Can husband and wife both claim ESA?

epitome

Cyclamen wrote: »

epitome

Thank you.. not an easy day today and your kindness and amount fo work you are putting in is over whelming.
I don't get taxed..but my pension statements are in a heavy folder and today that is beyond me.

I feel I am wasting your time as I don't think he'd get passed the assessment phase of ESA. Even though he's poorly.

I am not certain of the code on the ESA form I did but it did ask about all the financial details rather than health stuff. My statement says I would be entitled to about £28 or income related but because contributions is more I will get that.. Again its in that folder and beyond me today.

I am going to 'give it my best shot' at getting to CAB tmrw.. each time I do a benefits checker its coming out differently.

This confirms it, you already have ESA IR included. So they can't process his Income Support claim unless you phone ESA and ask them to remove the ESA IR from your ESA claim from the date IS was claimed from.. If you decide to go with Income Support you should be VERY clear to them that they are to leave your ESA Conts as it is, DO NOT CLOSE your ESA Conts claim.

As you say, even if he qualifies for ESA Conts intially he may not pass the medical, and yes he can appeal and still get ESA Conts on appeal, but yeah, you have to decide what he is likely to get out of ESA.

Because when his ESA finished you will be on less money on ESA IR than you wold have been on Income Suppport (£10 per week or £500 a year).

So you decide, Income Support or the ESA C route.

If you decide on Income Support you will need to phone ESA and tell them you want your ESA claim rebuilt to remove the Income Related part, but that you want your ESA C to continue. You should do this before your next payment of ESA is released which is typically 4 working days before your next ESA credit date. If you do this ask them to use an "exclusion 29" on your ESA claim from now, to stop your ESA from overpaying. And ask them for a call back from ESA to confirm your claim will be adjusted to remove completely the ESA IR only.

No worries, glad to help, I enjoy it.
You can be sure that my figures are correct, print it and take with you to C.A.B. all you have to do now is decide.

If it was my claim, and I didn't think he would pass the medical, I would go for the Income Support option.
If I thought he should pass the medical for WRAG I would go for ESA IR/ESA C and renew conts for a second year of payment.

Alice_Holt

Cyclamen wrote: »

EDIT : Just been through ESA criteria.. he wouldn't qualify on points. Although working would harm his physical health it would be a battle to evidence this. He's in that tricky spot too poorly to work (otherwise he would still be working) and to well for ESA according to the dwp.

Might then be better to stay as you are.
(Do check that your IS claim is receiving all the premiums listed by epitome.)
From your initial post I rather assumed he would meet the ESA criteria.

What you don't want to do is to have a change that puts you into the UC net.
Those in receipt of UC who are disabled with no realistic prospect of work can be several £1,000's per year worse off than under the legacy benefits (because of the loss of disability premiums). To confirm this you might want to ask the CAB for a benefits check under UC.

As you got in just before UC started in your area and if you remain on the legacy benefits, then you should get transitional protection when (many years hence) you are transitioned onto UC. Whereas if you have a change of circumstance which forces a move to UC, there is little (or no) such protection.
https://www.welfare-benefits-unit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/What-triggers-a-claim-for-Universal-Credit-in-a-full-service-area.pdf
https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit-transitional-protection/What-is-Universal-Credit-transitional-protection


I would be interested to see epitome's take on this.

Cyclamen

Thanks Again Epitome

Alice - I thought he would easily get ESA wrag when i first posted and had a chance at support group. Then i started reading the points and can see that he wouldn't without one of the extra 'working will cause harm clauses' which it will but we dont haveany written evidence.

Epitome.. I don't actually recieve any ESA IR money.

I think half the problem is neither of us are well enough to get our heads round this.

I wll print this tmrw and have a good look before I go out.

Thank you

epitome

Alice_Holt wrote: »

Might then be better to stay as you are.
(Do check that your IS claim is receiving all the premiums listed by epitome.)
From your initial post I rather assumed he would meet the ESA criteria.

