Income support payments

pilsthedoughman

Hi

Having been on ESA and failed the health assessment I decided to apply for Income Support and CA (I care for my wifw - she receives DLA at the highest rate for both components).

I have just received verbal notification that CA has been agreed, but as Income support has been agreed too, payment of the CA wont start until 6th October ???

I have today received an Income support back payment covering the last month and fortnightly payments are due to start 19th September.

The problem I have is that our only other income is a small ill health pension amounting to £100 per week - this started in April 2014 and because of various factors I been given different tax codes its seems each month for this pension meaning that the monthly payment is fluctuating between £277 (the amount I quoted on my IS claim) and £523.

I know that I will have to tell the DWP about each change in monthly payment (or do I have to ?) but would like to know if they will just stop my IS and I will need to reapply monthly ? or will they recalculate the figures fairly quickly having little impact on my fortnightly payments ?

I'm also concerned that this will have a knockon effect to my HB and CTR - my Council seem happy to suspend these payments at the "drop of a hat" and then I have to go in (as I had to do quite a few timees when I was on ESA) and each time provide 2 months statements, etc..what a waste of everyones time !

if anyone has gone through the same with frequent small changes to income and how IS deal with it I would be glad to hear from you so that I know what to expect - many thanks for your help

pmlindyloo

pilsthedoughman wrote: »

Hi

Having been on ESA and failed the health assessment I decided to apply for Income Support and CA (I care for my wifw - she receives DLA at the highest rate for both components).

I have just received verbal notification that CA has been agreed, but as Income support has been agreed too, payment of the CA wont start until 6th October ??? According to your previous thread CA was awarded in May but you were only entitled to a CA premium. Is that correct? (By the way, you must have been on contribution based ESA - with an income based 'top up' -for CA and ESA to be overlapping benefits) So your CA payment should start when your ESA ended. I am not sure why they are saying that it won't start until October. You need to ask. The CA will be taken off your IS as income but a CA premium will be added plus you will actually receive the CA itself.

I have today received an Income support back payment covering the last month and fortnightly payments are due to start 19th September.

The problem I have is that our only other income is a small ill health pension amounting to £100 per week - this started in April 2014 and because of various factors I been given different tax codes its seems each month for this pension meaning that the monthly payment is fluctuating between £277 (the amount I quoted on my IS claim) and £523.

I know that I will have to tell the DWP about each change in monthly payment (or do I have to ?) but would like to know if they will just stop my IS and I will need to reapply monthly ? or will they recalculate the figures fairly quickly having little impact on my fortnightly payments ?

I'm also concerned that this will have a knockon effect to my HB and CTR - my Council seem happy to suspend these payments at the "drop of a hat" and then I have to go in (as I had to do quite a few timees when I was on ESA) and each time provide 2 months statements, etc..what a waste of everyones time !

if anyone has gone through the same with frequent small changes to income and how IS deal with it I would be glad to hear from you so that I know what to expect - many thanks for your help

As regards the fluctuating income from your pension you will have to tell them. They will probably want to have sight of the amounts so they can adjust the IS award. Because of all the premiums you will be probably still be entitled to some IS. Any award of IS means you have automatic entitlement to HB and CT reduction. These will only stop if your IS stops. it shouldn't be - just adjusted.

What a mess. Best of luck with it all.

pilsthedoughman

pmlinyloo

Thank you so much for your reply to my thread......yes.....what a mess it all is, especxially when you consider my other thread about the probable inacurracy of the ESA payments prior to IS !

Re CA - originally awarded from 2nd May as an underlying entitlement. The CAU tell me because it has been over three month since it was awarded as an underlying entitlement (I contacted them at the earliest opportunaty - 18th August - to try and get the payments started from when ESA ended 8th August) I had to make a new claim, despite the fact that nothing had changed which could affect my eligibility - I still hadn't worked from when i ended my previous job 21st April and had to for the SECOND time send them a copy of my final payslip.

