New style ESA with UC

Pathfinder000

Hi,  I had to migrate from ESA to UC, but now find myself receiving both.  Is it possible to be on just one or the other?

So I have been on ESA for about 6 years.  I was in support group for some of it and got placed in the work activity group for a couple of years although couldn't work, then at the last medical was put back in support group.  I received the migration letter in November and started the process in January. 

From what I understood, I was to move to full UC after migration.  But at the minute i'm receiving ESA and UC.  Will this change to UC in the future or do I have to have both?  I would prefer to just have UC as it would make it easier to manage.  The ESA comes fortnightly, but the UC is only paid monthly, as i understand.

My plan is to go back to work later in the year as the chance of owning a house while on benefits is pretty much zero and that is the only way I see to secure my old age and actually have some sort of life.  I went on to ESA while I waited for the doctors i'm under to fix or negate my issues.  This is unlikely to happen at all, so I want to get back to work and start building up some money.  My plan is to do that this Autumn.  

What is likely to happen in terms of benefits once that happens?  My benefits advisor told me the UC would continue and scale based on my income and at any time I could return back to ESA/UC, but I find the whole thing confusing.  In the past, going back to work usually meant the end of any benefits, is that no longer the case?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Newcad

From what you say you had an entitlement to both Income Related ESA and Contribution Based ESA.

Many people on IR ESA also do have entitlement to CB ESA but aren't aware of the fact because overall the ESA payment is the same (and the letters are xf?%£ing confusing).

Your IR ESA has migrrated to UC. your CB ESA doesn't and so is still in payment seperately.

What you get as just CB ESA is less than before when it was both CB and IR, and it gets deducted £ for £ from your UC anyway. Overall though your combined benefits should be the same within pennies.

You can, if you want to, close the CB ESA and then you'll only have UC to deal with. That is your choice but be aware that being Contribution Based ESA  it is not affected by any capital. So if you came into a large windfall that would mean UC stopped then CB ESA would continue - OR would have if you hadn't stopped it.

Some people also do prefer to have CB ESA each fortnight and reduced UC monthly rather than just UC each month.

sammyjammy

ESA also gives you class 1 credits unlike UC which give only class 3.

Spoonie_Turtle

In terms of working, ESA obviously has the hours and earnings limits.  It's a cliff-edge and if you go over that edge you are no longer entitled to ESA.

UC, however, is tapered.  With LCWRA (or LCW if that were to be the outcome of any future reassessment) you'll get to keep the first £404 or £673 of what you earn (called the 'Work Allowance', lower amount if you claim help with rent, higher amount if you don't) and then have a deduction of 55% of whatever you earn above that amount in an assessment period.

So let's say you earn £1000 in an assessment period (just for ease of hypothetical calculation).  I don't know if you rent but if you do you'll get to keep £404.  So the deduction from your UC would be:
1000 - 404 = 596
596 x 55% = £327.80

Pathfinder000

Thanks for the explanations and information.  

My plan was never to be on ESA this long.  Covid screwed up a lot of stuff and with the state of the NHS nowadays I don't see the treatment I need ever getting done.  So I plan to get back to work as soon as I get things in order.  Working is kind of a pain for me, in that I prefer to do contracts that are short as my health deteriorates after maybe three months in a contract and I usually need a few weeks to nurse it back up to a level where I can work for another three months.  That is one of the minor worries with this whole process.

Wage wise, i'd probably work on minimum wage level for a figure.  I want to earn more but practicalities say that it will be minimum wage, at least initially.  My aim is for an average £12/hour / 37.5 hrs per week, type job, but if I found something under that i'm not against it.  I don't rent currently.

So if I lose ESA, can I keep the UC and if I became unable to work, just fall back to that.  Or would it be better to reapply for ESA if that happened?  I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but the hospital forecast my conditions will overall likely not get any better and may get worse over time, so the scenario exists where working becomes impossible in the future.

Spoonie_Turtle

Pathfinder000 said:

So if I lose ESA, can I keep the UC and if I became unable to work, just fall back to that.  Or would it be better to reapply for ESA if that happened?  I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but the hospital forecast my conditions will overall likely not get any better and may get worse over time, so the scenario exists where working becomes impossible in the future.

Yes.  You possibly wouldn't qualify for ESA again anyway, if you don't/can't work for long enough to have enough class 1 NI credits.

If you haven't already considered it, perhaps part-time work would be more sustainable health-wise.  Both in the medium term, you not being in a cycle of wearing yourself out and having to recuperate; and in the long term, where you might otherwise end up deteriorating more than you would have because of repeated 'boom and bust'-ing.    - a rhetorical suggestion, not expecting you to feel you have to justify your thinking or decisions here!