ESA and moving home...

leamingtonspaceman

poppy12345 said:

Fightback? oh dear. I really hate it when people charge for the service they give. There's advice agencies out there that will help for free. Failing that, many people take it to Tribunal by their self. 

Your partner will only be able to claim New style ESA if they've worked during tax years 2021/22 and 2022/23 and have the correct NI contributions. If they haven't then they will not be entitled to any payments. 

They will be able to claim UC providing they do not have capital of more than £16,000. There will be a deduction of UC for capital between £6,000 and £16,000. 

If they claim UC once you move in with them they would need to report a change of circumstances and tell them you're living with them. You will then need to claim UC and use the linking code to join both claims together. 

This is all very confusing to me.

My partner worked during tax years 2021/22 and 2022/23, so I'm assuming from this that they'll qualify for new style ESA.

So if she's claiming that, and I move in with her, what happens then? I'm getting legacy income based ESA and full PIP.

If she can't get new style ESA and so claims UC, and I move in with her, why would I need to claim UC if I'm already getting legacy ESA?

What if she successfully claims PIP?

I'm really struggling to understand this???

Spoonie_Turtle

If she claims NS-ESA and you move in together, I don't know how that affects your ESA.  Though if she is awarded PIP you would have the SDP in your ESA calculation still.  

If she claims UC, when you move in together it would have to become a joint claim.  You claiming UC would end your ib-ESA, because UC replaces it.
OR she could close her UC claim instead so you keep your ESA, but I don't know how it works for ib-ESA converting to a joint claim.

leamingtonspaceman

Spoonie_Turtle said:

If she claims NS-ESA and you move in together, I don't know how that affects your ESA.  Though if she is awarded PIP you would have the SDP in your ESA calculation still.  

If she claims UC, when you move in together it would have to become a joint claim.  You claiming UC would end your ib-ESA, because UC replaces it.
OR she could close her UC claim instead so you keep your ESA, but I don't know how it works for ib-ESA converting to a joint claim.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

It's all rather confusing and makes me wonder if that's not by design?

leamingtonspaceman

Six months on and this all seems to be going the way @poppy12345 stated.

Things went differently to how we'd originally planned.

My partner moved into the house in December and I moved in mid-March.

Prior to me moving in, my partner was awarded contributions based ESA and was placed in the support group.

I informed DWP by letter of my change of circumstances and they have deducted the SDE from my payments. They have written to me regarding this, but also sent me an ESA3 10/24 form that I've completed and returned.

My partner is awaiting a tribunal regarding PIP. Despite supplying evidence stating how her health conditions affect her, and going into great detail, the DWP have stated that she only stated her health conditions and not how they affect her??? Their main reasoning for giving her zero points was based on their 'observation' that she built up a good 'rapport' with the assessor during the twenty-minute phone assessment. They also stated that they 'observed' her walking 200 metres. I'm impressed with their remote viewing ability. I thought that was reserved for someone such as Uri Geller. So it seems the DWP now have paranormal abilities they use to assess claimants.

Just a few things I'm uncertain of:

1. If my partner's PIP claim is awarded then it will be backdated to October 2024. Will this automatically trigger reinstatement of my SDE, or do I have to somehow make a new claim for this?

2. If the SDE is reinstated, will it be backdated to the date it was stopped?

3. When my partner stops receiving contribution based ESA after a year, will she automatically continue to receive ESA because she is in the support group?

4. We've applied for Council Tax Benefit. Does my partner getting contributions based ESA affect that in any way as opposed to her getting income related ESA?

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give. It's greatly appreciated.

KxMx

3. New Style ESA in the Support Group has no one year time limit. It will continue as long as she is eligible for the Support Group.

4. Each local authority has different rules for Council Tax Benefit. So it's very hard to advise on individual cases from here.