Will daughters ESA affect Housing Benefit application?

Dawn248

Hi all. We're in the middle of the worst year ever-daughter came home from uni with depression and then my marriage broke up .
We have found a flat that will hopefully accept us on Housing Benefit (I was a stay at home mum with no income) while my husband is in family home. The council say they will let me claim housing benefit as long as the family home is up for sale, despite me being on the joint mortgage, as we are fleeing abuse.
Now my daughter has been advised to apply for ESA. She is 19 and has been looking for work but her counsellor has said it's too much and she should be focusing on getting well, especially as we don't even have a stable home yet and she is still awaiting adequate treatment for her mental illness.
Now I'm filling in a Housing Benefit form, she's filling in and ESA form and I'm wondering if one will adversley affect the other?
Can she claim ESA to help support herself and take some heat of me or will it reduce the housing benefit we need to house us?

I would be very grateful for some advice as this is as new to me and I really need to get this flat.

(Obviously we haven't chosen to be in this situation, expect to work when we are settled etc so no judging please).

NYM

I'm confident that your daughters claim for ESA would not have any impact on your claim for HB. (should that be LHA?)

It must be a very stressful time for you both and I wish you good luck.

Dawn248

Yes it's LHA, you're right.

My daughter did a phone application for ESA and just received a letter today saying she'll get about £50 a week so that's good but she hasn't sent her forms or had the face to face assessment yet. I'm a bit worried about it, she's so easily triggered. Hopefully they'll let me go in with her and not giver her too hard a time. She hasn't self harmed in a few weeks and I'd hate it to make her feel really bad again.

Thanks for the good wishes, if we have any luck any time soon, it'll be about time!

pmlindyloo

Dawn248 wrote: »

Yes it's LHA, you're right.

My daughter did a phone application for ESA and just received a letter today saying she'll get about £50 a week so that's good but she hasn't sent her forms or had the face to face assessment yet. I'm a bit worried about it, she's so easily triggered. Hopefully they'll let me go in with her and not giver her too hard a time. She hasn't self harmed in a few weeks and I'd hate it to make her feel really bad again.

Thanks for the good wishes, if we have any luck any time soon, it'll be about time!

I suggest you get some help with completing the form from CAB or a welfare adviser. This keeps the stress to a minimum.

A useful link:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/employment-and-support-allowance/help-with-your-esa-claim/fill-in-form/

It would be a good idea to start collecting the medical evidence - any letters from health professionals. Your daughter's doctor should have copies of all of these if you haven't got them yourselves.

The assessment phase is 13 weeks and it is quite unusual to get a work capability assessment before the end of the 13 weeks. Sometimes it can take much longer depending on your area.

It is best to put it out of your mind once you have sent the from off and just wait for the WCA.