Can you claim ESA for a 16 year old still in school ?

samanthag

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in youth

Once a young, disabled person reaches 16, they can claim income maintenance benefits in their own right, even though they may still be at school.
If previously someone acted as an agent or appointee for benefits such as Disability Living Allowance, the need for an appointee will be reviewed once the young person reaches 16 years of age.
Who can claim ESA?




ESA is a benefit paid to people aged 16 or older who cannot work because of a mental or physical disability. The rules are:

• you have to be aged 16 but under 20 and
• you have satisfied the disability conditions for six months and are likely to satisfy conditions for a further six monthsand
• you must be present and resident in Great Britainand
• you are in relevant education and under 20 andyou study less than 21 hours a week or you study over 21 hours a week and the course that you do is one that a person of your age without you disability would not do. Young People can claim the income-related component of ESA.

I am not saying that the OP's son will be eligible as it does depend entirely on the kind of course that he is doing and the hours.

However, it is still worth asking either at CAB or the Disability Advisor (is that the correct name?) at Job Centre Plus.

I may be entirely wrong and the circumstances do not make him eligible for income based ESA but I still believe it is worth enquiring.

Thanks so much for taking the time to find this out
i think i might try phoning the helpline tomorrow
it is such a grey area isnt it
cheers sammy :D

schrodie

mynameistallulah wrote: »

It has already been abolished, no new applications have been allowed this tax year.

Those tories don't mess arround do they, very efficient organisation!

mynameistallulah

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I may be entirely wrong and the circumstances do not make him eligible for income based ESA but I still believe it is worth enquiring.

Yes, you are - why not check your facts before posting?

mynameistallulah

schrodie wrote: »

Those tories don't mess arround do they, very efficient organisation!

That's one word for them!

pmlindyloo

I shall ignore the rather rude comment and continue!

It may help OP to argue that your son wishes to continue studying but the school where he is the most suitable place to address his needs.

samanthag

why do some people have to be so rude ??
people come on here for some advice and others take great pride in not being very nice and jump to conclusions !!!
mine was a very genuine question and i thought i would post here first becaue if you try and phone the DWP you are on the phone for ages

it will certainly make me think again about posting about benefit advice
sammy

pmlindyloo

Have found a leaflet that includes a case very similar to yours: https://www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/e/esayp

Scroll down until you come to case study one.

samanthag

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Have found a leaflet that includes a case very similar to yours: https://www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/e/esayp

Scroll down until you come to case study one.

thanks for that it is very similar to my position except i dont claim carers allowance because i earn too much

you have been most helpful and i just wish other people could take a leaf out of your book as i said before it was a genuine question.

thanks again
sammy

24skins

You absolutely can claim ESA for a 16 year old at special school (the young person has to have been disabled for 196 days before their 16th birthday and may have to undergo the work capability test) as any hours at a school specifically for additional needs are not counted for ESA purposes. As other posters have pointed out you will lose any child benefit, but in your case (not claiming CTC) the gain would be greater than the loss. Your son/you really should have a social worker explaining these things to you, but they really are rarer than hen's teeth nowadays...

samanthag

24skins wrote: »

You absolutely can claim ESA for a 16 year old at special school (the young person has to have been disabled for 196 days before their 16th birthday and may have to undergo the work capability test) as any hours at a school specifically for additional needs are not counted for ESA purposes. As other posters have pointed out you will lose any child benefit, but in your case (not claiming CTC) the gain would be greater than the loss. Your son/you really should have a social worker explaining these things to you, but they really are rarer than hen's teeth nowadays...

Thanks so much for that
i would rather loose my family allowance and my son gain from this, my son was born with his special needs so yes he has had it for more than 196 days
i have had about 6 different social workers over the years :eek:
but i havent had one now for probably 10 years :eek:
allthough i do have a key workerr she has been off work ill for a while and she was supposed to come and see me yesterday and i was going to ask her but she phoned me up early yesterday to say there was an emergency in work

hence why i thought i would post on here

sammy