Our Money Advice and Benefits team supports thousands of customers across the south of England with their Universal Credit claims. Our team is made up of professional advisors who have lots of experience helping customers understand more about their Universal Credit entitlement.

Diana came to us for advice during the pandemic last year, after she was reassessed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and was told that she was no longer entitled to Personal Independence Payment (PIP). This reduction affected her Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) which was stopped and Diana had to claim Universal Credit to make up for the lost amount of income.

Diana made a claim for Universal Credit, but was only given a basic award, despite being entitled to more. After trying to explain that she had been on ESA beforehand, making her entitled to more benefits, Diana was struggling to make progress with her claim. As a result, Diana decided to contact the Money Advice and Benefits team at VIVID to see what her options were.

After looking into Diana’s case, Linda, Money Advice and Benefits Manager at VIVID, was able to advise Diana that she was entitled to two extra amounts of money within her Universal Credit payments – this included payments for Transitional Protection and Limited Capability for Work.

The Transitional Protection request was approved quickly and Diana started to receive an additional £285 a month. However, the DWP decided that she was not entitled to the Limited Capability for Work element and Linda and Diana had to appeal the case further.

After many discussions evidencing Diana’s situation, the DWP finally agreed that she was entitled to the second element and awarded Diana £128.25 a month going forward. As part of this, the DWP also paid backdated the payments to when Diana first became entitled.

Diana said, “I should have gone to VIVID in the first place and asked for help. I can’t thank VIVID enough for providing this service to their customers – Linda has been a godsend to me.”

If you have questions about your Universal Credit claim and need advice, please contact us.

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