ESA IB/CONTS clarification please.

maizeymoo

Good Afternoon
I'm in receipt of ESA and in the support group. My disability/complex health condition gets me PIP also. Until my 60th birthday, when I started to get a small occupational pension and received a small lump sum, I was getting income based. Since then my award letter states that after deductions i.e. pension plus savings, I would have been entitled to £113.58. However, because I'm entitled to conts based ESA they will pay me £117.74. To me, it seems like I get both IB and conts because my IB claim is not nilled by my income. I also get the full LHA/HB. This means I don't get free dental treatment or glasses,nor any of the help with cost of living payments. I've recently sent all my financial records to DWP so I know my deduction will come down by £3 which will mean I will be at £116.58 £1.16 below the Conts based amount. 
I guess I'm asking for clarification as to whether it's possible to be in receipt of both as the IB element is not nilled. Thanks.

huckster

Yes you could have a claim which is IB and conts.  Have seen claims with both.

Presumably when you first claimed ESA, it was a conts claim when you were put in the support group ?

maizeymoo

No, it was originally an IB claim. It only changed when I got my pension and lump sum. 

Rubyroobs

maizeymoo said:

No, it was originally an IB claim. It only changed when I got my pension and lump sum. 

It would not just have been Income based , there must have been a mixture of Income and contributions based otherwise you would not be getting  CB now the income related part has stopped.

poppy12345

A pension will reduce Income Related ESA £1 for £1. Any pension of up to £85/week is ignored for contributions based ESA. For every £1 over this amount then your ESA is reduced by 50p/week. Difficult to advise or do the sums without knowing how much pension you're receiving.

maizeymoo

Yes, my original claim was conts based. I didnt know at first that I could claim IB. A very nice adviser told me to do so. I haven't got a problem with the calculation it's just the fact that if I have both shouldn't I get passported for dental etc? I have spoken to DWP by phone and they just don't get my question. I can't see the way forward and it's very frustrating. Surely, getting both means I'm in receipt of IB so should get dental etc?

poppy12345

If the Income Related part is reduced because of your pension and savings then there will be no Income Related part. This will mean there's no entitlement to free NHS treatment or any Cost of living payments.

As i previously advised above..

poppy12345 said:

Difficult to advise or do the sums without knowing how much pension you're receiving.

If the lump sum you also had has taken your savings to more than £6,000 there's a £1/week deduction for every £250 or part there of over this amount. Savings of more than £16,000 will end entitlement to all means tested benefits.

maizeymoo

I will post the details re pension and savings in the morning. Thanks Poppy 

maizeymoo

I hope this ok to postihop

huckster

So you do have an entitlement to income based ESA as stated in the letter you have added above. They been able to top your benefit up to £117.74 because you have an underlying entitlement to conts based ESA.

poppy12345

You mentioned a pension so i'm assuming the "other income" mentioned in the letter is your pension. This will reduce your Income Related £1 for £1. As it's over £85/week it will also reduce your contributions based ESA as advised in a previous comment.

I agree with huckster your ESA is all CB. Although my calculations say it should be a few pence more per week but it would still be a CB only claim.