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Claretblue75

Hellow to everyone.

Claretblue75

ESA and wife becoming state pension age?

Claretblue75

I have been on esa for a number of years /support group,just want to know what will happen to esa and housing benefit.?   Will give additional information(detailed) when had initial response.                                

Cheers to everyone❤️

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You must declare to esa the State Pension has started, and any and all private pension income either of you have, and it will be taken out of esa award, if you have contributory esa it will only affect the IR, if IR goes to £0.00,  my understanding is HB will have to be notified and your HB stops.  ESA C will continue.

You can claim UC to replace ESA IR & HB.

Do you have SDP on ESA?

poppy12345

Although state pension is deducted in full from any Income Related ESA entitlement, there will be a pensioners premium added to the ESA. 

If your ESA is Income Related please do not claim UC until you know exactly what the figures are for your ESA entitlement because you could be worse off by claiming UC. 

Claretblue75

thank you for your kind words.   For years l have been on esa income related.   Tax year 2023/24 confirmed esa rates;  from DWP letter dated 15february 2024 ; couple rate£133.30;support group£44.70  extra money because your partner is a carer£42.75 and disability income guarantee of£27.90,also known as edp(enhanced disability premium),giving us a total of£248.65 income related minus carers allowance of 76.75,which gave us a total income related amount of 171.90 per week. Our esa rates for tax year 2024/25 changed in April and we received an amount of 183.40 income related esa. DWP letter confirmed these amounts.Having been receiving Edp for years does this confirm esa income related.My wife’s  carers allowance has ended,and l have received new letter from DWP stating my income related esa has ended and l have been placed on Contribution based esa? CanDwp do this? My wife has been on my claim for many years.l am the younger partner(husband),and Age uk have stated that just because my wife has reached state pension age,we should still be entitled to benifits(Hounsing/council tax) They also informed us we would become a “mixed age couple” for benefits purposes. Any advice would be welcomed👍

Claretblue75

l will not be able to respond this evening. Also age uk have advised me/we would be worse off claiming Universal credit

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Your wife's CA has not closed, it has been changed to non-paid underlying entitlement CA.  Because her State Pension has started (she cannot get both, so the CA is changed to 'underlying'.

Your ESA has always been ESA Conts plus ESA IR top up. 
After adding the pensioner premium and deducting the state pension this has left you with £0.00 ESA IR and only remaining to get ESA C, which is what I said could happen.

Your ESA IR rate should now be £378.55 a week, less her RP £221.20?  leaves you with £157.35 a week

So you must have other income? Private pensions? Capital? Earnings?

AFAICT Age UK is telling you to claim UC as a mixed age couple.  AFAIK this is correct and the only thing you can do. On UC you will get LCWRA and Carer element... you have to state on UC claim form, your health conditions, and your wife is caring for you and she claims CA. You also have to ask UC to put your LCWRA on to UC as soon as possible because you get ESA C Support Group.

If you now have no ESA IR, I do not see how you can possibly be worse off claiming UC.  You may not get any UC, it depends.
Have you spoken to Housing Benefit to ask how this ESA IR £0.00 will affect your HB & CTR?

For UC purposes she gets about 800 - £958 a month on State Pension?? You get £598 a month ESA C @ £138 a week?

Claretblue75

According to Age uk,like you they state that our ESA IR should be::Couple rate£142.25:Support Group£47.70:Carer premium£45.60::and a Pensioner premium of £143.00,which gives us an Income related amount of £378.55:  Minus£221.20 wife’s pension =£157.35 ****;So should get £157.35 income related ESA (yes/no).    With regard to other income?None,No capital,earnings, (wife) no private pension.  Age uk state/informed,younger partner is the main claimant of esa these awards continue when the older partner reaches state pension age(housing benifit&council tax reduction)With regard to your AFAICT and AFAIK not sure what these mean.? Age uk say l should not claim UC and should be allowed to stay on(providing some esa)in payment and will continue to qualify for maximum(HB&CTR). They also state that the Key issue for existing legacy benefit claimants becoming a “mixed age couple” is whether the main clamant(ME)is the younger partner or not,I am the younger partner.I will post more info shortly ,,,THANK YOU ALL (Tired now)👍

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AFAIK - Oxford Reference
AFAICT - Oxford Reference

What was the amount of your last ESA payment?

ESA are probably still deducting her Carer's Allowance, have you called Carer's Allowance to ask what date her underlying entitlement started from? (should be the date State Pension was awarded from)
And have you called ESA to tell them your wife's Carer's Allowance is £0.00 Underlying Entitlement from xx/xx/2024?

Phone ESA to ask:
I would like you to explain what is the current status of my ESA claim? 
My contributory award rate?
My Income Related Award rate?
Are you still deducting Carer's Allowance? My wife's Carer's Allowance is underlying entitlement from xx/xx/2024

Depending on the answers you get...
I have been advised, my ESA Income Related award should be still in payment with 
£142.25 Personal Allowance for a couple.
£47.70 Support Component
£45.60 Carer Premium - my wife has underlying entitlement to Carer's Allowance from xx/xx/2024.
£143.00 Pensioner Premium with Support Group - My wife is over State Pension Age.
and my wife's State Pension rate of £221.20 started on xx/xx/2024 - has this been added to other benefits?


If they cannot explain what is going on and you want to know more, ask for a call back.  But it sounds to me like you did not report to ESA that your wife's State Pension Started from xx/xx/2024 and her Carer's Allowance changed to underlying entitlement from xx/xx/2024.

Danien

What is your contribution based esa amount? You need to subtract that from the income based amount too.