Separate ESA claims for couple both on PIP/DLA

[seanamarts]

Sorry guys, this is a long complicated one, please bear with me. 

 

I've been helping a lady with her housing/landlords issues, (complete horror story) and it came to light that she claims separately from her partner and she's not sure what benefits she's in reciept of.

 

Both her and ger partner have learning difficulties and both on a disability benefit and claim benefits separately. 

 

They both came out of the care system 13 years ago and have claimed this way since they moved into this one bedroom attic flat. They were moved in there with the help of adult social care, who seem to have abandoned them some years back.

 

Her partner is approx 34 and she is 32. He is on full DLA and his money is controlled fully by his mother. I can't get to any paperwork or know at this point how much he is getting. This situation is quite shocking if I'm honest and at the moment I can't go into his details.

 

This lady is claiming separately and states that her money which she gets monthly is just £120 approx a month, she then gets £170 disability. 

They get the rent paid fully by housing which is £600 pcm.

 

Now this lady claims she has been getting the same amount (£120) per month for the last 13 years, since she moved into this property. 

 

She doesn't understand her finances very well and not sure what her benefits are called. Over the Christmas period her money stopped but was reinstated, at the same amount once she was able to talk to someone. 

 

I'm appalled, if I'm honest that she has no support at all. Her partners mother and her do not get on at all,  so she hasn't support from her, in fact quite the opposite, but I can't go into detail in here. 

 

I can't get any advice from any benefit office as they need to know what benefits she is claiming, but she doesn't know, either that or she's too afraid to tell me as she has stated that if her claim is looked at she will lose it or its reduced further. I've a feeling her partners mother has told her this. 

 

Any help with this, so I can move forward would help immensely. She's too afraid to go to the CAB 

Took a lot for her to trust me. 

 

As I stated this is quite a bit of a horror story and a clear case that she has fallen through the net. I'm trying at the moment to get social adult care involved but she doesn't trust them either because of the situation they put her in. 

[unclebulgaria67]

As far as I know, if ESA claimants move into together, then the benefits are reviewed.  See the link below.  There is a couple rate, which is lower than 2 x single claims.

 

/assets/static/govuk-opengraph-image-dade2dad5775023b0568381c4c074b86318194edb36d3d68df721eea7deeac4b.png

Benefit and pension rates 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

 

And if either get severe disability premium, as that relates to living alone, then that would also be at risk.

 

At some point DWP will work out that there is a problem with the two claims, as they conduct searches of their systems on a regular basis.  It just takes them awhile to deal with the claims they identify as being  overpaid.  The longer it goes on for, the bigger the overpayment will be and the greater the risk of further action being applied. DWP can apply administrative penalties which would increase the amount owed or in some cases pursue prosecutions for fraud. 

 

And in the next few years, the transfer to Universal Credit will happen and if they get caught due to checks made at the time, then by that point, they would be potentially owing a very large overpayment debt.

 

Definitely a case of having Citizens Advice conducting a full benefit review.