esa to universal credit

fifi50

Hi,can anyone help. My daughter is on highest rate pip and esa support group. She has a chance of taking up a job for 15 hours a week. I know if it was esa she could still receive her money but as it's changing to uc it would be a new claim? would she still be entitled to any money?

Any help would be great

thanks x

calcotti

fifi50 wrote: »

Hi,can anyone help. My daughter is on highest rate pip and esa support group. She has a chance of taking up a job for 15 hours a week. I know if it was esa she could still receive her money but as it's changing to uc it would be a new claim? would she still be entitled to any money?

Any help would be great

thanks x

If she is already on ESA she does not need to claim UC, her ESA will continue. She is allowed to do ‘permitted work’ while getting ESA. Any job can be permitted work as long as each week she is working under 16 hours, and earning less than £125.50. If she crosses the threshold in any week in respect of either hours or earnings she is not entitled to receive ESA for that week. She should tell DWP about the work before she starts. There is a form called PW1 for doing this https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/eligibility

Does your daughter live alone and get the Severe a Disability Premium or is she living with you/ others?

It is worth noting that with UC there is no permitted work threshold and the UC simply reduces as wages increase - this gets rid of the cliff edge created by the permitted work rules in ESA. If her ESA does not include a Severe Disability Premium she is likely to get more money on UC than ESA but I would suggest it will be better for her not to be dealing with a new UC claim at the same time as starting a job if she is definitely going to stay within the permitted work rules.

poppy12345

Also be aware that if the work she does contradicts the reasons why she's claim ESA then it could go against her the next time she's re-assessed.

fifi50

She lives with us her parents.We are worried if she takes it and informs esa a new claim for uc would be made and she may be worse off.

poppy12345

fifi50 wrote: »

She lives with us her parents.We are worried if she takes it and informs esa a new claim for uc would be made and she may be worse off.

Doing permitted work will not prompt a move to UC. As i said in my post above, whether it affects future re-assessments will depend on the work she does and the reasons for her ESA claim.

calcotti

fifi50 wrote: »

She lives with us her parents.We are worried if she takes it and informs esa a new claim for uc would be made and she may be worse off.

As explained in my earlier post taking up work does not end the ESA claim if it is permittedwork as detailed in my post. A UC can only be started by making a UC claim.