ESA amounts help please.

alexandrajj

Hi,

Hoping someone can help me.

A married couple who are both in the support group of ESA get (approx) £304 per week (have migrated over from incapacity/means tested income support).

If their circumstances changed but the both remained in the support group (ie went into contributions based ESA) how much would the couple receive per week please? Is it about £151?

If the both remain eligible for the support group of ESA, am I right in thinking they would remain on contributions longer than a year?

Thanks in advance

Torry_Quine

alexandrajj wrote: »

Hi,

Hoping someone can help me.

A married couple who are both in the support group of ESA get (approx) £304 per week (have migrated over from incapacity/means tested income support).

If their circumstances changed but the both remained in the support group (ie went into contributions based ESA) how much would the couple receive per week please? Is it about £151?

If the both remain eligible for the support group of ESA, am I right in thinking they would remain on contributions longer than a year?

Thanks in advance

If they were transferred from IB then the ESA will be contribution based and is not time limited as support group. Any income based ESA cannot become contribution based as there would be no recent contributions. Therefore how much they get depends on whether either or both get contribution based but any income based is dependent on joint income and savings.

alexandrajj

Thanks. One partner was transfered over from incapacity and the other from income support. Obviously it's a joint claim so currently it is £109 (partner from IB) plus £195 (partner transfered from IS) so together they get £304 per week.

The question is, if they get transfered to contributions based as they are no longer eligible for income-related, my understanding is there is an individual support group rate of £109 but a couple rate of £151. I just want to know if their income will got from £304 per week to £151.

Torry_Quine

alexandrajj wrote: »

Thanks. One partner was transfered over from incapacity and the other from income support. Obviously it's a joint claim so currently it is £109 (partner from IB) plus £195 (partner transfered from IS) so together they get £304 per week.

The question is, if they get transfered to contributions based as they are no longer eligible for income-related, my understanding is there is an individual support group rate of £109 but a couple rate of £151. I just want to know if their income will got from £304 per week to £151.

The one who transferred from IB to ESA remains eligible for contribution based as long as they remain in the support group. You cannot transfer to contribution based from income based and if no longer able to get income based due to other finances the would only be eligible for NI contributions towards state pension to be paid.

Diary

There is no couples rate contribution based esa. So they will never get full contribution based esa as a couple joint claim.

alexandrajj

So let me get this right, if the couple come off income related ESA & transfer to contributions based. The partner who had been on IB will continue to get £109 but the other partner (whilst still being ill and meeting the criteria for support group) will get zero? Really?

(History = partner worked, got ill and got IB. Then met partner married & joint claim & transfered ESA as a joint claim. Other partner never worked due to disability, always claimed income support on grounds of disability, met partner & had a joint claim of IB & topped up with income support, then transfered to ESA income related with partners £109pw taken into consideration).

So if they became in eligible for income based ESA. The partner who used to get IB will continue to get £109 contributions ESA but the other partner who used to get IS due to disability will get nothing? Despite being ill? I understand the couple will lose their income related part as this is awarded if the couple have to savings, but for one partner to end up with nothing. Is this right?

Torry_Quine

alexandrajj wrote: »

So let me get this right, if the couple come off income related ESA & transfer to contributions based. The partner who had been on IB will continue to get £109 but the other partner (whilst still being ill and meeting the criteria for support group) will get zero? Really?

(History = partner worked, got ill and got IB. Then met partner married & joint claim & transfered ESA as a joint claim. Other partner never worked due to disability, always claimed income support on grounds of disability, met partner & had a joint claim of IB & topped up with income support, then transfered to ESA income related with partners £109pw taken into consideration).

So if they became in eligible for income based ESA. The partner who used to get IB will continue to get £109 contributions ESA but the other partner who used to get IS due to disability will get nothing? Despite being ill? I understand the couple will lose their income related part as this is awarded if the couple have to savings, but for one partner to end up with nothing. Is this right?

Yes if for some reason they became ineligible for income based ESA then the person with contributory ESA would remain eligible but there would be no income based top up. is there other income or savings in the household to make this a possibility?

alexandrajj

Thanks for the replies.

This is for future planning. Yes there will be a change & the couple just want to be aware of what income will remain and what will be lost. both partners thought they'd keep their £109 & lose everything else. It would seem only the one which previously got IB keeps theres but the other partner who has never been well enough to work will lose there's. I should say the other partner got SDA as well as IS before it changed over to the support group of ESA. I don't think SDA was ever contributions based. Would that make a difference to whether that partner keeps £109pw?

If the situation will be as stated (ie. One partner gets £109 & the other nothing) is there anything the partner who gets nothing can do? Should that partner bother still claiming ESA despite remaining severely disabled. If they're going to get nothing why go through the assessments? Could that partner claim Carers? (I don't think they can)

p00hsticks

alexandrajj wrote: »

If the situation will be as stated (ie. One partner gets £109 & the other nothing) is there anything the partner who gets nothing can do? Should that partner bother still claiming ESA despite remaining severely disabled. If they're going to get nothing why go through the assessments? Could that partner claim Carers? (I don't think they can)

If they are severely disabled, are they receiving DLA or PIP ? If not they should consider a claim for PIP (the repalcement for DLA) as this isn't means tested.

alexandrajj

Thanks for reply.

The person gets HRM & HRC from DLA already in place.

Diary

As I started there is no contribution based couples rate and your assumption is correct the one without contributions will get no income based esa. The one without contributions will be expected to use whatever it is that has made them become ineligible for income based esa to live on. Be that savings, inheritance etc.

If the one with contribution based esa gets hrc or standard or higher daily living PIP, the other one without income can claim carers if they meet the criteria for carers.

In MY opinion it is not worth claiming income based esa if there is no payment. The exception to this would be if they expected to become eligible for income based esa again in the next couple months. The esa claim could be started from scratch in the future. Others will say different to me about continuing the claim.