Welfare Reform Bill and Contributory ESA

KxMx

cagneyfan wrote: »

Can I ask. What happens if I get moved from my incapacity benfit to ESA WRAG instead of the support group? What will happen after the 12 months if I have over £16,000 in savings

As the rules are expected to be, anyone on ESA C (WRAG) will have to re apply for ESA I after a year. If you exceed the thresholds, you will no longer get ESA. I am pretty sure savings of £16,000 would make you ineligible. In which case you'd have to use the capital for living costs until you had depleted it enough to apply again for ESA.

You cannot get income-related ESA if your capital or savings (or you and your partner's capital or savings) is above an upper savings limit of £16,000.
Your benefit will also be affected if your capital or savings (or you and your partner's capital or savings) is above a lower savings limit of £6,000. If you are permanently in a care home this lower limit is £10,000.

NASA_2

cit_k wrote: »

Although, its not actually known if its going to happen, as its not even law yet, the fact that they have moved the debate to a smaller room (despite plea's from numerous lords / ladies etc and the public not to, due to access problems for those disabled people involved in the debate, and restricted public access) PLUS the fact the DWP has already spent a few million sending out these letters BEFORE its law, shows the whole 'debate' is likely to be a farce, and the outcome in the eyes of the government is pre-determined.

I hope they get proved wrong, and the lords shoot them down, but the way this government is going, I would not be suprised if they ignored what was said and steam rollered ahead anyway.

So you are abusing the DWP for sending out letters saying that this might happen?

If they dont then they will be accused of not giving people enough notice of the changes. The DWP have to assume at this stage that it is going to happen.

cagneyfan

why doesn't my savings (injury compensation) count now whilst receiving incapacity benefit - are there different incapacity benefits?

Also, has this happened to anyone yet? And if so, would it be ok to spend the money on large things like appliances and decorating, new windows etc. Or would that be frowned on

KxMx

ESA and IB are different benefits with different rules I am afraid. ESA is the replacement for IB as you know, a new benefit with new rules.

cagneyfan

I'll just have to hope that I get put in the support group. I know that's a weird thing to say as nobody want to be unwell, but I should be in the support group anyway.

It's just such a worry when you hear of others who should also be in this group and get put in the WRAG one instead

cit_k

NASA wrote: »

So you are abusing the DWP for sending out letters saying that this might happen?

If they dont then they will be accused of not giving people enough notice of the changes. The DWP have to assume at this stage that it is going to happen.

Funny they dont send out letters about sooo many other things, like descriptors being dropped, or altered. Or even manage to send out letters on time to lots of claimaints to let them know the decision, and the first thing they know is the money is not in the bank.

Funny the harrington report, only got a few hundred responses, and they never wrote to all claimaints of ESA to let them know they could submit evidence - a pretty vital thing to do if you want the facts.

There are lots of changes in welfare bills over the years, I dont recall letters being sent out before, how often is it done for things like this?

Im still confused how they can legally get away with making the change retrospective, if warning needs to be given, surely it should be given once it is legislated? Or does warning now need to be given for all future possible changes, just in case?

The dwp by writing to people are admitting they know people do not see what is published on their website, which means they are admitting all the other things that they DONT write about, are effectively hidden to the majority of claimaints.

NASA_2

cit_k wrote: »

Funny they dont send out letters about sooo many other things, like descriptors being dropped, or altered. Or even manage to send out letters on time to lots of claimaints to let them know the decision, and the first thing they know is the money is not in the bank.

Funny the harrington report, only got a few hundred responses, and they never wrote to all claimaints of ESA to let them know they could submit evidence - a pretty vital thing to do if you want the facts.

There are lots of changes in welfare bills over the years, I dont recall letters being sent out before, how often is it done for things like this?

Im still confused how they can legally get away with making the change retrospective, if warning needs to be given, surely it should be given once it is legislated? Or does warning now need to be given for all future possible changes, just in case?

The dwp by writing to people are admitting they know people do not see what is published on their website, which means they are admitting all the other things that they DONT write about, are effectively hidden to the majority of claimaints.

I would say that ESA(C) (And in effect Incapacity Benefit) being time limited is pretty much the biggest change there has been to the system in a long time. Even people who the government are accepting are sick are going to be be receiving nothing if the dont recover within a year. Though of course receiving nothing will be down to capital or other income levels being too high.

The DWP regularly write out to 'interested parties' such as disability welfare groups, CAB etc. and do so on scores of issues. I, personally, can see why they do this but dont issues letters to every single claimant about every single consultation. I can also see why the ESA(C) issue is on a different level.

They arent making the change retrospective. People will have been entitled to IB or ESA(C) correctly in the past. Its only in the future that they will not be entitled to those benefits due to time limiting receipt.

And, yes, I agree that the DWP know that people dont take responsibility for themselves by getting source information for themselves. On this one issue though the DWP are seeing fit to give people forewarning about a potential change to household income. What !!!!!!!s.

[Deleted User]

pinklady21 wrote: »

Harold Hardup- if that is indeed your name.....

The Time Limiting for WRAG claimaints of Contributory ESA is not yet law.
I believe the Welfare Reform Bill of which this is a part if currently in the House of Lords.

You mentioned in your initital post on this thread that you also receive Income Support, you are therefore probably not on contributory ESA but Income based ESA.

My understanding is that claimants in receipt of Income Based ESA will not be affected.

it is with the house of lords but the govt took the unpressedent step of taking it off the floor of the house into committee so far fewer lords can take part in the debate

red937

A couple of months on - does anyone know how things stand with the proposed Welfare Reform Bill and contrib based ESA - Has the bill gone through yet or has it got further stages to go before it becomes law? Is it a foregone conclusion that the bill will go through in April?

rogerblack

red937 wrote: »

A couple of months on - does anyone know how things stand with the proposed Welfare Reform Bill and contrib based ESA - Has the bill gone through yet or has it got further stages to go before it becomes law? Is it a foregone conclusion that the bill will go through in April?

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/welfarereform.html

In short, it's now at the report stage, which is the last stage prior to the third reading, and then royal assent, at which point it's law.

It's looking like it's on course to pass.
http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/commons/coms-lords-report-stage/

The WRAG time-limit on contributory ESA would be big news, if it was struck down, which seems unlikely at this stage.

If you're affected by this, assume it's going to happen.

If you cannot pass the descriptors for the support group - http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/m-06-11.pdf , and can't apply for JSA, prepare for a drop in income.

Get to the debt-free diary and similar sections of the site, and look at the stickies and budget calculators.

Try to reduce every expense you can to the bare minimum.