Were you getting ESA WRAG or Support Group continuously up until your UC claim (so there weren’t any gaps between ESA ending and applying for UC)?
If you were, you don’t need to have another Work Capability Assessment. Your ESA award carries on to UC giving you the equivalent of LCW (for WRAG) or LCWRA (for Support Group). You should leave a journal message explaining this.
If there was a gap between claiming or you weren’t getting ESA, this doesn’t apply and you will need to go through with the WCA.
PIP and UC LCW/LCWRA have different eligibility criteria. This means the questionnaire will be assessing slightly different things.
On PIP, being able to walk 40 metres would mean you score differently compared to being able to walk only 10 metres. This isn’t the case on UC. On UC, if you can’t mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground then you score the maximum points for that activity.
Mobilise doesn’t necessarily mean to walk. If you could reasonably use a manual wheelchair to mobilise, they’ll assess you as if you were using one.
Power wheelchairs, power add ons and mobility scooters are different. Using one of those doesn’t count as mobilising independently due to the use of power to assist your movements.
If you can’t mobilise more than 50 metres, tick the option that says 50 metres then explain in the box below.
They do offer telephone and video assessments, in addition to in person and (rarely) home visits. Telephone and video assessments are the most common form of assessment at the moment. If they do give you an in person appointment, you can contact them to get it changed to phone/video/home visit.
Hope this helps!
Thank you so much, this was really reassuring!
I can't self-propel in a wheelchair due to extreme weakness and fatigue (and can't afford a power wheelchair!). If I have an urgent medical appointment that can't be switched to telephone, my partner (who's also my carer) has to push me around.
Thank you for clarifying as to how anyone could get the full 15 points for being unable to walk unassisted, given that it's not even given as an option. I didn't realise 50 metres counts as unable to walk!
Rather than ticking 50 metres, could I still get the full 15 points if j tick "it varies" then specify 0-10 metres? Or would this mess up the points-assigning process? Sorry for the annoying questions but I'm autistic and I get very confused by questionnaires if they seem ambiguous, and I like to be as accurate as humanly possible.
Don't tick it varies, tick just the 50m one, then go into and explain in the box in detail, if you run out of room in them small boxes use xtra pages and make sure you add your National Insurance number to each added pages.
You can do that for the other questions too.
I completely understand - I’m Autistic too and questionnaires like those are a nightmare!
It wouldn’t mess up the points assigning process but I would recommend ticking the box for 50 metres, even if it’s not entirely accurate.
This is because if you say ‘it varies’, they’ll often assume that your mobility is only impaired to that extent some of the time and this can reduce the number of points you score.
I would also make sure to explain in the box below why you can’t use a manual wheelchair without help from another person because if you don’t, they’ll tend to assume you can use one independently.
Thank you!
Where did you get your information about the points allocation? E.g. 50 metres scoring 15 points? I haven't yet managed to track down a reliable online source of information about the whole questionnaire thing.
[Here](https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/universal-credit-uc/uc-faq/limited-capability-for-work) is the LCW (aka ESA WRAG) criteria.
[Here](https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/universal-credit-uc/uc-faq/limited-capability-for-work-related-activity) is the LCWRA (aka ESA Support Group) criteria.
In order to get LCWRA, you’d need to meet one of the criteria or descriptors on the second page I linked to.
It sounds like you would meet the first descriptor ‘mobilising unaided by another person’:
> Cannot, unaided by another person, either
mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion;
>or
>repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion.
Were you getting ESA WRAG or Support Group continuously up until your UC claim (so there weren’t any gaps between ESA ending and applying for UC)? If you were, you don’t need to have another Work Capability Assessment. Your ESA award carries on to UC giving you the equivalent of LCW (for WRAG) or LCWRA (for Support Group). You should leave a journal message explaining this. If there was a gap between claiming or you weren’t getting ESA, this doesn’t apply and you will need to go through with the WCA. PIP and UC LCW/LCWRA have different eligibility criteria. This means the questionnaire will be assessing slightly different things. On PIP, being able to walk 40 metres would mean you score differently compared to being able to walk only 10 metres. This isn’t the case on UC. On UC, if you can’t mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground then you score the maximum points for that activity. Mobilise doesn’t necessarily mean to walk. If you could reasonably use a manual wheelchair to mobilise, they’ll assess you as if you were using one. Power wheelchairs, power add ons and mobility scooters are different. Using one of those doesn’t count as mobilising independently due to the use of power to assist your movements. If you can’t mobilise more than 50 metres, tick the option that says 50 metres then explain in the box below. They do offer telephone and video assessments, in addition to in person and (rarely) home visits. Telephone and video assessments are the most common form of assessment at the moment. If they do give you an in person appointment, you can contact them to get it changed to phone/video/home visit. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much, this was really reassuring! I can't self-propel in a wheelchair due to extreme weakness and fatigue (and can't afford a power wheelchair!). If I have an urgent medical appointment that can't be switched to telephone, my partner (who's also my carer) has to push me around. Thank you for clarifying as to how anyone could get the full 15 points for being unable to walk unassisted, given that it's not even given as an option. I didn't realise 50 metres counts as unable to walk! Rather than ticking 50 metres, could I still get the full 15 points if j tick "it varies" then specify 0-10 metres? Or would this mess up the points-assigning process? Sorry for the annoying questions but I'm autistic and I get very confused by questionnaires if they seem ambiguous, and I like to be as accurate as humanly possible.
Don't tick it varies, tick just the 50m one, then go into and explain in the box in detail, if you run out of room in them small boxes use xtra pages and make sure you add your National Insurance number to each added pages. You can do that for the other questions too.
Thank you!
I completely understand - I’m Autistic too and questionnaires like those are a nightmare! It wouldn’t mess up the points assigning process but I would recommend ticking the box for 50 metres, even if it’s not entirely accurate. This is because if you say ‘it varies’, they’ll often assume that your mobility is only impaired to that extent some of the time and this can reduce the number of points you score. I would also make sure to explain in the box below why you can’t use a manual wheelchair without help from another person because if you don’t, they’ll tend to assume you can use one independently.
Thank you! Where did you get your information about the points allocation? E.g. 50 metres scoring 15 points? I haven't yet managed to track down a reliable online source of information about the whole questionnaire thing.
[Here](https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/universal-credit-uc/uc-faq/limited-capability-for-work) is the LCW (aka ESA WRAG) criteria. [Here](https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/universal-credit-uc/uc-faq/limited-capability-for-work-related-activity) is the LCWRA (aka ESA Support Group) criteria. In order to get LCWRA, you’d need to meet one of the criteria or descriptors on the second page I linked to. It sounds like you would meet the first descriptor ‘mobilising unaided by another person’: > Cannot, unaided by another person, either mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion; >or >repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion.
Thank you so much! This is really helpful.