Joint ESA claim?

Atomic_Nomad

Greetings to all and apologies in advance for a probably long and slightly confused first post.


My partner suffers from long term mental health issues, specifically a condition called Schizoaffective disorder.


Up until now her parents have been her full time carers but we have recently made the decision to move in together so I will become her carer. This is great because we are both looking forward to this new chapter in our lives but the financial side is worrying us.


I will need to leave work initially to support her and hopefully move back into part time work after we've prioritised her needs and managed our time.



She is currently claiming income based ESA and PiP - we have been told we can make a joint ESA claim which would mean our income would be just about livable. At present her claim and me presumably claiming carers allowance would not provide enough to get by on as far as I can work out.


Does anyone have experience of going to a joint ESA claim?

I personally do not suffer from any illness or condition that would make me eligible for benefits of any kind.

Would we be able to make a joint claim with me as her full time carer?


Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

poppy12345

You'll be able to claim as a couple, she will be able to add you to her claim. How much you get will depend on which group she's in for ESA. Couples rate for Support Group is £176.05 per week, slightly less if it's the WRAG group. Less, if you work.



You can claim carers allowance if you look after your partner for at least 35 hours per week and earn less than £120 per week after deductions. Carers Allowance will be deducted from the ESA and a carers premium of £36 per week is added. Carers allowance then pay you but you will end up being £36 per week better off in total, with a claim for carers allowance.


If your partner claims severe disability premium at the moment they will lose this.


If housing benefit is needed and you move to a different local council than she's currently living then you won't be able to claim housing benefit, it will have to be universal credit and then the ESA will also move to UC. Check here. https://ucpostcode.entitledto.co.uk/ucdate

pmlindyloo

Can you please answer the following questions?

1. Do you have any savings?
2. Will you be moving into a place together and need to claim housing benefit?
3. What rates of PIP does your partner claim? Daily living? Mobility?
4. Is any part of your partner's claim contribution based? i.e was she working before she claimed ESA?
5. Which group of ESA is your partner in? Support group? WRAG?
6. Is anyone currently claiming Carer's allowance for your partner?

Basically it is possible for you to be added onto her ESA claim but since this is a means tested benefit then you will need to meet the conditions for income based ESA - i.e savings/capital under £16000.

To claim Carer's Allowance your partner needs to be receiving the daily living component of PIP. If you are awarded CA and are added on to the ESA claim then the CA is counted as income and deducted from the ESA. A Carer's Premium is then added. The CA is paid separately.

To make it more complicated if you move to an area that is a full service area and you need to claim housing costs (housing benefit) then you would have to make a claim for Universal Credit.

If you could check whether you will be moving to a full Universal Credit area and answer the questions then we can offer further help.

Atomic_Nomad

Wow, thanks for the fast replies and information!
Pmlindyloo, to answer your questions as best I can:


1. I have no savings
2. My partner will be moving into my council flat which I currently pay full rent for as working full-time but will need to claim HB once I leave work to care for my partner.
3. Not 100% sure but I believe both. Her pip payment is approx 350 per month.
4. Not contribution based.
5. Support group
6. No one claiming carers allowance at present.


Just checked and my postcode went universal credit full service on 17th Oct this year.
My partner currently claims HB in a different adjacent council area.


Thanks again for all the advice so far.
This is a totally new one for me as I've been in full time work since I left school 30 years ago and have never claimed for anything. Finding it all a bit daunting but I'm already a lot better informed.

pmlindyloo

Atomic_Nomad wrote: »

Wow, thanks for the fast replies and information!
Pmlindyloo, to answer your questions as best I can:


1. I have no savings
2. My partner will be moving into my council flat which I currently pay full rent for as working full-time but will need to claim HB once I leave work to care for my partner.
3. Not 100% sure but I believe both. Her pip payment is approx 350 per month.
4. Not contribution based.
5. Support group
6. No one claiming carers allowance at present.


Just checked and my postcode went universal credit full service on 17th Oct this year.
My partner currently claims HB in a different adjacent council area.


