ESA Question

epitome

rogerblack wrote: »

Not reading this in detail - however from memory - if arrears of benefits exceed £2K payment - that capital is ignored for the life of the claim.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, is it arrears over £2,000 that are disregarded or a higher figure? I'm thinking it might be £5000, any arrears under the threshhold would be disregarded for 1 year, be it 2000 or 5000..... and my understanding would be that during that first year it would not matter what the money was spent on it would still be disregarded after the 1st year as long as it was entirely spent during the 1st year. Though the law is not written very clearly on this matter and would require an appeal if the DM decided to take it into account for deprivation of capital.

pmlindyloo

epitome wrote: »

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, is it arrears over £2,000 that are disregarded or a higher figure? I'm thinking it might be £5000, any arrears under the threshhold would be disregarded for 1 year, be it 2000 or 5000..... and my understanding would be that during that first year it would not matter what the money was spent on it would still be disregarded after the 1st year as long as it was entirely spent during the 1st year. Though the law is not written very clearly on this matter and would require an appeal if the DM decided to take it into account for deprivation of capital.

Not sure but think this only apples to backdated payments for income based ESA.

Why is it so difficult to find links?????????????

I don't know how much capital is involved - you just say over £16000?

You're right in thinking that unless he gets into the Support Group he will not get any money until he is under £16000.

I do hope he is not living on the breadline because he is worried about the deprivation of income rule. He is perfectly at liberty to spend on normal living costs as if he wasn't claiming benefits. There is absolutely no need for him to live frugally. They would only be looking at extravagant expenditure so please reassure him of this.

Has he applied for PIP? it certainly sounds as if he has some care needs. This would give him another income stream and it is not means tested (could be a millionaire and be eligible)


CAB should be able to help him complete the forms.