Carers & ESA

Phoenix1982

I need some confirmation because the DWP can't seem to keep their stories straight.
My partner claims ESA (support group) in his name only. He gets £101 a week, without the severe disability or ehnaced premium. I do not receive anything off his ESA claim, and I claim no other benefits.
I recently applied for Carers and have been awarded it in theory, but for some reason they have sent the details to the ESA department to check eligability for carers premium and they said something about having to see what amount of arrears the ESA department may have to claim. But they are not actually paying me carers allowance yet and despite already waiting 6 weeks for them to even look at my claim for carers, I've been told it could take another 4 weeks for anything to be sorted out. This information was withheld from me, despite right at the start of the claim telling the my partner was on ESA. Now 3 government websites only indicate that the disability premium would be lost (which he doesn't have) and saying nothing about the basic ESA amount and the carers allowance department have said my partner won't lose any money because I'm not on his ESA claim and at no point during the never ending procedure has either department said that my partner will lose any money. But when I was chasing up the claim, one person at the ESA department said my partner would lose whatever I get in carers off his ESA amount. and it's got me a little worried that I'm going to cost him money. But this was the first time anything like this was said, despite both of us confirming that I would be granted carers. No one said he would lose money, before the other day.
Can anyone confirm what is going on?

*edit for additional information. We do live together, and his ESA was based off of my wages. I work at maximum 15 paid hours a week, but I'm on a zero hour contract so it varies

poppy12345

Phoenix1982 wrote: »

I need some confirmation because the DWP can't seem to keep their stories straight.
My partner claims ESA (support group) in his name only. He gets £101 a week, without the severe disability or ehnaced premium. I do not receive anything off his ESA claim, and I claim no other benefits.
I recently applied for Carers and have been awarded it in theory, but for some reason they have sent the details to the ESA department to check eligability for carers premium and they said something about having to see what amount of arrears the ESA department may have to claim. But they are not actually paying me carers allowance yet and despite already waiting 6 weeks for them to even look at my claim for carers, I've been told it could take another 4 weeks for anything to be sorted out. This information was withheld from me, despite right at the start of the claim telling the my partner was on ESA. Now 3 government websites only indicate that the disability premium would be lost (which he doesn't have) and saying nothing about the basic ESA amount and the carers allowance department have said my partner won't lose any money because I'm not on his ESA claim and at no point during the never ending procedure has either department said that my partner will lose any money. But when I was chasing up the claim, one person at the ESA department said my partner would lose whatever I get in carers off his ESA amount. and it's got me a little worried that I'm going to cost him money. But this was the first time anything like this was said, despite both of us confirming that I would be granted carers. No one said he would lose money, before the other day.
Can anyone confirm what is going on?

*edit for additional information. We do live together, and his ESA was based off of my wages. I work at maximum 15 paid hours a week, but I'm on a zero hour contract so it varies

You haven't said anywhere above whether he claims PIP daily living? or DLA Mid/high Care, this is the qualifying benefit. You also need to be earning less than £116 per week and looking after your partner for 35 hours or more a week. If you answer yes to these then you claiming Carers Allowance shouldn't affect the ESA because you're not on the claim. If i'm wrong someone will correct me.

anmarj

You need to check your partner's award letter carefully - if he is getting ESA contributions then there should be no change to that entitlement, but if he is getting ESA Income related, where the household income is taken into account, then this will be effected. - if your wages are being counted then you are on income related.

Carers allowance is taken into account as income for income related ESA, therefore the amount you are paid will be deducted, however, a carer premium will be added to his [FONT=&quot]appropriate amount, what the goverment says you as a household need to live off. The recovery which is the backdated bit, is a paper excercise as you will be due money but your partner has income related, so rather than pay you and then give your partner an overpayment, they sort this out between themselves and pay any difference due (generally speaking the carer premium about £30 per week.)hence the reason you get a future date for when carers allowance will start paying.

overall people are better off by about £20 a week but can vary
[/FONT]

Phoenix1982

He does receive the PIP daily living, And the only extra money I see added to the ESA is because of "Disability income guarantee" and because he's in the support group. I work under the £116 per week limit and care for him the rest of the time
But the grand total is around £174, but taken down to £101 because of my wages. So basically he'll get £63 taken off because of my carers, but then get £34 added back on through carers premium. Plus the carers will still be paid? So we'll be up by about £28 a week?

epitome

You have not said why you are not on his ESA claim...

Up until now you were not claiming Carers so how were you supporting yourself?

The simple facts are:

We can't help you until you tell us:
*exactly* what his ESA claim says.
What you are doing for money besides Carers Allowance and his ESA.

Regards His ESA claim:
If his ESA claim was ESA Contributions only, then CA would not have sent your CA award details to ESA for them to check.

Which strongly suggests his ESA claim is ESA Conts and IR. That means it includes you on his ESA claim as his partner.

As to how much he could "lose" on his ESA it really depends on what *exactly* his ESA award screens are showing. The reason I wrote "lose" in quotes was because in reality, you both, as a couple, will not lose anything. The worst case scenario your benefit total between you will go up by £34.95 a week.

Best case scenario, you will get Carers Allowance at £62.70 a week and your partner will continue to get ESA at £101 a week.

What you need to do is phone ESA and ask for his claim to be explained to you/him.

Ask them to look at screen JA523
Is there an amount in the top right of the screen where it says "ESA Conts"? What is the amount?

