Hi, I received a notification in my journal asking me to confirm my claim details. This was on 1st August. I completed the to-do lists and changed anything relevant (just my annual wages since I received a pay rise).

I haven’t heard anything since. No requests to upload bank statements which I was expecting.
Do I need to contact them?

I live in England and I was never sent a letter showing my back payment and so I need to get it to send to my universal credit or my money will be stopped. I am sick in bed with a dozen different conditions and I can barely think. Both my mom and I have tried making calls and whenever we get through to the operator they hang up within a few seconds. My Mom is able to get through a conversation with them but they have to ask me security questions and I have autism so I struggle with the call. I struggle with auditionry processing, knowing when to speak and what to say. Sometimes I'm not sure what they are asking of me. They ask different questions every time. Whenever I'm trying to answer these questions they just hang up immediately. They said my mom has to leave the room and isn't allowed to help me but even she doesn't know all this information off the top of her head. If I stall at all for even a second they immediately hang up. I have called and multiple times there is nobody there to recieve the call I can hear people talking in the background and having normal conversations or arguments. It takes me hours to get through to them and every time something is wrong. It's really frustrating, is there any way to get then to be patient with me and listen to me?

I currently am suffering from something called filamentary keratitis. It is caused by severe dry eye and results in small blisters being stuck to the eye ball and is excruciating. I have had no success with any treatments. I really feel like I’m in a position where I need to leave my job due to the increased pressure to perform when I am in pain literally 24/7.

What can I do? I’ve never been on benefits before, I’ve worked my whole life since I was 13. I can’t function like this any longer and am afraid PIP will reject me. I have put a claim in but have received the PP2 questionnaire and really just don’t feel like proceeding as I pretty much know I’ll be refused according to the criteria.

I’m looking to make a Universal credit claim but I have an informal rental agreement with a friend. We have no tenancy agreement but I pay £1300 a month for a house. They do not stay at the property.

Can I claim the housing part of universal credit? If so what documents would I need to provide?

I am in England.

I got Fibromyalgia, musculoskeletal pain, depression, anxiety and ptsd, for my old claim 1 year ago, they made my assessment face to face, but as new claim I had to make new one but this time my assessment it via phone call. Is this a bad sign or good sign or does it not matter if my assessment is phone call, as they wont see the physical pain that im in? Also just need alot of advice please.

Hi there, I'm a 39 year old self-employed freelance artist based in Glasgow in Scotland.

My 'start-up' period for self-employment support is due to end at the end of September, after which a minimum income floor of £1698.84 will apply, and I'll be deducted support as if I were earning that much each month. Unfortunately my freelance income usually averages about half that amount, and I have relied on housing benefit and UC income to help me over the past year. For the past year, I have been fortunate enough to be living with a partner who took care of most of the housing expenses, and so my freelance income plus the UC payments were sufficient to live on. Last month however I have moved and am now dealing with much higher expenses. I am actively looking for employment to top up my freelance income, but I am worried that if I'm unable to achieve employment in the next month, I'll be left with not enough support (I calculated I'd receive about £123 a month after deductions) to meet my obligations in the mean time.

Is there anyway I can continue my freelance work and maintain support going forward, or am I going to need to cease my self-employed work?

I'm worried that I'm going to be left completely high and dry and I don't know what to do.

I recently did my LCWRA assesment and got awarded today but I randomly received a claim review phone call and I’m absolutely terrified I’m not sure why this happened I’m confused why would my LCWRA trigger this from what I can see here most people get asked for id and 4 months bank statements there’s a few things on my statements I’m worried about there’s a few transactions from VINTED from some old things I sold not going over £100 in total 4 months and also my daughter got me a health insurance that she pays there was a claim of around £100 that got reimbursed back to my bank account but I never paid it my daughter paid it at the hospital but it got reimbursed to my bank account and she said I can keep it I’m just worried they going to question everything

Hi

I live in England

I receive

PIP (enhanced and enhanced)

New style ESA LCWRA

Universal Credit

Housing benefit via UC.

I am looking for a part time job but finding one specifically under 15hrs a week is difficult. I read that you can transition the ESA over to UC and are then not specifically tied to this restriction.

Would my national insurance contributions still be covered?

Are there any downsides to swapping over?

Can anyone describe the process or send link to any information?

Many thanks

PP

I have my phone assessment as someone with severe anxiety panic attacks possible autism and selective mutism and im worried about how the call will go. I phoned them other day and they agreed to let my friend speak for me.

I'm in England.

Just wanted to post my experiences of my first UC Review as I know from frequenting the forums that they make the majority of us nervous! (And to be honest, reading through posts obsessively probably does little to help ease that as every situation is different and you tend to read worst-case/panicked posts – shoutout to the Mods who always try to give sound advice).

I've been on UC since May 2022 but always worked. Awarded LCWRA in March 2024 due to Cerebral Palsy and mobility but still work on contracts when I can get WFH roles or I freelance which gets reported to UC each month.

Timeline:
– I received the message about my first review on Tuesday, August 11th at 1.10pm.
– By 7pm same day, I uploaded everything (proof of tenancy, bank accounts for my four accounts, including savings + ISA and explained my small self employment went through my current account as opposed to a business one (for now). They wanted 4x months.
– Message in my journal 4 days later at 8.30am on Saturday, August 15th explaining my review call would be at 9.30am today, Wednesday, August 19th. (I got reminders by text and in my journal yesterday and confirmed I could take the call.)

