Moving ESA to UC but directed to new style ESA?

iklepig

We’ve had the letter about moving ESA to UC. Also had the initial appointment (eventually) and ID check. 

Now we’ve received a letter saying we’ll get New style ESA and UC top up and they’ll be arranging an appointment to sign a commitment, we’ll need a sick note etc etc.

Does this sound right?
My understanding is that you can only claim new style ESA if you have enough NI credits in the previous 2-3 years from working. Neither of us have as been on ESA for years and before that IB/IS top-up.

Background is:
Continuous claim throughout. male partner - got IB as had previously worked. Female partner got Income support due to disability and never worked due to condition. Got together so claim became IB with IS top-up. Eventually moved over to ESA as a couple. The ESA consisted of ESA support group contributions based for male partner and the female partner got ESA support group income based (minus male partners ESA contributions based). So the claim was partly ESA contributions (male) and partly ESA support group income related (female). Both partners have remained in the support group of ESA throughout.

Now moving over to UC. Most weird of all is that it is the female partner that has received the letter about New-style ESA and she has never worked from leaving school due to genetic condition. This sounds like a mistake but have we misunderstood? 

UC have been told that both partners have LCWRA already. Neither is a carer. No children on claim. Just 2 sick adults. 

 
Thanks in advance. 

8dayweek

Sounds like you both had old style contributions based ESA with an income-related top up on one parties ESA award as a couple. 

Upon claiming UC (which replaces the income-related ESA and any Housing Benefit) the contributions based ESA is switched to New Style ESA. 

No need to satisfy the conditions for new style ESA per se, as you both already get contributions based ESA - and the switch to UC is just also accompanied by the switch to new style ESA. 

KxMx

The letter is a generic one assuming yours is a brand new claim. 
Your claim is a transfer. 
It will be a very brief appointment as all they'll ask you to do is agree to keep them updated with any changes in circumstance, same as UC. 
When the Incapacity Benefit ended people were transferred to CB ESA, with an IR top where applicable. 

iklepig

Thanks 8dayweek. 

So if female partner has got a letter about new style ESA, then the male partner should also expect to get a letter soon? 

The male partner defo had contributions based ESA (as had IB previous to that based on their NI before they had to stop working after the lorry crash). The female definitely never had enough NI contributions as they have never worked since leaving school. They had IS due to disability specifically because they couldn’t go on IB as they didn’t have any NI contributions (as they’d been at school prior to starting their claim). then ESA with the income related part tagged on their ESA. 

Unless you can have enough NI contributions paid in by getting ESA support group to fulfil the criteria for new-style ESA, then I can’t see how this is right. 

If the male partner had received the new-style ESA letter then that would be understandable (kind of) but for the female to receive the letter is weird.

we just don’t trust the DWP to get it right. 

KxMx

You had IB/IS claim as a couple, prior to moving to ESA. 

All on IB were moved to CB ESA with an IR top up if applicable. 

So your CB ESA would have come from the IB, the IR ESA from the IS.

8dayweek

Yes, male partner should get a letter in due course about switching to new style ESA. 

I can’t remember exactly what it was called (it’ll come back to me in the middle of the night) but there was an exception for a period of time whereby those who claimed very young got conts based ESA regardless of NI conts etc. 

iklepig

KxMx said:

You had IB/IS claim as a couple, prior to moving to ESA. 

All on IB were moved to CB ESA with an IR top up if applicable. 

So your CB ESA would have come from the IB, the IR ESA from the IS.

Thank you. So the male partner will also get a letter soon to go through the whole thing as well? 

Or do they just send a letter to one of the partners to attend an appointment to confirm everything? (How do they know which one to ‘pick’?)

KxMx

Youth Rules, applied to Incapacity Benefit & ESA CB. The right age & education status bypassed the normal rules for a CB benefit. 

The females entitlement seems to come from when she joined her claim to the male. 

Mulling this over, in a couples claim the maximum number of LCWRA elements payable is one. 

So it follows there can't be two deductions for New Style ESA? 

(NS ESA is £276.40 a fortnight and the UC deduction is £598.86)

Perhaps with a joint claim when both are entitled to NS ESA upon migration, only one of the couple is converted to NS ESA.

OP I'd be really interested personally if you did end up getting a letter too. I advise lots of people as an amateur and this isn't a scenario I've come across before. 

8dayweek

8dayweek said:

Yes, male partner should get a letter in due course about switching to new style ESA. 

I can’t remember exactly what it was called (it’ll come back to me in the middle of the night) but there was an exception for a period of time whereby those who claimed very young got conts based ESA regardless of NI conts etc. 

It was Incapacity Benefit in Youth on IB but I can’t remember the ESA equivalent. 

However, sounds like female was IB with IS top up then went over to ESA contributions based with income related top up 

Spoonie_Turtle

KxMx said:

Mulling this over, in a couples claim the maximum number of LCWRA elements payable is one. 

So it follows there can't be two deductions for New Style ESA? 

(NS ESA is £276.40 a fortnight and the UC deduction is £598.86)

Perhaps with a joint claim when both are entitled to NS ESA upon migration, only one of the couple is converted to NS ESA.

If there is, you'd hope the transitional element would make up for it.

(Although, for a new UC claim, rather than migration, with two people eligible for NS-ESA, that is an interesting thought - they'd presumably be much worse off than if they'd been able to claim ir-ESA.)

8dayweek

Spoonie_Turtle said:

KxMx said:

Mulling this over, in a couples claim the maximum number of LCWRA elements payable is one. 

So it follows there can't be two deductions for New Style ESA? 

(NS ESA is £276.40 a fortnight and the UC deduction is £598.86)

Perhaps with a joint claim when both are entitled to NS ESA upon migration, only one of the couple is converted to NS ESA.

If there is, you'd hope the transitional element would make up for it.

Exactly this. 

The max LCWRA element in a joint UC claim is one, but two lots of new style ESA will be deducted if it’s in payment to each party.

This is exactly where Transitional Protection kicks in.