Changing from contribution to income related ESA

sportsarb

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Base rate for IR is exactly the same as C. Eligibility to IR isn't as simple as stated above. If the claimant qualifies for Conts and there are no additional elements to be taken into account, they will be paid as a Conts claim.
What is true is that there is nothing to be lost by putting in a claim for IR benefit. If there is an entitlement it will be processed as IR, but the claimant can't choose to be treated as and IR claim.

Alice_Holt wrote: »

IMO this is a garbled and misleading post.

These are ESa rates:
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-glossary/2756-employment-support-allowance-rates
http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/employment-and-support-allowance-overview

Basic rates are the same whether it is income-based or contribution-based.

As helpful posters have commented (pmlindyloo, DS, Tellit01) an income-related top up can be awarded for certain premiums.
http://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/disability-premiums-in-benefits

The £15.75 refered to above is the enhanced disabiliity premium. This can be paid if the claimant is in the support group (or receiving the enhanced rate of DL PIP). This can, I think, be paid as an income-based top up to an existing contribution-based ESa claim (providing the claimant meets the criteria for income-based payments).
https://www.rethink.org/living-with-mental-illness/money-issues-benefits-employment/employment-support-allowance/about

I would suggest the OP takes their details (including savings and household income) into the local CAB and ask them if they would be eligible for the enhanced disability premium, and what to write to the DWP in order to claim it.

My reply was based kn the premise that the claimant was in the support group which I was sure I had read she was.

Mea Culpa.

Thanks for the reasoned responses though. !!!!s.

TELLIT01

They have said they are in the Support Group now. They did also say that they applied for Conts only originally to speed the claim up. Although they are now in the SG that doesn't automatically mean that Income Related entitlement kicks in. The OP will need to complete an ESA50, to provide information which wasn't required for Conts, before entitlement to IR elements can be assessed.
Not being critical of the OP, but if they had simply made a 'full claim', for want of a better description, any entitlement to the IR elements would have kicked in automatically. Although there are fewer questions asked for a Conts only claim, it's better to claim both and let the system / processors decide on entitlement unless certain that there wouldn't be an IR entitlement.

sportsarb

Ah, so I was right then, for the OP the starting point of IR is higher than ESA(C).

'Garbled and misleading' in the sense that it was actually 100% correct.

Good luck OP. The benefits system isn't what it used to be.

TELLIT01

sportsarb wrote: »

Ah, so I was right then, for the OP the starting point of IR is higher than ESA(C).

'Garbled and misleading' in the sense that it was actually 100% correct.

Good luck OP. The benefits system isn't what it used to be.

I'm still not sure the statement about start point for IR being higher than for C is correct. It's possible for a claimant to be placed in the Support Group without them having claimed DLA or PIP. It is generally receipt of that which initiates payment of premiums.
I could be wrong, as I haven't worked on ESA for a while but am aware that there have been changes to the system.

nannytone_2

sportsarb wrote: »

Ah, so I was right then, for the OP the starting point of IR is higher than ESA(C).

'Garbled and misleading' in the sense that it was actually 100% correct.

Good luck OP. The benefits system isn't what it used to be.

the basic rates of ESA ( assessment, Wrag and support group) are the SAME for both contributions based and imncome related ESA.

the difference is the premiums that are payable alongside income related ESA.

but these depend on a variety of factors.

so to say that income related ESA is 'more' than contributions based ESA is WRONG.

wind your neck in

sportsarb

nannytone wrote: »

the basic rates of ESA ( assessment, Wrag and support group) are the SAME for both contributions based and imncome related ESA.

the difference is the premiums that are payable alongside income related ESA.

but these depend on a variety of factors.

so to say that income related ESA is 'more' than contributions based ESA is WRONG.

wind your neck in

No, I was right, wind your neck in.

I was responding to the person who asked the question. Before anything else is taken into account Income Related starts off at £125.05 for those in the Support Group. There is no confusion in my mind that £125.05 is more than £109.30 that is the maximum payable on an ESA(C) Support Group claim.

The actual amount of income related payable is of course dictated by household income, capital and everything else. So it's entirely correct for me to have made the statement I did.

sportsarb

TELLIT01 wrote: »

I'm still not sure the statement about start point for IR being higher than for C is correct. It's possible for a claimant to be placed in the Support Group without them having claimed DLA or PIP. It is generally receipt of that which initiates payment of premiums.
I could be wrong, as I haven't worked on ESA for a while but am aware that there have been changes to the system.

EDP is and always has been paid to Support Group claimants who are claiming income related. In cases where income or capital reduce this it can of course reduce income related back below ESA (C).

The only important bit for OP to consider in this little squabble is that they should immediately put in an income related claim and get assessed as soon as possible.

nannytone_2

sportsarb wrote: »

No, I was right, wind your neck in.

I was responding to the person who asked the question. Before anything else is taken into account Income Related starts off at £125.05 for those in the Support Group. There is no confusion in my mind that £125.05 is more than £109.30 that is the maximum payable on an ESA(C) Support Group claim.

The actual amount of income related payable is of course dictated by household income, capital and everything else. So it's entirely correct for me to have made the statement I did.

and the difference is the enhanced disability PREMIUM that is paid to those on income related ESA.

it is a PREMIUM and not part of ESA.

get your facts right!

TELLIT01

sportsarb wrote: »

The only important bit for OP to consider in this little squabble is that they should immediately put in an income related claim and get assessed as soon as possible.

I ain't squabbling, and I agree that the OP needs to get the claim for IR benefit in asap.
As I said previously, because the OP made a Conts only claim initially, none of the premiums availble to an IR claim apply until they do. They can request backdating of the IR claim, but there are limits on how far it can be backdated.

sportsarb

nannytone wrote: »

and the difference is the enhanced disability PREMIUM that is paid to those on income related ESA.

it is a PREMIUM and not part of ESA.

get your facts right!

Are you serious?

The Income Related ESA applicable amount is made up of Personal Allowance, Group Component and then any applicable premiums that are payable. It is all assessed as part of an ESA award of benefit, it is solely paid by ESA (When that is the income related benefit the claimant has claimed).

I struggle to think of why you even bothered to post that, it is monumentally dumb, and the level of pedanticism (Not entirely the right word because being pedantic would indicate a level of technically being correct) helps absolutely no one, least of all the OP.

TELLIT01 wrote: »

I ain't squabbling, and I agree that the OP needs to get the claim for IR benefit in asap.

While I wrote that after quoting you it wasn't aimed at any one person but more at the situation in the thread. I was, like everyone else apparently, trying to help the OP and was basically told I was talking !!!!.

I first posted on my way to work this morning, and after a day of helping people similar to the OP, and being delayed in traffic on the way home, I'm just a little frustrated by the whole thing.

I'll try to keep my nose out of things in the future (Again, this isn't aimed at you (TELLIT01)) I just happen to be saying it after I quoted you.