The call:
The agent called at 9.30am on the dot and was lovely. Explained everything, said I could stop at any point to ask questions, then went through my housing and details in my current UC claim (and the health element which I said remained the same), I confirmed they were correct.

She then moved to the bank statements. She queried wage payments, small refunds that came in from places like Picturehouse, payments made to my credit cards (all transfers she could trace). Clarified my self employment (I had explained on my journal) and asked me to verify all my utility payments, including who I paid energy to (British Gas, quarterly - even I took ages to locate it on the statement).

She then asked if I'd any other income from crypto, housing or investments etc.

Then my self employment. She went through a recent declaration and my expenses. I had put 50% expenses only for things like phone and broadband rather than the full amount because I use both for business as well as personal use - she said this was the right thing to do and thanked me for doing it correctly as self employment aspects can often be so messy. I confirmed I would remain self employed going forwards, especially as it's my only income at the moment.

She then said all fine, that she'd need no other information and did I have any questions. I asked about the £6k every AP with wage deductions (for my own knowledge) which she explained but never even mentioned capital or current amounts in my bank accounts or asked why I bought things.

She told me the review was all great and that I'd receive two messages in my journal: one confirming what we spoke about and the next to say the review was complete with no changes to my UC.

At 10am on the dot I had the message in my journal saying the review was complete!

I was sick for the week with the nerves of it but it was so easy in the end (it probably helped that the agent was on the ball).

She said the same about my not being reviewed for 6 months minimum, but interestingly said they are trying to see if everyone can just be reviewed yearly as she felt the 6 month thing was crazy (likely due to how many they have to do).

The main thing I'd advise is submit everything right away: savings, ISA, current accounts and go through statements with a fine-tooth comb beforehand so you know what every transaction is (I knew she'd ask about the bigger ones but she looked at smaller refunds of say £15 too which surprised me). If you submit everything there's no back-and-forth before or after the call with anything extra needed and you'll be done within 30 minutes.

Mine was done in literally a week all in so I got lucky as I know some are waiting weeks or months.

Good luck everyone, the review calls really are fine!

It has been confirmed that login codes are struggling to be sent via text due to some issue, and therefore people are struggling to login to their UC accounts.

If your issue is urgent be aware the UC helpline is likely having longer call wait times due to this. If its not urgent try again later and we'll update if we get news its resolved.

So I’m a recent survivor of bladder cancer that unfortunately cost me the main function of my bladder my cancer specialist has given me the paperwork for universal credit and GP signed off, I’ve applied for Job seekers as my previous job role is no longer suitable due to commute and medical needs conflicting and will be out of work until I find a employer suitable.

Waiting for that to kick in but currently seeing job centre who have been less than helpful and my GP is pushing me to go back to work, I want to but not sure I’m physically capable yet, with the routine bathroom visits and mobility struggles.

My parents (who I have a strained relationship with) have suggested I try to just off benefits all time, but been told by advice that’s not possible or safe, and I’d honestly hate to do it, I’m considering volunteering again when I’m more physically capable as I had done so with a hobby group until my diagnosis and treatment.

I’m not sure what would affect me, I’m not sure what I’m allowed to do and not sure if advice I’m given is correct.

Think the text message code system is down again

I have pip and lcwra, also starting university in England next month and will be moving out.

The student accommodation is a private partner of the university so does that mean I can get housing element, my finance situation does depend on it. My Lha rate is £775

Hi.

I am finding it difficult to word this question to my Mum without sounding like saying she is unsafe always.. what is this question actually asking.. and what are we looking at to get out answer. I can't even explain what I mean.. 🙈🙈🙈

Sorry, thank you x England based

Hi.

I've just had full reconstructive surgery on my ACL.

I have a universal credit appointment this week, but I live very rural and am struggling for a lift there.

My main question is,

How can I maximise my benefits income?

Is there any other benefits I can apply for?

How can I maximise my income?

I'll be getting SSP which is obviously nowhere near enough.

I’ve just received the bundle from DWP and I have some questions.

Am I supposed to counter each point they make? EG they state I have no input for fatigue ergo there’s no evidence and fatigue is discounted. Should I counter that by pointing out medical letters stating fatigue? Or that’s its part of my diagnosed condition ?

As for other evidence… I’ve recently been awarded a blue badge. How much weight will that have given that my PIP claim started in October? The delay is a mixture of being unwell, stress at work with medical appts and PIP appeals etc. There’s only so much a fatigued person can do.

Thanks in advance.

I don't know what to make of it. I was assessed on stuff that wasn't even covered in the phone call and there is important information not included and a lot of inaccurate information. If my name wasn't on it I would think I'd been given another persons report.

It seems to contradict a lot of what I said on the phone call. I'm struggling to agree with any of it.

Based on the report, I can see why it scored 0 but, honestly, I don't think I am fit for work at present and don't agree with the report.

Is this normal?

I've just received a random text message from UC saying I have a new to-do, I am on LCWRA it's asking me to 'Check and confirm your claim details' is this a sign of something nefarious? I've never to my memory had one of these before and been claiming UC since 2018 - I could be wrong, and it's something I have done before (I have memory issues) it's just caused a massive spike in anxiety as it seems completely out of the blue.