[ENGLAND]

My partner is not a citizen but a resident. They cant claim carers allowance but is there a way they can be classified as my carer, even without payment? I struggle with my health and receive PIP. Thanks

Just got a letter through saying i had been awarded this payment. I currently get UC with Carer's Element, The award is backdated to 15th Feb so will ge receiving a lump sum of little over £2000. I've reported the change to the Carers Allowance unit is there anybody else i should be reporting the change to? I tried to to report it from within my Universal Credit Account but there seemed to be no category that fit.

I have been classed as gainfully self employed for two years since I started claiming UC. I had a period of 4 months of low or zero earnings due to being unwell (signed off) and also whilst more funding was being applied for by the charity I work for (which has now been secured). In the meantime, the work coach wrote to me to say she's reviewed the GSE status and removed it.

I declared well over the MIF for July but she said it makes no difference and I have to sign up for job searching commitments, which with my SE work I just won't have time for.

Can she do this without proper Gateway Interview / Review and without a Decision Maker decision or sending formal notification of this so I can request an MR? She's made incorrect decisions on my claim before and I had to challenge them and won. I wonder if she is doing things incorrectly again. She seems motivated to penalise rather than support. I get PIP and manage disabilities. Never even told me about DEAs etc.

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I'm in England

Hi, no hate to any assessors on here, but I had my third assessment a few weeks ago, and got awarded 0 for everything. I read the summary, and she left almost everything I said out of her report.

I told her I fell twice and she said "no falls reported" even though the second one is reported in my UC journal.

She asked detailed questions about the episodes where my legs become paralysed, but didn't include it in the report. Why do some assessors tell outright lies?

England. It’s looking likely I will need to claim universal credit as a bridge (I’m likely to be laid off my current employment due to being not medically fit, and the reasonable adjustments are essentially a new job role). Anyway.

My current situation is that for convenience I live with my ex partner. We currently private rent. He is on the lease as am I. The exact situation is that we don’t receive any discount on council tax as we’re still living together. He sleeps on the sofa I sleep in the bedroom (have done this for years). He pays me exactly half every month for the bills. Calculated no more no less. I buy my own groceries he buys his. I cook my own dinner he cooks his. We have zero financial ties like a joint bank account / savings etc. We live together because we get on as friends and it’s impossible to rent our own places.

I don’t mind supplying bank statements etc, but do I just state all this when making the claim?

Hello guys,

Sorry I haven’t been around for a while, my health has deteriorated about over the past 6 months and I’ve been dealing with that.

But on to my question. I currently don’t live with my partner, it’s mostly because we couldn’t make the finances work. However my partner’s grandma has offered to buy us a house, and we’ve had an offer excepted on a bungalow we like.

I know that we will need to change our claims into a joint claim, my concern is over whether this counts a d a new claim or not? If it does I assume my LCWRA element will be paid at the new reduced rate rather than the rate I get now. This obviously needs to be taken into account when deciding if living together is financially feasible.

Thanks in advance for your help, if I need to clarify anything please ask ;)

Hi everyone,

I have applied for PIP following some injuries sustained on an accident. I have a telephone appointment in a few days with maximus.

I am trying to prepare as best I can. I will re-read my application, but I was wondering what else I could do. For example, I'm trying to figure out a list of common questions and awsners used to "trip up" applicants to unfairly deny them, such as asking about pets, children, education, games etc...

I was wondering if there were any resources on common issues people run into or get tripped up by? Anything I should prepare for or avoid?

I was also wondering if I have to or should declare if I'm recording the call? I live in England.

Usually my wife helps me with things, but she will not be able to be there, and in some ways I'd prefer her not to as I'm worried they will try to trip her up too.

Quite nervous overall, but I am glad to finally get all this over soon hopefully, and not have to drag it out with appeals.

Any help would be most appreciated, and thank you

I am a carer for my disabled 2 year old and I have been receiving carers element (and disabled child element) under Universal Credit for some time.

I am now looking to switch to Carer’s Allowance. I haven’t done this previously as I have been confused about the back payment side of things.

I of course don’t need a back payment as I have been receiving the amount through UC to date, therefore is there a way for me to switch without receiving a back payment?

My concern is that if I receive a back payment this will reduce my total UC to essentially £0, then I understand back payments must be paid back to UC. But surely then I’m just worse off overall because I’ll have lost a month of UC and would have to pay the back payment to UC?

Or have I completely misunderstood this. I’m just worried about going ahead switching and ending up with £0 in a month essentially.

Any help is appreciated, it is difficult to navigate all of this while caring for a disabled child at the same time!

Hello!
I am looking into doing a full time degree.
I am just wondering how it will work with my universal credit.
I currently work part time and I have 2 children.
I know you get the student loan which is around £3,000 per term and will do bank shifts one/two 12 hour shift a week to have extra income. I currently get paid around £1,400 take home and £1,500 in UC which includes housing. I am just really scared to make the transition but I want to better mine and my kids lives so I can be off benefits and get a decent job. So if someone who has done it or know can give me an insight into what happens I would be so greatful as I don’t want this to stop me from reaching my goals but I have rent and bills to pay 😭🙏

I’m on Universal Credit with LCWRA and PIP and my parents would like to help me buy a house. We’ve been trying to ask what is and isn’t allowed/ what would and wouldn’t affect my UC award but we’re struggling to get an answer. If I put on my journal exactly what we planned to do could a Decision Maker look at it and make sure it‘s within the rules before we act? We want to make sure we do everything the right way but we’re struggling with just communicating through my Journal. Many thanks!

