Advice re income related esa

lulugirl

I have looked at my paperwork & I do get a top up payment of £17. The total weekly amount is £116.15.

My weekly pension is £118 therfore Im guessing that i wouldn't be eligible for income related esa.

I have tried getting an appointment with the cab but the waiting list is 3 months!!

My contributary esa finishes in November & all I can hope for is to be assessed again & then appeal.

BigAunty

Do any posters think that she would be able to get benefits advice from a disability charity or do they deal mainly with DLA queries rather than ESA claimants?.

http://www.scope.org.uk/dial

pmlindyloo

BigAunty wrote: »

Do any posters think that she would be able to get benefits advice from a disability charity or do they deal mainly with DLA queries rather than ESA claimants?.

http://www.scope.org.uk/dial

I don't know about this organisation.

My suggestion would be to find another CAB in the next town (use their website to find an alternative) or to google Welfare Advisor and your nearest large town as there often Benefit advisors attached to some orgainisation or other.

From what the OP has said it does not seem that her contribution based ESA has taken account of her pension when it should have.

Pension income rules

If you receive contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance and have a gross pension income of more than £85 a week, the amount of benefit payable will be reduced by half of the excess.
The excess is the difference between £85 and the actual pension income. For example, for a pension income of £100, the excess is £15. The amount of Employment and Support Allowance payable is reduced by half of that, which is £7.50.
If you receive income-related Employment and Support Allowance, any pension income you have will be taken into account, regardless of the amount.



Also if she is receiving an income related 'top up' then she should have been eligible for housing costs.

Difficult to know without the full breakdown.

allen35

Just a suggestion:

If your condition has deteroriated you can ask for a review of your claim and request to be placed into the SG, back this up with as much medical evidence, they tend to send another ESA50 and an assessment.

Depending on how much is left on your mortgage you may be entitled to a small amount or underlying entitlement of Mortgage Interest Support, apply anyway!

Without knowing your transitional period through migration from IB to ESA it becomes a little confusing but without it someone in your position would be entitled to £82.65 as well as your pension on CB ESA WRAG.

Tehya

Hi there,

When I was forced to give up work to care for my hubby I spoke at length with the Benefit Enquiry Line (info below).

The helpline is just for those who are on, or going to claim, disability benefits as well as carers. They were quite helpful and went through several different scenarios with me.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/DG_10011165

The phone number is Freephone 0800 882 200.

Good luck with it all.

lulugirl

I was told that I was not elegible for any help with my mortgage as I am in the contributary esa at the moment & it was only income related that would give you help with the mortgage interest.

As my contributary esa is near the end How do I go about asking for an assesment to be placed in the support group, my condition has detriorated as my meds have had to be increased.

When I was on incapacity benefit I was paid the full amount & when I was transferred over the same amount was paid, no one mentioned to me anything about my pension or even asked me about extra income.

Thank you to all for helping me.

sunnyone

Ellejmorgan wrote: »

I've just had my appeal accepted and my last medical was april/may..

I should also be in the SG but i'm on IR so it doesn't matter to me as much as others, but I'm sick of gettong assessed every 6 months so hence the appeal. [it's in the hope i'll get left alone a little more]

I fit into the sg under 'risk to myself and others' I believe it's section 29..


Not sure why you are on cb if lone parent why not ir have you worked recently ??

You still get assessed as frequently in the support group unless you are disabled/sick enough to warrent a longer period of reassessment and if that is the only "straw" you can grab at to be in the support group you havnt a chance!

100% of people in the WRAG claim that "straw" and IMHO people who appeal for the support group knowing they do not fulfil the criteria should have to pay (or make everyone pay then remburse successful claimants) towards the appeal so that it does not cause the appeals service to collapse.

And surely if you get assessed every 6 months you have so many more chances of getting a sympathetic HCP who would recomend the support group anyway?

pmlindyloo

Having had a think about it I am wondering if the question about pensions and entitlement to housing costs is to do with the transfer from IB to ESA and the 'protection period'.

Can't find any information about it but perhaps the money remains the same and the pension and the eligibilty to the income based entitlement is disregarded because of the transitional period.

Can't quite get my head around it.

Could understand the pension being disregarded but can't understand not being entitled to the housing costs.

Hope someone more knowledgeable than me will come along and explain!

PS. When someone is transferred from IB to ESA is there no check to see if the claimant is also entitled to the income related part of ESA?