Move to ESA from Incapacity Benefit

JDe

Hello, I hope that I may be able to get some help with this.

I have received a letter stating that they will be contacting me in the next 2 weeks to start the process of moving me to ESA. To be honest I had very little knowledge of ESA prior to the letter arriving at the weekend, apart from hearing stories of very seriously ill people being turned down for it. I am finding the whole ESA quite confusing and from what I am reading online I do not think that even if I actually pass the medical that I will qualify for ESA anyway.

I have been on Incapacity for around 10 years so as far as I understand I would not qualify for the contributions based ESA. My husband works full time and I have read that to qualify for the income based EMA that your partner has to work less than 24 hours. So am I correct in thinking that I would not qualify even if I did pass the medical?

I do appreciate anybody that takes the time to answer my question, thank you.

NASA_2

If you were on payable IB then you will get ESA(C).

Though it is going to be time limited from April 2012.

JDe

Thank you for replying, I really appreciate it. I am sure this is going to be a really stupid question, but what do you mean by payable Incapacity Benefit?

And what would happen in April 2012 then, assuming I am on payable Incapacity now? And I don't qualify for the income based because of my husbands hours, would I not qualify for anything? We do get working tax credits now - so would it possibly mean that we would get a higher rate of these?

Sorry for so many questions but this is really worrying me and confusing me (which doesn't take much!)

KxMx

Everyone who gets moved from Incapacity Benefit will be placed under ESA (contributions based) when successfully passing the medical. If you are placed into the work group (WRAG), the benefit will be limited to one year. Then you may re-apply for ESA Income Based if you qualify (from what you have said you might not). If you get put into the Support group then there are no time limits.

If you have care or mobility needs you could consider applying for DLA (Disability Living Allowance)

JDe

Thank you KxMx, that is a great help and explains things for me. It probably would have been useful if the DWP had of included this sort of information in the letter - ok it may be further down the line but it helps to know exactly what is what.

Thank you again KxMx and also NASA for taking the time to reply. I shall now try not to worry too much about the assessment.