ESA or Universal Credit?

baboomum

My son is 19 and disabled we are getting child tax credit for him but this will end in September.  He will be going to college to improve his Maths and English as well as helping him to prepare for getting a job.
I've looked at the .GOV website and seem to be going around in circles!   
Should he apply for ESA or for Universal Credit? At the moment he's on PIP.
If he applies for Universal Credit does that mean we have to switch to Universal Credit as well as he lives with us

Thanks for any advice!

poppy12345

baboomum said:

My son is 19 and disabled we are getting child tax credit for him but this will end in September.  He will be going to college to improve his Maths and English as well as helping him to prepare for getting a job.
I've looked at the .GOV website and seem to be going around in circles!   
Should he apply for ESA or for Universal Credit? At the moment he's on PIP.
If he applies for Universal Credit does that mean we have to switch to Universal Credit as well as he lives with us

Thanks for any advice!

If it's non advanced education he's remaining in then your child tax credits will continue until his 20th birthday. If it isn't then he won't be able to claim for the old ESA because it no longer exists. He also won't be able to claim for Universal Credit if he lives with you because full time students can only claim for UC under certain circumstances. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students

There is a way around this by applying for New style ESA to have the work capability assessment but because it's based on NI contributions from working in the previous 2 tax years then he won't receive any money until a decision's been made on the work capability assessment. Once it has, if he's awarded limited capability for work then he will be able to apply for UC.

calcotti

He cannot qualify for new style ESA because it is contribution he will not have an NI record to give him entitlement. He therefore needs to apply for UC. He needs a Fit Note from his GP to support the claim.
You do not say what benefits you are claiming besides CTC but, in principle, I would not expect him claiming UC to affect your benefits.

poppy12345

calcotti said:

He cannot qualify for new style ESA because it is contribution he will not have an NI record to give him entitlement. He therefore needs to apply for UC. He needs a Fit Note from his GP to support the claim.
You do not say what benefits you are claiming besides CTC but, in principle, I would not expect him claiming UC to affect your benefits.

I thought full time students under 21 can't claim UC if they have parental support, unless they have been assessed as having LCW, or have they changed the rules now?

calcotti

poppy12345 said:

calcotti said:

He cannot qualify for new style ESA because it is contribution he will not have an NI record to give him entitlement. He therefore needs to apply for UC. He needs a Fit Note from his GP to support the claim.
You do not say what benefits you are claiming besides CTC but, in principle, I would not expect him claiming UC to affect your benefits.

I thought full time students under 21 can't claim UC if they have parental support, unless they have been assessed as having LCW, or have they changed the rules now?

I assumed that if they are just doing improvement for English and Maths the study would not be full time - but I should have stated that. Thanks for picking it up.
OP - how many hours of study will be involved? What is their current status?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students#studying-part-time-study
I note this also says
“You may also be able to get Universal Credit if you’re studying in full-time non-advanced education, you do not get a student loan or maintenance grant and you are available for work. If the course is more than 12 hours a week, this only applies from 1 September following your 19th birthday. This is because your parents can claim benefits for you before that date.”

poppy12345

If it's more than 12 hours per week then it's classed as full time, although tax credits can continue until the 20th birthday. The OP just needs to report the changes to HMRC, as they did in previous years.

poppy12345

calcotti said:

poppy12345 said:

calcotti said:

He cannot qualify for new style ESA because it is contribution he will not have an NI record to give him entitlement. He therefore needs to apply for UC. He needs a Fit Note from his GP to support the claim.
You do not say what benefits you are claiming besides CTC but, in principle, I would not expect him claiming UC to affect your benefits.

I thought full time students under 21 can't claim UC if they have parental support, unless they have been assessed as having LCW, or have they changed the rules now?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students#studying-part-time-study
I note this also says
“You may also be able to get Universal Credit if you’re studying in full-time non-advanced education, you do not get a student loan or maintenance grant and you are available for work. If the course is more than 12 hours a week, this only applies from 1 September following your 19th birthday. This is because your parents can claim benefits for you before that date.”

Although that only applies if someone is claiming the child element of UC for the young person. As the OP is claiming tax credits, it can continue until the 20th birthday, as advised.

baboomum

calcotti said:

He cannot qualify for new style ESA because it is contribution he will not have an NI record to give him entitlement. He therefore needs to apply for UC. He needs a Fit Note from his GP to support the claim.
You do not say what benefits you are claiming besides CTC but, in principle, I would not expect him claiming UC to affect your benefits.

Thanks for the response.   We also get WTC and I get Carers Allowance for him.

poppy12345

baboomum said:

calcotti said:

He cannot qualify for new style ESA because it is contribution he will not have an NI record to give him entitlement. He therefore needs to apply for UC. He needs a Fit Note from his GP to support the claim.
You do not say what benefits you are claiming besides CTC but, in principle, I would not expect him claiming UC to affect your benefits.

Thanks for the response.   We also get WTC and I get Carers Allowance for him.

Your WTC and CA won't be affected. If the course he's doing is more than 12 hours then report the changes to HMRC nearer the time that he will remain in full time non advanced education.

calcotti

poppy12345 said: Although that only applies if someone is claiming the child element of UC for the young person. As the OP is claiming tax credits, it can continue until the 20th birthday, as advised.

I think the issue is what benefit entitlement is there when son turns 20. If this is just after September the CTC don't help much. 

OP, when will your son turn 20? Are you also able to confirm how much study he will be doing.

Poppy, my first reply was cross posted with yours. The suggestion of applying for new style ESA in order to have a WCA so that LCW/LCWRA is established is a good one because this protects the ability to claim UC while studying full time if the need arises. However my reading of the bit I quoted earlier is that this only applies to advanced education because it appears to say that for non advanced education a UC claim can be made anyway.

I admit it's not an area I am very familiar with.

poppy12345

I did realise your first reply cross posted with mine calcotti. The links we both posted seem to contradict with each other, one says a claim for UC can be made, yet the one i posted (gov.uk) says the person needs to have LCW but they wouldn't have been assessed as having this when they first claim.

Casting my mind back to previous threads we've had here regarding this, i do remember that others have had issues with claiming UC for students that also claim PIP/DLA.