Income based?contribution based ESA?

gingerlocks

Hi all,

It will be 1 month on Thursday since i won my appeal I have still not had my money put up or backdated payments but I have been placed in wrag which is cool by me but the question i was wanting a straight answer to is am I income based or contribution based?

I have been off work due to mental health reasons for several years on income support then migrated to esa back in dec 2011 to which I failed the atos med,
later in april 2013 passing the tribunal and given 21 points.

I have not paid much N.i due to not working therefore Can anyone tell me if I will be in income or contribution? I am single live alone an have no kids I am 31 If that makes a difference lol.

I am wanting to no as I no if i am in income based then i am not liable for the 365 day rule?

Many thanks and sorry for any spelling or punctuation mistakes I have dyslexia,plus I have a troublesome wisdom tooth so not on the ball!

cheers xxx;)

rogerblack

gingerlocks wrote: »

on income support

This means you did not meet the contribution conditions at the beginning of your claim.
If you had, then it would be incapacity benefit you were on.

The 365 day rule never makes anyone who is entitled to income based worse off.
It is an additional benefit that those with a work history get, that is not means tested.
It is paid at the same rate if you have no household income, partner, or capital.

pmlindyloo

I guess people haven't responded because whilst you were previously on ESA and then whilst waiting for the appeal to go through you would have received National Insurance Credits.

Now this is not my area of expertise ( so you must wait for the experts) and I don't know whether these NI credits will entitle you to contribution based ESA. You will get a letter telling you which one it is.

What I do know is that even if you do receive contribution based ESA, then after the year you can be transferred to income based ESA if you still have no income/savings, so you don't need to worry.

Hope the money comes soon!

gingerlocks

Thanks you two!

Yes me too, i shall have to call up at some point today as my money is due to go in fri and i am still getting letters asking for med certs.

rogerblack

pmlindyloo wrote: »

whether these NI credits will entitle you to contribution based ESA

They do not alone.
In principle, they may assist, but you will need to have been working in both 2010/11 and 11/12 too.

gingerlocks

I have not worked in 7 years so what will happen to me ? will i be shoved off esa wrag after 365 days very confused but i think that is what dwp wants somehow???

KxMx

Really only your benefit office can answer for sure.

But if you were on Income Support prior to the transfer, I would expect your ESA is Income Based. Generally speaking those on IS or Incapacity Benefit with an IS top-up migrated to Income Based and those on Incapacity Benefit alone migrated to Contributions based.

For those on Income Based ESA there is no 365 day limit in the WRAG.

That limit only applies to someone in the WRAG getting Contributions based.

Even if you were subject to that limit (and to the best of my knowledge I don't think you are) in your circumstances after the 365 days were up you would then qualify for Income Based. The only barriers would be a working partner or considerable savings.

gingerlocks

oh thankyou kxmx

that has put my mind as ease i will be calling up tomorrow to make sure they transer my money in or friday like they told me to as i am still getting letters about med certs as they still have not sorted out my esa after appeal and i am still classed as lower rate a month on....they so slooooooooooooooow x

tracy0770

if they have stated on your claim you are in wrag, meens get your money soon, as for fit notes they sent me letters asking for 1 befor they paid my back dated money, phone them as you should not need to send 1

gingerlocks

I am just about to tracey right now they will have to release my money (lower rate) manually.
1 month today since tribunal was hoping would be all sorted by now tbh how long does it take to caluculate a ew numbers? I have no descrepensies its pretty straight forward really! x

gingerlocks

Well i rang up today and requested a call back from the benefit office this nice fellow rang me back within the hour and told me he had put a note on my file saying do not need to send anymore med certs.
I then asked asked what type of esa i was on and he told me income related wrag so i was indeed exempt from the 365 rule.

He then told me it could be july before i get my back dated money and we went into a battle of the wills convo about the government other things and he told me he would go upstairs and have a word with the decision maker!!! he basically told me as i had made such a fuss he would help me!!!! And told me i would have my money no later than 2 weeks.

So my advice to anyone waiting on appeal to get money is ring daily ask for call backs, make a fuss!!