With all these benefits, etc. they just seem to put up as many brick walls as they can and then when you have got around the walls you have loads of red tape to cut through too - what an absolute disgrace it all is IMHO !

Owing to the amount of my income from the small pension I'm sure (I hope ?!?!?!) it will just be a case of the IS people recaculating the IS amount - as I see it the total of the IS and my net pension should be much the same figure irrespective of how much the latter figure (my net pension) is as that figure will not affect my total Applicable amount - its my (and my wifes) circumstances and premiums that determine the applicable amount - lindyloo am i correct in thinking this ?

Many thanks for your help - if any other boarder has anything to add then please feel free to post a reply.

pmlindyloo

pilsthedoughman wrote: »

pmlinyloo

Thank you so much for your reply to my thread......yes.....what a mess it all is, especxially when you consider my other thread about the probable inacurracy of the ESA payments prior to IS !

Re CA - originally awarded from 2nd May as an underlying entitlement. The CAU tell me because it has been over three month since it was awarded as an underlying entitlement (I contacted them at the earliest opportunaty - 18th August - to try and get the payments started from when ESA ended 8th August) I had to make a new claim, despite the fact that nothing had changed which could affect my eligibility - I still hadn't worked from when i ended my previous job 21st April and had to for the SECOND time send them a copy of my final payslip. Even if it was a new claim it can be backdated for 3 months as far as I am aware. Didd you apply for backdating?

With all these benefits, etc. they just seem to put up as many brick walls as they can and then when you have got around the walls you have loads of red tape to cut through too - what an absolute disgrace it all is IMHO !

Owing to the amount of my income from the small pension I'm sure (I hope ?!?!?!) it will just be a case of the IS people recaculating the IS amount - as I see it the total of the IS and my net pension should be much the same figure irrespective of howe much the latter figure (my net pension) is as that figure will not affect my Applicable amount - mylindyloo am i correct in thinking this ? The pension is deducted £1 for £1 so yes, your total income should be the same.

Many thanks for your help - if any other boarder has anything to add then please feel free to post a reply.

I do wish you could get some help for this I don't know your age but would Age UK be appropriate?

pmlindyloo

Just had a thought.

Since you have been receiving IS and they haven't deducted any CA from it then I believe that may be the reason they won't put the CA into actual payment. When they take the CA into account it will be deducted form the IS. At the moment they haven't done this so in actual fact the amount of money you would get would be the same. Hope that makes sense?

In theory they could backdate it but then your IS payments would be wrong and they will have to adjust all those payments.

So, as soon as they deduct the CA from your IS then you should be in receipt of the actual CA payment.

I hope that makes sense!

pilsthedoughman

pmlindyloo

Yes, when I claimed CA for the SECOND time 18th august, I asked for it to be backdated from 8th august when my ESA ended.

I'm pleased that I seem to have "got to grips" with the applicable amount in relation to IS and my net pension.

I am waiting for Age UK (i'm 54 and they will help me if they can - I'm not holding my breath though ! ) to reply to a message I've left so will post again once I have heard from them.

Once again many thanks for your help - if you ever have anything further to add re my other thread about ESA and double SDP's then I will be pleased to hear from you - kind regards

pilsthedoughman

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Just had a thought.

Since you have been receiving IS and they haven't deducted any CA from it then I believe that may be the reason they won't put the CA into actual payment. When they take the CA into account it will be deducted form the IS. At the moment they haven't done this so in actual fact the amount of money you would get would be the same. Hope that makes sense?

In theory they could backdate it but then your IS payments would be wrong and they will have to adjust all those payments.

So, as soon as they deduct the CA from your IS then you should be in receipt of the actual CA payment.

I hope that makes sense!

Have seen your above post - many thanks for this - I suppose my main "gripe" is the fact that I have had to go through the claim process for a second time, despite me having had an underlying entitlement although not actually receiving anything - my eligibility for it still existed to 8th August so I just don't see why a second claim has to be started as it is a "continuation" IMO - no wonder this country is in such a mess - I think I may move to Scotland !!!