ESA Claim and Partners Income

louiseg0151

My fiance has just phoned JCP and asked about how his income will affect my ESA claim and they told him that it goes by how many hours he works and not how much he earns - does that sound right?

It seems daft for an 'income related benefit' to not take into account his income.

Tehya

Hello, it may be hard to get a proper answer when asking the JC+ about ESA as it's still quite new and nobody seems to know what's correct when asking about earnings, couples, ages of both you and partner, IR or CB ESA etc as any one of these things can give a different outcome. I'm on my hubby's claim and have just recently left work to become his full time carer and four weeks later it's only now we're getting a proper picture of how we'll be paid because of how Carer's Allowance and DLA affect ESA. Also being in either the support group or the work related group changes things.

My best advice would be to ring the Benefits Enquiry Line 0800 88 22 00 it's for anyone on disability benefits and free to ring from a land line You don't give your personal details to them all you need to do is outline the situation and they should be able to explain all your options.

Because you're on DLA Middle Rate Care you may get an extra premium on your ESA for Carer's Allowance (called a Carer Premium) again this depends on your partner's earnings. If you can give some information on how much your partner earns I might be able to help with some figures for you but remember both your ages matter too.

Regards, Tehya

louiseg0151

Tehya wrote: »

Hello, it may be hard to get a proper answer when asking the JC+ about ESA as it's still quite new and nobody seems to know what's correct when asking about earnings, couples, ages of both you and partner, IR or CB ESA etc as any one of these things can give a different outcome. I'm on my hubby's claim and have just recently left work to become his full time carer and four weeks later it's only now we're getting a proper picture of how we'll be paid because of how Carer's Allowance and DLA affect ESA. Also being in either the support group or the work related group changes things.

My best advice would be to ring the Benefits Enquiry Line 0800 88 22 00 it's for anyone on disability benefits and free to ring from a land line You don't give your personal details to them all you need to do is outline the situation and they should be able to explain all your options.

Because you're on DLA Middle Rate Care you may get an extra premium on your ESA for Carer's Allowance (called a Carer Premium) again this depends on your partner's earnings. If you can give some information on how much your partner earns I might be able to help with some figures for you but remember both your ages matter too.

Regards, Tehya

Hi Tehya,
I will PM you the details so if you could help, that would be great.

Thanks

louiseg0151

I have just phoned the Benefits Enquiry Line and they just said my fiances income would affect it but couldn't tell me by how much - they advised me to phone JCP! Grrr lol

Tehya

louiseg0151 wrote: »

I have just phoned the Benefits Enquiry Line and they just said my fiances income would affect it but couldn't tell me by how much - they advised me to phone JCP! Grrr lol

Typical, looks like you'll get the run around like we did. It's not the fault of the staff, they've been great, but rather all the rules are so complicated. I've had several friendly debates on the phone with JC+ staff and managed to teach two of those something they didn't now.

I've PM'd you with the best answers I can from the info I have. There are a few different ways it may turn out. It can depend on whether you're in the assessment phase or the main phase, then the Support Group or Work Related Group and whether you've been awarded ESA Youth or ESA IR. I'll probably be able to help more if you can find out which one you're getting now.

Let us know how you get on with it all as it could help someone else asking in the future.

Good luck and congratulations on your new life with your fiance.

Tehya

louiseg0151

Tehya wrote: »

Typical, looks like you'll get the run around like we did. It's not the fault of the staff, they've been great, but rather all the rules are so complicated. I've had several friendly debates on the phone with JC+ staff and managed to teach two of those something they didn't now.

I've PM'd you with the best answers I can from the info I have. There are a few different ways it may turn out. It can depend on whether you're in the assessment phase or the main phase, then the Support Group or Work Related Group and whether you've been awarded ESA Youth or ESA IR. I'll probably be able to help more if you can find out which one you're getting now.

Let us know how you get on with it all as it could help someone else asking in the future.

Good luck and congratulations on your new life with your fiance.

Tehya

Thanks Tehya, I'll look at your PM now.

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

Hello Louise

Is there a reason why your fiance can't work more than16 - 20 hours? Is he a student for example, will that make a difference in how the money is effected? If they do cut short your money maybe you fiance could do 2 jobs making the hours more or less full time work, this might help, at least if you do loose your ESA you might be better off. I know that they cannot touch DLA money.
Hope everything gets sorted for you.

My fiance is only working 16-20 hours because although he isn't getting carers allowance, he is caring for me. He doesn't want to claim Carers Allowance because that too will affect my ESA.

I'll ask him to phone JCP again tomorrow to see if I'm on ESA Youth or ESA IR.