I didn't want to say because obviously halving what people currently get is awful, but I wasn't aware until recently that LCWRA get so much more than us on CB-ESA. Why is that? Was it a bribe to get people to transfer. I did get a letter about claiming IR a few years ago. I have savings and I didn't think I'd get much. I was worried about the implications and I'm glad I didn't pursue it because I couldn't cope with transferring to UC now.
No, I don't think it was a bribe, it's just that people who claimed C-ESA could have had substantial income or savings yet still qualify for benefits. For that reason, it didn't automatically passport people to other entitlements such as housing benefit, council tax reductions, free prescriptions, concessions on all kinds of services. I don't think the disability premiums applied either; these are why some people on LCWRA may get about twice the basic UC rate.
What usually happened when people applied for C-ESA is that they
also applied for I-ESA. Both DWP and my local council told me to do that, even though I didn't qualify for I-ESA at the time. All it involved was ticking both boxes on the application form.
Turned out I did qualify just over a year later, because I'd had to use my modest savings to cushion the impact of losing a full time salary (e.g. I had a £350 a month car loan that still had 14 months to run).
For a time, part of my income was C-ESA and part I-ESA—that happened once my savings had come down under £16K. Eventually I reported I was under the £6K lower limit, and they switched me fully to I-ESA. My income went up quite a lot at that point.
Some people on C-ESA may have an underlying entitlement to I-ESA because they did tick both those boxes years ago. If they were under the upper capital limit but over the lower one, they could potentially receive some I-ESA*. What I don't know, though, is whether that is advantageous enough now to make it worth contacting DWP. It's possible it isn't.
* It's also possible to be receiving some I-ESA already and be unaware of it, as it's not really clear from the info they send you. I didn't know until I had to call DWP about something, and they explained it to me.