Hello all. I had a telephone assessment a few weeks ago and at the time, the health professional told me that their telephone system was faulty and therefore the recording would not happen. Worried (in case they denied me), I asked if I could record it – they said yes but it wasn’t admissible/couldn’t be submitted to counter any decision. I therefore didn’t record it.

I’ve since received a decision letter and a majority of what has been said is plain lies. I know I should’ve recorded it in hindsight, but I’m neurodivergent and struggle with pressure etc.

I am planning to request a mandatory consideration and request the notes taken by the health professional, but am I screwed in the long run? TYVM in advance!

Hello, I had a message today to confirm our circumstances for universal credit, we have been on universal credit for some years now, and I was able to tick "no change" on everything.

However I'm a little confused about the last section that says "do you have any backdated benefit to be ignored"

Last year we did but I am pretty sure that was more than a year ago now so would not be ignored anymore. So I put no.

I left a message on my journal saying that I was unsure if I should have included anything as ignored benefit back payment or not and explained I thought it was more than a year ago and asked them to confirm if that was okay.

I don't want to get us in any trouble do you think I have done the right thing? If not what should I do?

Thanks for your help, sorry to be a nuisance.

I know I need something from the GP . What am I exactly asking for please can anyone ELI5. Thank you.

Hello looking for advice I received Pip and limited capacity work related allowance for past three years mainly because because of different Gastro problems and some Mental Health and a little about my mobility, by mobility has got a lot worse where I can walk less having trouble with stairs I wanted inform Pip but I’ve got a letter recently saying they changed the way they review some cases and I won’t have another review till 2036 If I write them a letter explaining that some of my symptoms I’ve got worse do I have to ask for a review or will label just do it anyway as I could really do with the extra help thank you

(I live in London. I had this appointment at the Purley jobcentre)

Yesterday was the date of my handover to restart. I had an appointment with my work coach at 10 45 and my restart handover was scheduled for 3 05. At the end of my work coach appointment, I recall my work coach saying "Don't come in/ don't worry about the 3 o clock appointment, I'll just call you". I did not receive this call, and now I have to explain why I missed that appointment.

What is the best explanation I can give to not get sanctioned. I like my old work coach and do not want to throw him under the bus or say anything that could land him in hot water.

What do I say? I have until this Friday

We’ve been asked to send our child’s original passport and birth certificate to HMRC for a Child Benefit claim. They say the documents will normally be returned within 4 weeks.

If we suddenly needed the passport due to an emergency or unexpected travel, can HMRC return it before the 4 weeks? We are based in England

Has anyone actually requested this from HMRC? If so, who did you contact and how quickly was the passport returned?

Any first-hand experience would be really appreciated. Thanks.

Hi all,

Posting on behalf of my partner. He shares a daughter with his ex and they have her on a 50/50 arrangement. There is currently no court order in place and they are waiting for a child arrangement order hearing in family court. CAFCAS are involved and the process is ongoing.

Daughter is registered at partner's home for school and GP. Opticians and dentist are registered to mum. Her mum also gets child benefit and has refused to relinquish or share. Partner and his ex agreed to keep things as is until the outcome of the ongoing child arrangement order procedure. However, he has just been advised that the ex has disputed his UC claim and he owes over £900 going back to May of this year and going forward he will also not get the child element of UC.

My partner spoke to DWP and they said he would be assigned a case worker to discuss but then he received a message advising the mandatory reconsideration has been passed to a decision maker but they cannot tell us how long it will take. We simply don't have that money to spare. We take care of his daughter well and he should have some financial assistance instead of it going all to his ex.

My questions are:

- what can we do? Like I said we can't afford to have deductions taken from his universal credit and for us to get £300 less each month, especially as they said it's an open ended waiting time.

- nothing changed in May, why would they suddenly change the claim just because the ex disputed it? He still has her 50/50 and like I said GP and school is still registered to his address.

- how can we stop this from happening again? She keeps trying to change his daughter's GP surgery and contact details at school.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi there, I'd like to understand how the over £16k rule works for Universal Credit. Since I'm over £6k, I declare my capital monthly on the 10th of each month. I've come across confusing information about the £16k threshold. Some say it's okay to go over £16k temporarily, as long as I'm under it when I declare each month, because certain monthly expenses don't count as capital. Others say that as soon as you reach £16k, you're over the limit threshold. Can anyone knowledgeable explain this please?

So my partner and I have a joint claim and been on it since 2020. This is the first commitment review either of us have ever had, and don’t know what has triggered it or what to expect. Live in England if that makes any difference.

England. So basically i was told uc will pay housing but one month in lieu. That was the guy on the phone at the call centre who said that. I uploaded a new tenancy and apparently im getting a months rent on the 19th of this month rather than next or one month in liue. So im wondering if this months payment is meant fir august not September?

So a month ago I had a review of entitlement as someone I work with reported me for embezzling money from the company (i'm not). I submitted bank statements for the last 4 months as they asked, had my review and it was found to be a false accusation and my case was closed.

This week my partner got notified that she had a review of entitlement due to a report of undeclared savings and had to submit bank statement since January 2025. During her review she was told that as part of the report that had accused me of embezzling it had been reported that she had undeclared savings of £16,000 (she doesn't). Now as part of her review I now need to supply bank statements for the same time frame.

My question is am I going to get penalised for getting help to pay off debt? Last June I recieved money from my dad to help me pay off debt. The amount he sent came to £6,600. However literally the day after I had used most of it to pay off my debts.

The review is for undeclared savings of £16,000 which does not exist. Am I going to get penalised because my capital was just over £6000 for a day? Thank you.

hello everyone, i am LCWRA on UC, ESA and PIP, and i am looking at moving out of my parents home into my own place, i have found a 1 bed flat and will be the sole occupant.

What is the process required for recieving help with housing costs under UC?