What you don't want to do is to have a change that puts you into the UC net.
Those in receipt of UC who are disabled with no realistic prospect of work can be several £1,000's per year worse off than under the legacy benefits (because of the loss of disability premiums). To confirm this you might want to ask the CAB for a benefits check under UC.

As you got in just before UC started in your area and if you remain on the legacy benefits, then you should get transitional protection when (many years hence) you are transitioned onto UC. Whereas if you have a change of circumstance which forces a move to UC, there is little (or no) such protection.
https://www.welfare-benefits-unit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/What-triggers-a-claim-for-Universal-Credit-in-a-full-service-area.pdf
https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit-transitional-protection/What-is-Universal-Credit-transitional-protection


I would be interested to see epitome's take on this.

I agree what you say sounds correct, but I don't know a lot about UC, and I did not follow your links, sorry, I don't have time.

Although, just one correction, Her current situation is ESA C / IR. if they want Income Support some urgent contact with ESA will be required.

epitome

Cyclamen wrote: »

Thanks Again Epitome

Epitome.. I don't actually recieve any ESA IR money.

Yeah, I know, but you do have a live claim for ESA IR. And if you now want to go with Income Support in his name, your ESA will have to be changed to ESA Conts only.

Oh Doh! I see what you mean, yeah an Exclusion 29 will not be required, but your ESA claim will need to be changed to "ESA Conts only", if you want his Income Support.

Cyclamen

Thanks..

wouldn't it be nice if all the departments were linked and could sorted this out.. if only.

so i assume our IS will be rejected if i dont phone ESA and then he would be on UC.

I really will take all this with me and ask someone for help.

I still have a mountain of forms and i've frankly given in.. not ideal but i'll get out tmrw.

Cyclamen

CAB - can't advise us on figures and were certain we should claim IS as didn't seem to know other options. Kept saying we get the exact same amount under IS and UC which the benefits checkers don't show

IS phoned today and said WTC is still 'live', WTC say its closed but we can't claim IS.

Job centre who put in IS claim now say he cant claim until after 'run-on' despite us being absolutely honest about everything and saying we had run-on.

there is something about contacting IS as soon as run-on finishes and we may still be eligible.

It's all a huge muddle.. i've spent all my energy an dhealth getting to CAB and now dont know what i'm doing.

Next step is our council have a benefits team.. i just ned to check if that is only housng benefit and council tax or 'other stuff'.

As Epitome stated I do have an ESA claim for IR despite getting no money an dhave to do something about that.

Time to put my head under the blanket and try again another day.

Thank you everyone for trying

TELLIT01

There can be a delay between WTC saying the claim is closed, and the status updating on the system used by IS and DWP. I actually had one claim where the customer had sent in the letter from HMRC saying the WTC has stopped, but it still showed live on the system used by DWP, and HMRC insisted to me on the phone that it was still live!
A single system used by all parts of government would be wonderful, and that's really what UC was originally intended to provide. If only!

Cyclamen

And so it continues..

Trying to follow Epitomes advice..

letter from IS stating withdraw income based entitlement from ESA but keep contributions open. This has a deadline on it.

Phoned ESA so 25 minutes of 'on hold music' great when sound sensitive so feel awful.. to eb told that i need to wait for a call back in next 24 hours to assess if i can/should cancel ESA income bit..

I am quickly losing the will to live here..

epitome

Hi,

IS won't be able to process until ESA IR removed from your ESA claim.
Can't be done on linking departments, etc, the new IS is his claim to benefit. IS has no authority to request your ESA to be changed. Only you can ask for your ESA to be changed, not your partner (by virtue of his claim to IS).

Anyway, surprised that IS says you can't have IS processed until WTC closed. Surely they can process it (when ESA IR has been removed) and just nil it (£0.00) while WTC is in payment.

IS should phone WTC to confirm WTC is being closed after run-on and to establish what the run-on date is as per Tellit01 post above.

If ESA called you, they should have done by now, then they agreed to remove ESA IR?
If they did not call you then call ESA again on Monday morning & ask for an "escalation".