Esa help please

jbatista

i need help and advice as don't know what to do any longer, my husband has been long term sick since the late 1990's, he received Income Support until 2007 and was told by the DSS early 2000's that he no longer needed to send in any more sick notes, to cut short i have worked since 2007 when he came off income support and he recieves lower rate DLA, he applied for ESA contribution based on the advice of his gp, they sent a text message on Mon 4/8 saying his esa had been awarded, on Tues 5/8 recieved a letter saying please send in a sick note, and today they have sent a letter saying that we cannot pay you esa, you have not paid enough or credited with enough contributions, and cant get income related esa as your partner works for more than 24 hours a week... i rang them to ask why they sent a message saying esa had beeen awarded ...which couldnt be answeered and i also asked why he wasn't entitled to esa contribution based..to which the reply was you work and he doesnt have enough credits... what now?? i earn £197.00 a week, have a morgage and debts and just cant carry on any longer, this is causing my husband and i so much stress...i asked him so what does my husband have to do?? go and sign on for job seekers even though he cant work as he is to sick to work?
thanks in advance for all advice

nannytone_2

he hasnt been credited with any contributions since 2007 when he stopped claiming income support. je would need contributions in the tax years 11/12 and 12/13 for conts based ESA.
as has been said ... he was awarded ESA, but due to your income, will only receive NI credits ( towards his pension)
you could try claiming council tax support, but i cant really think of anything else apart from possibly tax credits, depending on how many hours you work

Indie_Kid

Have you applied for any council tax support? If you work over 30 hours a week, you could get some working tax credits.

nannytone_2

Indie_Kid wrote: »

Have you applied for any council tax support? If you work over 30 hours a week, you could get some working tax credits.

is it still 30 hours if your partner is disabled?
is it only 16 hours if it is the disabled person working?

jbatista

Yes we get council tax support and I also get working tax credits ... I automatically thought that he would keep getting credits...so does this mean my husband needs to send in sick notes to them, they were no help on the phone at all

Indie_Kid

To get the credits, he would have to send in sick notes, yes.

nannytone_2

until he either has a 'medical' or is placed in a group without one, he will need to send in sick notes.
once hi is placed in a group and in the 'main phase' he wont need to.
it is still worth claiming even if there is no paument as it keeps his contributions up to date for his state pension

jbatista

I don't understand this, so what he has to do is keep sending in sick notes, then what happens to him?? No one told us that sick notes needed to keep being sent in,

jbatista

I also remember that last year he had to fill in a form to see what he could and couldn't do similar to the old Ib50 form and we never heard anything else .. What would have that been for then!? And it wasn't for dla either....

Indie_Kid

That form would have been for ESA. Did you hear anything back after filling the form in?

jbatista

No we heard nothing at all