Thanks again for all the advice so far.
This is a totally new one for me as I've been in full time work since I left school 30 years ago and have never claimed for anything. Finding it all a bit daunting but I'm already a lot better informed.

Thanks. So, if your partner moves in with you and you need to claim housing costs (housing benefit) then you will need to make a claim for Universal Credit which will include the housing costs. Universal Credit replaces income based ESA and housing benefit. Your partner's PIP will remain the same.

You can make a claim for Carer's Allowance separately although within Universal Credit is a carer's element (more money) and you do not have to claim Carer's Allowance to receive this if the criteria are met.

If you do claim CA then it will be treated as income for UC but you will be £36ish a week better off with the carer's element added. The CA would be paid separately.

I would suggest that you go to CAB and they will do a benefits calculation for you so you will know exactly what you will both be living on.

If you claimed Carer's Allowance then you would get class 3 NI credits which go towards your pension. (I am not sure if this is important to you if you intend to work later)

What I am unsure of is whether you would get NI credits when receiving UC when your partner would be the claimant. I think so...…….. Someone else might know or a question you can ask CAB.

Have a read up about UC as budgeting can be difficult to begin with.

The CAB website is quite good for information about UC.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/

calcotti

pmlindyloo wrote: »

If you claimed Carer's Allowance then you would get class 3 NI credits which go towards your pension. (I am not sure if this is important to you if you intend to work later)

What I am unsure of is whether you would get NI credits when receiving UC when your partner would be the claimant. I think so...…….. Someone else might know or a question you can ask CAB.

On legacy benefits a claim was in one name with the partner added to the claim so only the main claimant got the NI credits. Under UC both people in a couple have to claim but their claims are then linked. My understanding therefore is that both claimants get the NI credits because they each have a claim.

See https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1975/556/pdfs/uksi_19750556_300617_en.pdf
The Social Security (Credits) Regulations 1975
8G.—(1) For the purposes of entitlement to a benefit to which this regulation applies, a person shall be credited with a Class 3 contribution in respect of a week if that person is entitled to universal credit under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 for any part of that week

calcotti

If you claim UC in order to get the help with your rent when your partner claims her income based ESA award will come to an end. If her ESA award includes a contribution based component this should continue. Any ESA she continues to receive will be taken into account as unearned income when calculating the UC payments due.

If your partner is currently in the Support Group she should be treated as having LCWRA for UC purposes from the start of the UC claim but there may be delay in getting this added as UC have to obtain information from the ESA section.

Your UC award could end up as couple allowance, plus LCWRA element plus carer element plus housing costs
less contribution based ESA and carer's allowance (if either of these are applicable)

If your partner has LCWRA and you are doing some work there will be a work allowance which means that £198 of the earnings are ignored completely, above these 63% of the earnings are deducted from the UC amount payable.

Atomic_Nomad

Lots to process! I knew it wouldn't be straightforward though and it's great that you lovely people have taken the time to offer advice. It's very much appreciated.


My partner is meeting with her MH nurse this afternoon and will be discussing our plans so hopefully we'll get some help and advice there too.


As I say, it's new territory for me and while I'm reasonably ok with form filling and box ticking it's brilliant that people are so happy to offer their experience.
Hopefully it'll all go ok!

poppy12345

If you're planning on claiming the housing element of UC in your current property then you will need to speak to your landlord. Not many landlords will rent to those claiming housing benefit and lots of mortgage lenders won't allow it.

pmlindyloo

poppy12345 wrote: »

If you're planning on claiming the housing element of UC in your current property then you will need to speak to your landlord. Not many landlords will rent to those claiming housing benefit and lots of mortgage lenders won't allow it.

I believe the OP is in a council flat so it wouldn't be a problem.

calcotti

poppy12345 wrote: »

If you're planning on claiming the housing element of UC in your current property then you will need to speak to your landlord. Not many landlords will rent to those claiming housing benefit and lots of mortgage lenders won't allow it.

Given that the help with housing costs is paid to the UC claimant who is still responsible for paying the landlord I am not sure that a landlord would need to know even if it was applicable.