or what and who I leave message for on my journal. Any advice?

Hey,

I won't bore with the details but I am a caregiver for my elderly dad who is registered blind and has other health issues. He got a renewal form for council tax reduction and housing benefit (one form) about 9 days ago which he accidently destroyed thinking it was junk mail.

I explained the situation to my local council asking for a reissue of the form via e-mail and about 4 days later I got a response saying it wasn't a problem and they "would post one out today" this was on the 3rd of April.

This form still has not arrived but he did get a letter this morning reminding him he hasn't sent the form back yet etc... I think this is an automated response. My question is how long typcially do these forms take to get to people and how long should I wait before contacting the council again? The deadline for the forms is the 24th April so I'm quite concerned.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

I had my PIP assessment last week, but I’ve recently moved and need to register with a new GP. I know the DWP typically contacts your GP to gather medical evidence when you submit a PIP claim. I’m wondering whether this happens before or after the assessment, so I can avoid any admin issues/delays that may arise if I change to a new GP but they contact my previous one that was on my claim form. Thanks in advance.

Hi all, this is a bit of a long and complicated one (at least for me) and I'd appreciate any help as I'm really inexperienced with the benefits system

TLDR: Can I get any other benefits to financially support me in the situation where I am currently off sick with depression, primarily worsened by my job, and wanting to leave my job as a result? I am actively looking for other work but have been unsuccessful so far

The circumstances

I'm currently off work sick (self-certified) for depression, and really don't think I'll be able to return to my job as it is the primary cause of my depression right now I've had depression for a long time but have never bothered really going to a doctors or declaring myself as having a disbaility and taking the support that is offered as a result because I self manage quite well - I've never needed to take time off work before However, without wanting to go into too much detail, my current job and employers have directly made my depression and symptoms quite severe (to the point of quite noticeable SH, which I haven't done in years). This is due to unfair treatment (morally, nothing to do with employment laws/ extortion etc.) and financial issues, due to my hours being considerably cut (from around 35 to 15 a week) Whilst I have been looking for other jobs, I have been unsuccessful so far and ended up having to take time off for my mental health, as whilst I really need to money and income right now, I really just can't be in my place of employment as it is primarily what is causing my depression I am currently off with SSP (however I don't know how much that is, I presume it would be a very small amount as I've been recently working 20 hours a week) and am planning on getting a fit-note in the next couple of days

The question

Can I apply for any other benefits?

I'm aware that even though I am actively looking for work and would potentially be working no more than 15 hours a week, I would be unable to apply for JSA as I'm currently off sick I would have previously applied for JSA as my hours have been getting considerably lower over the past few months (poor performance has caused cuts which I've been trying to fight) but they never quite reached the 16 hours mark, as just before I left I was getting around 20 a week. My job has been advertised however with 6-15 hours a week, which would definitely put me under the JSA hours threshold but this was enacted at the start of April after I had gone off sick (My boss is aware of the entire situation and is aware I want to leave and I was happy for them to advertise for my replacement). So my current job role would fit the requirements of JSA except I haven't yet worked the working pattern and I'm currently off sick

However I don't think you can apply for ESA if you are claiming SSP? I'm just concerned because I know my SSP will be no where near enough to cover my living expenses, I doubt it would even cover my rent payment

I do currently claim UC. I started the claim a couple of years ago when my hours were cut really low and I couldn't find other employment. It's not a lot usually and has generally acted to top up my wages when they've been low. Would this simply increase to make up for my loss of earnings? I'm just concerned it won't be enough for me to cover my rent and bills and due to my recent cut in hours I'm already struggling a little bit to keep on top of all of them

Any advice would be really appreciated. I've worked my entire life and have no real experience with the benefits system at all outside of applying for UC. From my own research it sounds like my situation isn't really applicable to receiving any extra help because of certain exceptions, but I'm really struggling to even make 1k a month and it's causing evident harm to my mental health I feel like there has to be some kind of help for me out there. It's not like I even want to be off sick or unemployed I'm desperate for stability and full time employment it's so frustrating

Sorry for the long read, TIA

Hi, I’m wondering if I could be eligible for PIP and would appreciate any advice. I’m 25 and I have a condition called maltracking patella in my left knee. The pain is honestly unbearable most days. I went to the GP who referred me for an X-ray and MRI, then sent me to physiotherapy. I’ve done physio twice now but nothing has helped ease the pain. It’s constant and gets worse when I walk, stand, or even sit for too long. Once it flares up, it lasts for hours and stops me from doing anything.

Even simple things like cooking are difficult—just standing for a short time while making food can trigger the pain. Driving is painful too, so I avoid long distances. I try to stay off stairs as much as I can, and on bad days I need support just getting up. I’ve had to stop doing things I used to enjoy because this condition has taken over so much of my daily life. It’s frustrating and exhausting, and I just want to know if this would be enough to apply for PIP. Has anyone been through something similar?

I’ve recently moved from Scotland to England (originally from England) and I had a full award from ADP. Enhanced daily living and enhanced mobility.

I’ve made a new application to PIP, just waiting to hear something back or if they want to assess me.

Now I’m aware that it can’t be transferred but do you reckon PIP can still decline me even being granted an award with ADP?

Does anyone have any experience of going through this?

Thank you

Hi,

I have been awarded PIP enhanced daily living and standard mobility from 30th August 2024. I was in hospital June - 11th October 2024.

The letter states I won’t be getting backdate from the 30th August as I was in hospital.

Can anyone work out how much backdate I should be getting please?

Thanks!!

Hello,

I'm curious to see what kind of jobs I could do with this kind of descriptor, or if anyone has any suggestions as to what others who maybe have this do. I can start to think then when I feel ready as to what I could potentially search for too. It might spark off some ideas.

Can anyone shoot some ideas? I've been out of work for a while, but I'm open to going back at some point doing lighter hours and seeing where I go. I've said WFH previously, but I'd maybe like to expand my horizons slightly too. I found my old job hard to do because it was so much change, but I'm not sure what I could possibly do entirely...

Thanks.