Carer/entitlement to ESA/SSP help needed!

[Deleted User]

Hi all first post here but I have been a long time lurker I believe you would say, and I have found myself in need of some help.
Situation is, I am a carer for my son who has Autism, I also work part time (normally 16 hours a week but due to drop down to 15 due to change in nat min wage!) as anything more will mean I am not entitled to carers allowance as I can earn no more than £100 a week.
However due to running myself ragged - hence my name, over the last few years I have recently been diagnosed with ME and was given a sick note to try and re-cooperate - easier said than done as a carer! The time off was most of July, I tried to go back did a couple of days and signed off for 2 weeks again but then have been working again since middle of August. Now here's where it all kicked me. SSP earnings must be £109 per week , which as mentioned as a carer you can not legally earn. I advised my employer about this at the time but they assured me that I could get SSP. Wage came (work in July paid end of August) and it wasn't there so I spoke to my boss who said she had been misinformed and had to send me out a SSP1 I think it was to see what else I can claim. Spoke to the ESA and they are saying
1) I can not back date my claim.
2) I can not claim for short bursts of time especially eg 4 weeks a space then 2 weeks and I have gone back to work.
3) my earnings/contributions aren't enough!
I do not know if what they said is true but surely it can't be? If it is that means as a working carer I must never ever be sick or I get kicked in the backside for it?!
I am so sorry for such a long post but I am struggling to make ends meet which is only worsening my own state of health, can anyone advise? Thanks

rogerblack

My understanding - this is a complex area.
1) Earning more than 99.50 in any week will mean you can't claim ESA under nearly any circumstance. If you're entitled to SSP, you can't claim ESA.
2) Unless the work can be done as permitted work - (under 16 hours and under 99.50) then in principle, you can - the practice may be very different.
It would be multiple short claims, linking under the '12 week rule' - unless you are at work for one period exceeding 12 weeks, in which case it would be a fresh claim.
3) Do you have a partner?

There are several caveats to CA.
You can earn up to the CA limit - but this is _after_ certain deductions.
Tax, NI, expenses incurred unavoidably at work (not on the journey to), and half any personal pension contributions.

if you do over 16 hours, and have a disability you may also be entitled to working tax credit.

As I understand it - there is no more appropriate benefit. I don't what WTCs criteria for disability is - if your condition is severe enough - then you may be able to claim WTC despite only working 16 hours.
I am unsure of how it works if you work 16 hours 40 weeks of the year, but are sick for the rest and unable to work.
Is it as simple as you need to do 16*50 hours total anyone?

pmlindyloo

From what I understand is that you were off work and thought you were entitled to SSP. Then you found out that you weren't eligible.

This is a mix up by your employer. They should have given you the SSP1 form straight away so you could claim ESA. Did they ever send that form?

If you are off sick and have a fit note from your doctors and are not eligible for SSP then you are entitled to ESA. (am presuming that no other income is coming into the house from partner?)

So, yes, you are entitled to ESA. The complication this time arose because your employer was late in sending the SSP1 form and you had already gone back to work.

You could appeal this if your employer is willing to write a letter explaining that they made a mistake and informing them of the dates that you were not paid and it was their fault that you were late in applying and you should have claimed ESA. You would also need to show your fit note for that period of time.

So, basically, if you are ill again make sure your employer sends the form and apply for ESA straightaway. I believe there may be a few days at the beginning of your illness when you are not eligible for SSP or ESA (hope someone can confirm)

epitome

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi all first post here but I have been a long time lurker I believe you would say, and I have found myself in need of some help.
Situation is, I am a carer for my son who has Autism, I also work part time (normally 16 hours a week but due to drop down to 15 due to change in nat min wage!) as anything more will mean I am not entitled to carers allowance as I can earn no more than £100 a week.
However due to running myself ragged - hence my name, over the last few years I have recently been diagnosed with ME and was given a sick note to try and re-cooperate - easier said than done as a carer! The time off was most of July, I tried to go back did a couple of days and signed off for 2 weeks again but then have been working again since middle of August. Now here's where it all kicked me. SSP earnings must be £109 per week , which as mentioned as a carer you can not legally earn. I advised my employer about this at the time but they assured me that I could get SSP. Wage came (work in July paid end of August) and it wasn't there so I spoke to my boss who said she had been misinformed and had to send me out a SSP1 I think it was to see what else I can claim. Spoke to the ESA and they are saying
1) I can not back date my claim.
2) I can not claim for short bursts of time especially eg 4 weeks a space then 2 weeks and I have gone back to work.
3) my earnings/contributions aren't enough!
I do not know if what they said is true but surely it can't be? If it is that means as a working carer I must never ever be sick or I get kicked in the backside for it?!
I am so sorry for such a long post but I am struggling to make ends meet which is only worsening my own state of health, can anyone advise? Thanks

