ESA (C) Ending 15/02/14

LL30

Excellent worth a shot I suppose, although part of me was relieved to be getting off the ESA merry-go-round! I'll let you know how I get on as it may be useful for others.

LL30

So, I got my letter today and I think I've discovered another error. They have my weekly income down as £133 a week and therefore over the limit for IR ESA. However, on doing the sums it appears that they have counted my whole bursary without applying the appropriate disregards.

The bursary is in 3 parts: Maintenance grant (should be included in income) Basic grant (should be incl) and Parents learning allowance (should not be, but has). They have also included my fixed contribution towards travel, which they shouldn't have and they haven't applied the books and additional travel disregards. I've spent quite a while looking through their manual and I'm quite sure I've got it right. It brings my weekly income down to £84 a week - which makes me eligible for a small amount of IR ESA.

So, what's the best plan here? I'm going to do a MR letter - shall I do it on two points a) possible entitlement to an additional year ESA (c) and b) their calculations are wrong re: IR ESA eligibility. Or is that just going to confuse them?

And blimey, those DWP manuals make your eyes bleed....