Help please ESA

hampster11

we have recently made a claim for ESA, and worried about a few parts. My partner has recently been awarded DLA arrears for March 2013 - to December 2013.

We were claiming IS, HB, CT and CTC and work SSP (partner).

IS, HB,CT and CTC we also recevied arrears for these.

It also entitled us to-arrears in WTC.

On ESA form it says- Have savings and Investments been greater than £5500 six months before the claim.

They have with the arrears but confused as this says it disregarded


Chapter 52 - Capital - Department for Work & Pensions

w w w. dwp.gov.uk/doc/ch52.pd

we are over the limit of £5500 by £110.

Does that mean we can not claim ESA, or we still can because the benefit arrears are disregarded?? hope it makes sense.

Thanks

Morglin

Tell them about the arrears paid, but DLA that's owed to you, paid due to a claim, will not affect anything.

As all the arrears were monies you should have had, as part of your claims, shouldn't affect anything.

Do tell them, though, what the money was for, do they don't assume it is just savings you had already.

Lin

Indie_Kid

Income based benefits start to decrease at £6000. For every £250 (or part of) over £6000, £1 will be deducted from your benefits. At £16000, your income based benefits stop in full.

hampster11

Thanks Morglin and sh1305

still a little confused on the bit -

On ESA form it says- Have savings and Investments been greater than £5500 six months before the claim.

So the answer to the above question is ^ is no on the form??

Sorry I am having trouble getting my head around all of this.

And Could I ask how ESA will affect HB and CT, we currently get full amount apart from 1 bedroom tax thing. Will our children's free school meals be affect as we now have WTC due to DLA partner wages will not exceed 10k due to being off ill.

Thanks

Robbie64

If savings and investments (ie Capital) are above £5,500 then because the amount held is close to the £6,000 lower limit then closer examination of bank accounts etc are made. This is to ensure that

1. the claimant does have Capital below £6,000
2. the claimant hasn't unreasonably disposed of capital to get the amount down below £6,000

However as the original poster (OP) has indicated, arrears of certain benefits and allowances are ignored for up to 52 weeks from the date the arrears are received. This includes arrears of DLA, HB, IS, Working and Child Tax Credits.

As has been mentioned because the lower capital limit for ESA (Income Related) is £6,000 then as the amount of capital the OP has is below £6,000 anyway the OP will be able to receive ESA (IR). And even then some of this - the arrears of the above benefits - is ignored anyway. So the OP will be able to claim ESA but in my opinion will have to truthfully answer that over £5,500 is held as capital but the OP can then explain that £x amount is due to the payment of arrears of benefit.

Morglin

hampster11 wrote: »

Thanks Morglin and sh1305

still a little confused on the bit -

On ESA form it says- Have savings and Investments been greater than £5500 six months before the claim.

So the answer to the above question is ^ is no on the form??

Sorry I am having trouble getting my head around all of this.

And Could I ask how ESA will affect HB and CT, we currently get full amount apart from 1 bedroom tax thing. Will our children's free school meals be affect as we now have WTC due to DLA partner wages will not exceed 10k due to being off ill.

Thanks

Declare it to cover yourself, but explain what it is - it shouldn't affect anything, but, in my view, everything should be declared.

Lin

HB58

Morglin wrote: »

Declare it to cover yourself, but explain what it is - it shouldn't affect anything, but, in my view, everything should be declared.

Lin

I absolutely agree wit this. Declare everything now otherwise, if the DWP ESA people find out about this later, they will want to examine your financial affairs with a microscope which can cause a lot of anxiety.