How does ESA affect carers of disabled person

wickedwizard

My wife has just gone through a long period of worry due to the assessment to change from IS based on IB, she had a phone call yesterday to say that she has been moved to ESA and that the benefit will be topped up to the previous rate she was getting on IS based on IB, because of that i am assuming that she has been awarded Income based ESA but will not be sure until the official letter arrives.

I have been her full time carer for the last 15 or more years (since 1995) and as such was included on her IS claim and was able to get free prescriptions, dental treatment and help with glasses (i have a heart condition in my own right and need 9 different prescriptions each month ) .

my question is (and i have been online now for over 2 hours trying to find this out to no avail) will i be covered for the free prescriptions etc under ESA as i was under IS.

Horseunderwater

If you get Income related ESA yes you will. But they may initially do it as contributions support group, so you might need to change it via form ESA 3 in due course.
She should get all the elements she previously had under IS IB and if those are higher than current ESA rates then they will stay at that level until the ESA bits reach level pegging. If you had a card for the prescriptions previously, then you will need to get your award letter renewed each time you need to fill any med's for yourself or her, they usually last one month and you just ring them up and ask for proof of entitlement letter, so that you can show it to pharmacy/optician/dentist. Takes a wee bit of planning. Helps if GP will issue 2 months of tablets in one go, some will some won't.