1. Do you have a partner or savings more than £16,000?
If "No" to both Why is anyone discussing earnings/contributions?

2. YES you can backdate a claim to ESA (max backdating is 3 months) you can do a "wholly retrospective" claim for July - you will need an SSP1 from the employer and sicknotes for the period you were off work. You won't get paid for the first 3days of the claim.

3. If when you returned to work you worked less than 16 hours earned less than 99.50 a week you would be ok to have that period included in your ESA claim...as a continuous claim from July up to the present day. However, it could cause problems................ so you could decide to claim just for July as a retrospective claim, and then submit a further new claim backdated to the date you last left work until the present day.

[Deleted User]

Thank you for the replies.
I do have a husband who works he fetches in 15k before tax, not much savings its about £100 towards the car tax as I save a bit each week.
I am not classed as disabled however I am considering putting in a claim for PIP.
As for work I actually have the emails stating that I can get SSP then one saying they made a mistake but I have yet to receive the form.
It's all so complicated and such a pain. Makes me feel like I am not allowed to get ill

rogerblack

Deleted_User wrote: »

Thank you for the replies.
I do have a husband who works he fetches in 15k before tax, not much savings its about £100 towards the car tax as I save a bit each week.

I missed the comment you made about not having adequate contributions.
Without adequate contributions, and with a husband earning over about 7K, you would not be entitled to ESA at all.
Any claim you made would be on a 'credits only' basis - to pay your NI stamp towards your pension.

This makes the technical arguments around if you can claim ESA - you may technically be able to for short periods - irrelevant largely.

bigbill

I would say claim and backdate the ESA claim as there are special rules for carers and NIÑO contributions that may allow you CBESA

rogerblack

bigbill wrote: »

I would say claim and backdate the ESA claim as there are special rules for carers and NIÑO contributions that may allow you CBESA

Carers are generally credited (if they are receiving the appropriate benefit). However, credits for carers are class 3 credits.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch41.pdf

For ESA - 41032 - if you've been caring for the complete tax year before the beginning of the year when you claimed benefit - then you meet the (relaxed) first contribution condition.
But - you have to meet both the first and the second contribution conditions.

As I understand it - class 3 credits would not let you meet the second condition alone - hence you can't get contribution based ESA.

The OP has already said that ESA have found that her contributions are not adequate.
I do not see a reason this is incorrect - though my understanding of these regulations is not complete.

epitome

rogerblack wrote: »

Carers are generally credited (if they are receiving the appropriate benefit). However, credits for carers are class 3 credits.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch41.pdf

For ESA - 41032 - if you've been caring for the complete tax year before the beginning of the year when you claimed benefit - then you meet the (relaxed) first contribution condition.

As I read it, it says:
To meet the FCC, if you have been getting CA for the complete tax year before the year when you claimed ESA, you also need to have at some point in the past (any tax year) earned 26 times LEL.

As I understand it - class 3 credits would not let you meet the second condition alone - hence you can't get contribution based ESA.

Credited NI will go towards satisfaction of the SCC. You need 50 times LEL for the SCC, if you have some earnings they will be counted towards your 50 x LEL, if you have benefit credits they will be counted towards your 50 x LEL, you can also have a combination of both. If OP got carers allowance continuously since beginning April 2010 she will satisfy SCC, If she worked in her past and earned 26 x LEL for any year (including 10/11 & 11/12) then she satisfies FCC.
26 x LEL for
10/11 = £2,522
11/12 = £2,652

The OP has already said that ESA have found that her contributions are not adequate.
I do not see a reason this is incorrect - though my understanding of these regulations is not complete.

Seems to me, only the new claims agent on the phone has said they do not have enough contributions, and can't backdate a claim. This agent should be ignored and a claim for ESA C should be put in.