Income based esa

victoriaolivia

Hi I wondered if anyone could help. My husband has been off work since January he was knocked off his bike and his foot was driven over, it was shattered and is still walking with crutches, he's a chef so cannot return to work yet. His ssp stopped in August and we are still trying to sort his esa. Long story short we have been passed around old esa, universal credit, new esa, the job centre not sending his claim in when they should have, it then going to the wrong department. We are now 11 weeks past ssp stopping and desperately need money. He had a letter today saying he can't get contribution esa as he was a stay at home dad for 2 years when our daughter was born in 2014 and hasn't paid enough tax and ni. So annoying as other than that he's worked for 20yrs. I am now worried we won't get the income based one as I work full time earning 20,000 but my wage doesn't cover our bills. Does anyone know if I'm over the wage limit? X

kingfisherblue

To receive contributions based ESA, you need to have worked for two complete years before the claim. So as his claim is this year, the years would presumably be 2015-16, and 2016-17. It sounds as though he won't qualify as he was off work for two years after your daughter was born. Paying into the system for twenty years is irrelevant I'm afraid.


You might qualify for child tax credits.

victoriaolivia

Everytime I try an online calculator it tells me the £82 child benefit and that's it. We have thousands on credit cards already just to pay our bills. I can't cope with the stress of it all and worrying about everything. Our insurance claim cannot progress unless the specialist he has seen writes in his report that he doesn't need to see my husband again and this is what his injuries long term are. We are awaiting this report but praying we can progress to a settlement sometime soon. We have 2 credit cards nearly at their limit just to pay our bills

Tomsdottir

I'm sorry to think about what a tough time you're having: that's a lot to cope with. Without knowing your housing costs (if you pay rent) I couldn't tell you for sure whether your income is too high for you to get UC (I assume that you live in a full service area, where you can't make a new claim for income related ESA as opposed to new style ESA (= contributory ESA claimed in a full service area). UC also replaces tax credits for new claimants in a UC full service area.

But the online calculators you've used should have identified whether you were entitled.

What about contributory ESA? We know that he didn't meet the contribution conditions in the benefit year starting January 2018. If he leaves at least 12 weeks after his most recent (unsuccessful) ESA claim and claims again in the benefit year beginning January 2019, that will mean the DWP look at two different tax years: April 6th to April 5th of 2016/17 and 2017/18. For example, if during 2016/17 he earned at least £112 a week for 50 weeks, and at least £113 a week for at least 50 weeks, that would be one way of qualifying for contributory ESA.

He didn't need actually to pay NI contributions during the period he was getting SSP: he will be credited with contributions for those weeks. But there has to be at least one complete tax year in which he earned the limits I've mentioned for 26 weeks. And both years have to be covered by either your earnings or by credits (eg for SSP) for 50 weeks.

See this page, which has a good summary and gives you the phone number to call to find out whether you will meet the contribution conditions: https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/employment-and-support-allowance-contribution-based

Moving from two pay packets to only one can leave you in a situation where you don't qualify for means tested benefits but still don't have enough money to meet your existing commitments. In that situation, it can help to get the free support provided by an organisation like the Money Advice Service https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en or Stepchange https://www.stepchange.org/.

Finally, I don't suppose the accident happened whilst he was at work (for example, cycling between two different branches of his work) so that it might count as an industrial accident for the purposes of industrial injuries disablement benefit? (Note, accidents on your way to work at the beginning of the day or home at the end of the day don't usually count as industrial accidents: See para 66407 of this Guidance https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/474073/dmgch66.pdf )

calcotti

Tomsdottir wrote: »

If he leaves at least 12 weeks after his most recent (unsuccessful) ESA claim and claims again in the benefit year beginning January 2019, that will mean the DWP look at two different tax years: April 6th to April 5th of 2016/17 and 2017/18. For example, if during 2016/17 he earned at least £112 a week for 50 weeks, and at least £113 a week for at least 50 weeks, that would be one way of qualifying for contributory ESA.

I sincerely hope that your husband is back at work by January. If he is not Tom's advice is good. Note that the benefit year starts on the first Sunday of the year so a new claim looking at the later tax years for NI could be made from 7th January 2019.

Tomsdottir wrote: »

He didn't need actually to pay NI contributions during the period he was getting SSP: he will be credited with contributions for those weeks.

This is not correct. People receiving SSP only do not get NI credits automatically because SSP is below the earnings threshold. They are entitled to claim them but have to write to HMRC to do so. See https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility. "You’re on Statutory Sick Pay and you don’t earn enough to make a qualifying year Apply for Class 1 credits. Write to: National Insurance contributions and Employers Office, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1AN. Include your National Insurance number and say when the credits are for and why you’re eligible".
A ridiculous error in the system in my opinion as it ought to be possible to award these credits automatically - but that's the way it is. In practical terms it makes sense to write once the SSP period has ended so that the relevant dates are known but there is a time limit (the end of the benefit year following the relevant tax year).

victoriaolivia

Hi thank you all for replies. He was cycling to work and was knocked off on a roundabout police have confirmed the lady was totally at fault etc it's just a long process with his injuries and medical reports needed to support the claim.
We bought a house in October so we have a high mortgage due to only putting down 6% obviously we could afford at the time, you never expect this to happen. His place of work has been taken over by someone else, we assume tupe but need to check. Its a pub/restaurant so they have changed hands a few times. We have heard (possibly Chinese whispers) that the new owners don't want my husband to return as other staff have taken his role. He needs to return by the date of his accident in January or hr have said they can get him go as it's been 12 months on sick. We are hoping by Xmas he will be able to walk without crutches so can return a few hours a week at first in the kitchen.

WillowCat

Even if you are in a legacy benefits area, you couldn't claim income based ESA as the partner can't work for more than 24 hours a week. If they work less than 24 hours a week you get to keep the first £20 a week then the rest of the ESA is deducted pound for pound from wages until the ESA is zero. So very little point claiming it.

UC is more generous, especially if he were to be off longer term as there is no hours restrictions.

The downside is that it would take time for him to be assessed, and if he is found to have LCWRA (limited capability for work and related activity) then it would not be until 4 months after claiming that he could get the element - and you are hoping of course he will be better at that point.

If he did go down that route though (assuming you are in, or will be soon a UC area) I reckon you'd be entitled to:

Standard element £498.89
Child element £277.08
Carer element £156.45
LCWRA £328.32

Total UC £1,260.74

Wages £1,415.00

Reduction/earnings -£633.78

UC payable £626.96

Before that point, or if he isn't awarded LCWRA then on those earnings you would get UC of £298 a month.

If your net wages are less than I've shown, because of pension contributions etc then you'd get more UC.

victoriaolivia

Hi thank you for your reply.
We are hoping he will be fit to work by January but had obviously hoped on the back dated esa from 4th august which is about 800 so would massively have helped and then 280 a month towards bills but highly unlikely to receive anything now.
My wage is 1387 after pension. Our mortgage alone is 677.
I think we will see what happens at the job centre on Monday and go from there. Maybe get another credit card and just have to hope for the best. We didn't want to go down the route of a mortgage break as we literally have just had the house 12 months and don't know what effect it might have.
Its no wonder people get so stressed about stuff like this, they don't exactly make it easy to sort

TELLIT01

The amount of time you have had the mortgage shouldn't prevent getting a mortgage break. The mortgage provider is more likely to be interested in the reason why, and an accident is a perfectly acceptable reason for requesting one. Better to contact the mortgage provider before you fall into arrears, and certainly a better route than building up even more debt on a credit card which will have a much higher interest rate.