ESA Can you live on fresh air

sleepless_saver

lyniced wrote: »

Well to be honest ESA has confused me from day one. I have read and re-read the leaflet and i must be mrs thick, cos it makes no sense to me. That's why I asked what WRAG meant. A new acronym I hadnt heard of, you see.

All I know is I am now permanently in a wheelchair (due to an illness you would never have heard of) and now cannot work. I did mention I got DLA.

Anyhow, how long does ESA continue whilst in the support group?

ESA continues indefinitely if you're in the support group. You just need to continue to be assessed as meeting the support group descriptors.

(DLA doesn't really come into this, as it can be paid to people in work as well as to people who aren't working for any reason.)

lyniced

Torry_Quine wrote: »

In the support group it continues indefinitely as long as you fulfill the criteria.

Getting DLA is nothing to do with which group you are in. People can work and get it so that tells me nothing.

Sorry though to hear that you are a full time wheelchair user.

Yeah, life's pretty hard ATM. I can't even hold a pen to write - my husband hast fill out any forms for me. I have a Carer as well. I gave up working about 3 years ago, as I was falling over all the time, and basically things have just gone downhill since then. Because my condition is progressive I won't get any better, will I stay on ESA?

Muttleythefrog

lyniced wrote: »

Yeah, life's pretty hard ATM. I can't even hold a pen to write - my husband hast fill out any forms for me. I have a Carer as well. I gave up working about 3 years ago, as I was falling over all the time, and basically things have just gone downhill since then. Because my condition is progressive I won't get any better, will I stay on ESA?

People have already answered you comprehensively but I'll try to help.

DLA is separate to ESA. DLA is a disability benefit you get because you have care and/or mobility needs. You'll continue to get that until you either are reassessed and found not to meet the criteria or if this government gets its way and you are transferred in the future to a replacement benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

ESA is an out of work benefit you get because you can't currently work. You are in the main phase of ESA which has two groups. WRAG (Work related activity group) is the 'less disabled' group basically speaking. Support Group is the 'more disabled' group basically speaking. Reassessment of entitlement to ESA is usually fairly frequent like every 6 months to 2 or 3 years. Assessment of entitlement to ESA main phase is called the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

Now..regarding ESA. This government has decided that those who get ESA based on their national insurance contributions rather than because they have low income/savings should have their time on the benefit limited to 12 months if in WRAG. This means that if you're in the Support group and remain in it then you'll continue to get ESA regardless of whether it is contributions based or income related. If you are in WRAG then if you get contributions based ESA you will only get ESA for 12 months unless you also qualify for income related and can be transferred to that instead. Income related ESA while in WRAG is indefinite.

Will you stay on ESA? You can answer the question given the info above. But if my understanding is correct that you're in Support group.. then provided you remain in it you'll continue to get ESA indefinitely. Obviously the future is however hard to predict and there is no guarantee of the outcome of any reassessment or that the government won't change the law. The government has propositions regarding the future of JSA and ESA and to save complicating matters it is worth ignoring that for now.

lyniced

Hey thanks, that clarifies things.

Mara69

And that, friends and neighbours, is how to comprehensively hijack a thread. Nice going, lyniced.

lyniced

Hey, Mara69, we are meant to be nice to each other on here - read Forum Etiquette.

Mara69

lyniced wrote: »

Hey, Mara69, we are meant to be nice to each other on here - read Forum Etiquette.

Hey, lyniced, I wasn't nasty, merely factual. Some might think that your blatant hijack of someone else's thread is nasty. You're not a newbie so you know how to start your own thread.