ESA & Income related top up.....

Harvey_Potter

Dear all. I am in the support group of ESA and get Contribution based ESA, but also get an income related top-up. Have been for 2 years now. My daughter is about to inherit a large sum of money and wants to give me some.

If she does, is it pretty simple to get the DWP to cancel the income related top-up (as ill have more than £16,000 in savings) ? and keep my Contribution based part ? Or will they cancel the lot and ill have to start again ? And will I still be entitled to Contribution based ESA as well ?

I worked for 35 years solid and paid all my NI throughout. Plus about 1/4 million in tax i worked out ! so i dont feel bad about claiming it as im entitled to it ?

Anyone out there been in the position ?

von

All you need to do is phone them (possibly the quickest option if you can get through) or write to them and advise them that due to a change in your circumstances you no longer wish to claim Income-Related ESA from whatever date. I would suggest that you also tell them that you wish your Contribution-based ESA to continue as before, just to avoid any confusion.

sleepless_saver

Are you getting other income related benefits as well, e.g. council tax benefit and housing benefit? If so, you'd need to notify your local authority as well. Your entitlement to them would stop until you have less than £16k.

rogerblack

Gifts to people on income-related benefits can be structured so as to not affect them.
Essentially, this would be if the money is placed into a trust by your daughter, which will pay certain expenses directly (utility bills, groceries, ...), to which you have no access.

Your daughter would need to consult a solicitor to set this up.
You can't do this.

Then there is the seperate moral issue, of course.

And changes to benefits.
It's not currently proposed to change those on conts-ESA over to UC, but it will presumably happen a couple of years in.