Self Employed claiming New Style ESA

KBandWFB29

Hi, I am after some help & advice for my brother, in brief he had a stroke and has been unable to work since April this year, he was/is self employed. He qualified for ESA & initially received £91 per week and recently this was raised to £134 per week. At present this is his only income and will be for the foreseeable future as he is not expected to be able to work for at least another 6 months, he has a small drawdown personal pension which he has just recently taken the 25% tax free lump sum (12k). We understand his ESA is classed as taxable income (contribution based?) and at the end of this tax year his ESA payments will equate to approx £6300.00, our question is could he draw a monthly income of approx £750 for the next 6 months (£4500.00) from his draw down policy and incur no income tax as his yearly income would be less than £12570.00.
His wife works part time (22hrs per week and is paid minimum wage).
Any help are advice will be gratefully appreciated.

sammyjammy

If he starts taking an income from his pension this will affect his ESA, anything over £85 per week will reduce his ESA at a rate of 50%.  For example lets say £200 per week pension this would reduce his ESA by £57.50 per week.

New Style Employment and Support Allowance: detailed guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)