currently on ESA help

mrkyle

Hello,

I'm on ESA currently in the work related activity group I suffer from a stress disorder

I get £202 a fortnight I'm also getting HB i get £232 per month towards my rent I have a house what is costing £400 PCM

I have to top my rent up £170 PCM which leaves me me with £30 to last 2 weeks I've also got council Tax, Gas, Electric bills to pay too

I want to get back in to work and go self employed working part time but im scared that ill not be able to make enough to pay my bills ? What benefits can I claim if I go self employed

Please Help

Stop_Watch

mrkyle wrote: »

Hello,

I'm on ESA currently in the work related activity group I suffer from a stress disorder

I get £202 a fortnight I'm also getting HB i get £232 per month towards my rent I have a house what is costing £400 PCM

I have to top my rent up £170 PCM which leaves me me with £30 to last 2 weeks I've also got council Tax, Gas, Electric bills to pay too

I want to get back in to work and go self employed working part time but im scared that ill not be able to make enough to pay my bills ? What benefits can I claim if I go self employed

Please Help

£437 is what you get a month, -£170 leaves £267 a month for bills/food. £61 per week so where you £30 for two weeks comes from???

mrkyle

232.32 HB (1 Month) + 202 ESA (2 weeks) - 400 (Rent) = £34

Monthly i will have to survive on 202 + 34 = £236

That's what i'm left with on my second payment in the month

mrkyle

Hi I'm ready to go back to work can not live like this been on ESA 1 year i'd be better off working and managing my stress then rotting at home

nannytone_2

your rent is calendar monthly, but your ESA is every 2 weeks.
if you work your ESA out per calendar month it is £437.
plus housing benefit of £232 = £669.
minus £400 rent = £269 per calendar month
ur £248 every 4 weeks
£124 every 2 weeks or £62 a week. however you want to break it down

how you choose to budget is up to you, but if you pay your rent obe fortnight and then spend the whole ESA amount on other things the following fortnight, then you're going to be short for 2 weeks of every month.

you need to consider moving to a cheaper rental in order to pay a smaller top up to your rent

Muttleythefrog

mrkyle wrote: »

232.32 HB (1 Month) + 202 ESA (2 weeks) - 400 (Rent) = £34

Monthly i will have to survive on 202 + 34 = £236

That's what i'm left with on my second payment in the month

I can't understand why you're not counting at least 2 fortnightly payments of ESA in your calculations... it dramatically transforms your circumstances on paper. Presumably you have survived one of these months where you had to pay rent shortfall and had only had 1 fortnightly payments... thereafter you should be considering your monthly budget. Make sure you apply for Warm Home Discount if you can... £140 a year... Council Tax Support if relevant... and yeah you could look at working... others better to advise. Look at claiming PIP too... that'd not be means tested... would depend purely on being able to demonstrate if you meet sufficient disability criteria regarding Daily Living and/or mobility. Mental illnesses can cause some disabilities relevant to in particular (but certainly not exclusively) Daily Living activities.

mrkyle

Thanks for all your replies I really want to get back in to work now as I cant cope not being out in the world anymore I just need to know what help I could get as in tax credits and housing benefit

poppy12345

mrkyle wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies I really want to get back in to work now as I cant cope not being out in the world anymore I just need to know what help I could get as in tax credits and housing benefit

This would totally depend on how many how's you work per week. Try this benefits calculator to give you some idea. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/startcalc.aspx

epitome

Ok, so we all agree that your benefit income is £61 - £62 a week after rent is paid.

Do you get any other benefit? DLA or PIP for example?
You get Housing Benefit
Why not Council Tax Reduction?

Is your ESA Conts or Income Related?
I assume your ESA is actually £204.30 a fortnight and you have estimated it at £202.

Do you live with a partner? Are they working/getting benefits?
Do you have savings over £6000 or £16,000 ?

To answer your question
You can start part time work while still claiming and recieving ESA. On ESA you are allowed to do Permitted Work which is under 16 hours a week. and earning no more than £115.50 per week (net income). Your earnings will not affect your ESA, so you will still be paid ESA £202.30 a fortnight. Because I assume you to be in the WRAG, you can only do Permitted Work for 1 year. after that 1 year you have to either:
Close ESA
Stop working or
Earn no more than £20 per week.


If you choose to work 16 hours or more per week, you will have to close ESA. and claim Tax Credits. If you have DLA/PIP you may be able to get tax credits doing 16 hours work a week. If you do not have DLA PIP, I believe you have to work 30 hours a week to get tax credits. I suggest you do the benefit calculator above .


I have no idea how much Tax Credits will pay.

pmlindyloo

epitome wrote: »

Ok, so we all agree that your benefit income is £61 - £62 a week after rent is paid.

Do you get any other benefit? DLA or PIP for example?
You get Housing Benefit
Why not Council Tax Reduction?

Is your ESA Conts or Income Related?
I assume your ESA is actually £204.30 a fortnight and you have estimated it at £202.

Do you live with a partner? Are they working/getting benefits?
Do you have savings over £6000 or £16,000 ?

To answer your question
You can start part time work while still claiming and recieving ESA. On ESA you are allowed to do Permitted Work which is under 16 hours a week. and earning no more than £115.50 per week (net income). Your earnings will not affect your ESA, so you will still be paid ESA £202.30 a fortnight. Because I assume you to be in the WRAG, you can only do Permitted Work for 1 year. after that 1 year you have to either:
Close ESA
Stop working or
Earn no more than £20 per week.


If you choose to work 16 hours or more per week, you will have to close ESA. and claim Tax Credits. If you have DLA/PIP you may be able to get tax credits doing 16 hours work a week. If you do not have DLA PIP, I believe you have to work 30 hours a week to get tax credits. I suggest you do the benefit calculator above .


I have no idea how much Tax Credits will pay.

The rules have changed for this.

There is no longer a time limit for those in the WRAG group.

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Permitted-Work-Rules

epitome

pmlindyloo wrote: »

The rules have changed for this.

There is no longer a time limit for those in the WRAG group.

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Permitted-Work-Rules

Yes, you could be right and I forgot. I wonder if this is in response to removing the WRAG component for New claims from April 2017?

In which case, I wonder if claimants already with WRAG component are still restricted to 1 year...? I have no idea.

Thank you .