Can anyone help me please?

[Loulou7878]

Hi I'm on ESA a few years ago I went for the assessment as I have depression and anxiety, I failed the assessment but then went to court an won. And because of the state I get into I have no date for when I have to go back to work.

Its now a few years on my eldest is 19 he was at college but he left home and got a full time job . He has now came back home and I have been told by my housing association that I now need to claim universal credit as we will be worse off and I have checked because he works I will have to pay full rent but on universal credit I won't have to pay anything.

This whole situation scares me so much because I do not want to have to go through months of hell with no money coming in again and having to go through all of the assessment s and everything.

Does anyone know what I have to do to claim universal credit without going through all of that again? Having to prove everything again?

I was told to start a new claim but surely as I'm getting ESA there must be a way. Sorry I'm totally lost and soooo worried and scared. I hope this makes sense. Thank you for any help in advance.

[Kerry]

Hi.
I’m sure someone will be along soon to help you out.
I thought if someone is on esa they have a choice if they want to claim u/c.
Good luck
Take care

[nukecad]

I need to ask a few questions to try and see if the Housing association are right or not.

I'm assuming that you are currently claiming Housing Benefit, is that correct?
That is the council currently paying your rent.

Have the Housing Association asked you to pay more rent?
If so have they said why? Is it because they expect your son to pay some of it?.

How much is the rent?

Is your son still working? Approximately how much does he earn?

If your son is living with you then he is expected to contribute towards the rent if he is working and earning money.

You say:
"I have checked because he works I will have to pay full rent but on universal credit I won't have to pay anything."
Where and how have you checked that?
It does not seem correct, you may still get some Housing Benefit even if your son is expected to pay some of the rent (unless his wages are high), and he would still be expected to pay something under UC so you wouldn't get full UC-Housing Element.

The Housing Association (and your own check) may well be correct that you could get more money with UC than you do with Housing Benefit.
How much more is what needs to be worked out.
Your son would still be expected to contribute to the rent, but maybe not as much.
That's because with UC it's a flat rate regardless of what he earns, with Housing Benefit it depends on how much he earns.

But as Kerry says that is your choice - they can't force you to change to change to UC if you don't want to.
To be honest though I don't see why you would choose to have less money if you could easily have more?

You seem to be mostly worried about the idea of having a reassessment, that shouldn't be any problem.
If you do change to UC then your status from ESA will carry across and it won't mean having a new assessment just because you have changed to UC.
(You may be due a new assessment anyway, but if so then that would still come with ESA anyway).

It needs to be looked at, and so as well as the questions above it would also help if you could tell us which group of ESA you are in, how much ESA do you currently get.
(That will tell us what premiums you have in ESA).
And tell us if you are getting any other benefits such as PIP, Child Tax Credit, Carers Allowance, anything else that you get.

PS. You should note that having a working person living with you will also affect any Council Tax Reduction that you get, you'll need to speak to your council about that.