On the left of the screen, what amounts is the award made up from?
Below these on the left of the screen what is the Unadjusted Total?

On the right of the screen what are the amounts that appear as income?
On the right below these what is the Adjusted Total?

Come back with answers to all of this and we will know where he stands.

From what you have said so far... "He is in Support Group getting £101 per week. I am not getting anything from his claim"
If all this is true then he has an entitlement to
ESA Contributory = £109.65
He must have an Occupational Pension income of £101
£101 - £85 = £16
£16 / 2 = £8

109.65 - £8 = £101.65

There may be other stuff on his ESA claim, like you for example and other income ..maybe your Occupational Pension aswell? or your earnings from your employment? We simply don't know, until you tell us.

Phoenix1982 wrote: »

He does receive the PIP daily living, And the only extra money I see added to the ESA is because of "Disability income guarantee" and because he's in the support group. I work under the £116 per week limit and care for him the rest of the time
But the grand total is around £174, but taken down to £101 because of my wages. So basically he'll get £63 taken off because of my carers, but then get £34 added back on through carers premium. Plus the carers will still be paid? So we'll be up by about £28 a week?

Ok you have provided more information:
His ESA claim does include you. and it includes your wages. It will soon include your additional income of Carers Allowance.
The question still remains,,,, what is his ESA Contributory amount? Top right of the screen JA523, or top left of screen JA504.

His ESA IR should show for both of you
114.85
36.55
22.85
Unadjusted Total = £174.25 - which matches what you said.

It will soon say
114.85
36.55
22.85
34.95
Unadjusted Total = £209.20

In addition the income will go up by £62.70

Whatever the amount of his ESA Conts is, .... it will be unaffected by the Carers Allowance.

You will be up by at least £34.95 a week possibly more.

CA cannot pay you until ESA has told CA how much to pay you.

Phoenix1982

epitome wrote: »

You have not said why you are not on his ESA claim...

Up until now you were not claiming Carers so how were you supporting yourself?

The simple facts are:

We can't help you until you tell us:
*exactly* what his ESA claim says.
What you are doing for money besides Carers Allowance and his ESA.

Regards His ESA claim:
If his ESA claim was ESA Contributions only, then CA would not have sent your CA award details to ESA for them to check.

Which strongly suggests his ESA claim is ESA Conts and IR. That means it includes you on his ESA claim as his partner.

As to how much he could "lose" on his ESA it really depends on what *exactly* his ESA award screens are showing. The reason I wrote "lose" in quotes was because in reality, you both, as a couple, will not lose anything. The worst case scenario your benefit total between you will go up by £34.95 a week.

Best case scenario, you will get Carers Allowance at £62.70 a week and your partner will continue to get ESA at £101 a week.

What you need to do is phone ESA and ask for his claim to be explained to you/him.

Ask them to look at screen JA523
Is there an amount in the top right of the screen where it says "ESA Conts"? What is the amount?

On the left of the screen, what amounts is the award made up from?
Below these on the left of the screen what is the Unadjusted Total?

On the right of the screen what are the amounts that appear as income?
On the right below these what is the Adjusted Total?

Come back with answers to all of this and we will know where he stands.

From what you have said so far... "He is in Support Group getting £101 per week. I am not getting anything from his claim"
If all this is true then he has an entitlement to
ESA Contributory = £109.65
He must have an Occupational Pension income of £101
£101 - £85 = £16
£16 / 2 = £8

109.65 - £8 = £101.65

There may be other stuff on his ESA claim, like you for example and other income ..maybe your Occupational Pension aswell? or your earnings from your employment? We simply don't know, until you tell us.



Ok you have provided more information:
His ESA claim does include you. and it includes your wages. It will soon include your additional income of Carers Allowance.
The question still remains,,,, what is his ESA Contributory amount? Top right of the screen JA523, or top left of screen JA504.

His ESA IR should show for both of you
114.85
36.55
22.85
Unadjusted Total = £174.25 - which matches what you said.

It will soon say
114.85
36.55
22.85
34.95
Unadjusted Total = £209.20

In addition the income will go up by £62.70

Whatever the amount of his ESA Conts is, .... it will be unaffected by the Carers Allowance.

You will be up by at least £34.95 a week possibly more.

CA cannot pay you until ESA has told CA how much to pay you.

To answer your questions, I was working to support us, but i had to severely reduce my hours because his mental health took a downturn and I had to spend more time caring for him

Ok to catch you all up to speed. The top of his letter says "The Payment of Employment and Support Allowance is based upon your national insurance contributions records and any additional amount the law says you need to live on

Living expenses for you and your partner - £114.85
Extra money because of the disability income guarantee - £22.85

Limited capability for work additon
Extra income because you are in the support group - £36.55

Which gives a total income -related amount - £174.25


Then below some stuff about PIP not being affected it says

Earnings
(worked out weekly)

Including the earnings of your partner - £90.31
Your total income - related amount is - £83.94

Then there is exactly what he's paid which is £101.49 a week.

I'm going to phone ESA tomorrow to see what they say. But from what you've said, it appears as though we should as a couple at the least be up by £34 a week. I do still earn between £400-£500 per month from my wages so ESA averages it out by the looks of it, so the carers will be unaffected. Hopefully once they done all the calculations at the ESA end (which apparently takes 4 weeks, go figure) then everything will become clearer

epitome

The only thing we are still missing is his ESA Conts entitlement amount. He may or may not have one. but is it £0.00 or some other figure?