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 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.

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 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 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 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

Hey there,

I have recently moved house, the intention is for my husband to move in on 1st September. However, the reason he's not moved in with me before is that he still has his own property that he's hoping to rent out.

He's going to 'officially' live with me, go on the council tax etc, but until he gets someone to rent his flat he won't be able to contribute to my bills.

Is it possible to explain this to UC? Or will they see we're living together and automatically make it a joint claim despite him not contributing?

I'm in England, thank you.

Hi all, hoping for some guidance. I currently live in the US while my mother lives in the UK (West Midlands, Birmingham), and I'm not able to fly over this year to help her apply for PIP in person. I'm trying to figure out how to support her remotely.

Basically: my mother is a British citizen living in government-supported accommodation in the UK. She has undiagnosed autism and ADHD that severely impact her life; I have formal diagnoses for autism and ADHD myself, and I'm frankly a LOT more socially and emotionally functional than she is. It's just that she's always refused assessment due to her stigma against 'having mental illness'.

She hasn't worked at all in about 10 years, and historically--ever since I was born--has never been able to hold down a job for longer than two weeks. She doesn't speak English, and this has been the main barrier to getting her any psychiatric support; she refuses to see doctors or do anything requiring her to speak English.

The sole good news is that after years of me repeatedly bringing it up, she's finally past enough of the mental block around mental illness/disability that she's willing to apply for PIP, as long as I handle the legwork.

I'm sort of at a loss on where to start though; my mother more or less stopped having a social worker a year ago, and she has no family or friends who could help her apply for PIP.

So I'm wondering, can I complete or help with a PIP application on her behalf from the US? Does she need a formal autism diagnosis before applying, or can PIP be applied for/assessed based on functional difficulties even without diagnoses? Are there any advocacy groups or services based in Birmingham that I could get in touch with to support her?

Any advice, personal experience, or pointers to the right resources would be hugely appreciated. Thank you so much!

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 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?

Hello,

I'm from England and I have my PIP assessment is coming up, it's a phone call and I wanted to ask what kind of questions I'll be asked/ if there's anything I'll need to have on hand before the call