"ESA Payments are Ending." is this a scam?

Yamor

Robbie64 said:

JillyBaby66 said:

This IS genuine.

All remaining CB ESA awards are being moved to NS ESA wef from 1 December 2025. Letters are also going out  most should have received them by now (21/12/25 ).

Please note: for those also on UC there's been some issues with Deductions this Period. Currently ( ie today which is a Saturday so no one to check ) it's not known if it's the Xmas Bonus ( which often triggers an artificial award end date ) or the transfer of CB to NS  ( doing the same ) but some will be getting too much UC and not enough Deductions for ESA  

Please be aware (8 Day above should be able to confirm ) 

My UC statement is due to be produced in the next two or three days (my assessment period ends today, 20th) so it'll be interesting to see if the full £609.05 ESA for the month has been deducted. I'll post back when I've seen my statement.

Will be interesting to see, thanks!

The suspicion seems to be that it could be to do with the Xmas Bonus. Did you get that as part of your ESA? If yes, when?

Robbie64

Yamor said:

Robbie64 said:

JillyBaby66 said:

This IS genuine.

All remaining CB ESA awards are being moved to NS ESA wef from 1 December 2025. Letters are also going out  most should have received them by now (21/12/25 ).

Please note: for those also on UC there's been some issues with Deductions this Period. Currently ( ie today which is a Saturday so no one to check ) it's not known if it's the Xmas Bonus ( which often triggers an artificial award end date ) or the transfer of CB to NS  ( doing the same ) but some will be getting too much UC and not enough Deductions for ESA  

Please be aware (8 Day above should be able to confirm ) 

My UC statement is due to be produced in the next two or three days (my assessment period ends today, 20th) so it'll be interesting to see if the full £609.05 ESA for the month has been deducted. I'll post back when I've seen my statement.

Will be interesting to see, thanks!

The suspicion seems to be that it could be to do with the Xmas Bonus. Did you get that as part of your ESA? If yes, when?

I did get the Christmas Bonus with my ESA. It was included in my last fortnightly payment, which was paid on 09/12/25.

I was already aware that the payment of a Christmas Bonus means that different payment profiles for my ESA claim are created for the period leading up to (in my case) 25/11/25 (for £140.55), from 26/11/25 (for one week, £150.55) and then from 02/12/25 (£140.55). In addition, when I obtain an online proof of entitlement letter, it states that my entitlement start date for ESA is 26 November 2025 (it's been including this date since I first used the online system in October). The start date should be from many years ago. Maybe the move to NS-ESA has led to a glitch for some UC claimants, connected with the payment of the Christmas Bonus in ESA, though why it has only affected people this year and not in previous years is a strange one. If my statement does include ESA at a rate of less than £609.05, I'm expecting it to be for a lot less, possibly 2 weeks worth of ESA or even less. (my payment on 09/12/25 covered two full weeks from 26/11/25. The previous ESA payment was made on 25/11/25, five days after the end of my UC assessment period, on 20/11/25).

Yamor

I don't think the actual ESA payment dates will be relevant. That information is never even passed across to UC - it's the entitlement rate, and entitlement dates which are relevant.

I had thought that the possible options in your case would be either 5 days of ESA (up until the Xmas Bonus week), or 18 days* (from after the Xmas Bonus week until the end of the AP).

But from what you're reporting from the online system, maybe it'll be 25 days?

Who knows!?!?

Just to put those options into figures:
5 days: £100.12
18 days: £360.42
25 days: £500.59

* I assume when you wrote 02/12/25 that you really mean 03/12/25.

Edit to add:
Going by the mistakes that happened with the Carer's Allowance uprating back in April, I think the most likely mistake is for them to use 5 days of ESA, but who knows!

Robbie64

After all of the above, my statement has been produced with the correct amount of ESA (£609.05) included as income, therefore my UC payment is for the correct amount. Whatever has caused the problem with an incorrect amount of ESA being taken into accounrt for some claims hasn't been replicated in my case.

Also, as you posted, I did mean 03/12/25 and not 02/12/25 as I'd typed for the date for the ongoing amount of ESA.

Newcad

JillyBaby66 said:

This IS genuine.

All remaining CB ESA awards are being moved to NS ESA wef from 1 December 2025. Letters are also going out  most should have received them by now (21/12/25 ).

That is a different process to the subject of this thread, and it's one that has already happened.

It does not involve 'ESA payments ending' at all, the CB ESA payments will continue as they currently are.

All that has happend there is that on the 1st December 2025 all remaining 'Old Style' CB ESA only awards were changed to 'New Style' CB ESA only awards.
Which means that if there is a change of circumstances IR ESA premiums can no longer be added to the CB ESA.

Those who still have both CB and IR ESA will still migrate to UC, at which point their CB ESA will continue as New Style, while their IR ESA becomes UC.

From the 12th December DWP Touchbase email (my bolding):

From 1 December 2025, Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants can no longer become entitled to income-related (ESA). Contributory ESA will be renamed New Style Employment and Support Allowance, but payments will remain unchanged and continue to be paid into claimants’ bank or building society accounts. 

 
  If a claimant’s circumstances change and they need additional financial support, they may be able to claim Universal Credit at GOV.UK.  
The Department for Work and Pensions will write to all claimants receiving contribution-based ESA to confirm: 

    They do not need to contact us. 
    Universal Credit may be available if circumstances change.  

TimeLord1

Surely they would send a letter in the post first 🤔

Maybe your letter has gone astray.

Newcad

TimeLord1 said:

Surely they would send a letter in the post first 🤔

You might have thought so, but apparently not.

Already done it and now we'll send letters is what the Touchbase says.

TimeLord1

I guess Newcad, the official world we grew up in, has changed drastically if a text message is valid. Like you, I would check it out before even using anything in a text message that I hadn't requested.

My favorite word was send it in writing to scammers. 

Newcad

It was an "Touchbase" email from the DWP.

The regular "Touchbase" newsletters used to be published on the DWP website, but now you only get them by email if you have subscribed (it's Free to subscribe, just put 'Individual' where it asks for your company).

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/touchbase-dwp-news-about-work-working-age-benefits-and-services/touchbase-editions-after-march-2020

TimeLord1

Cheers Newcad, I see the start date was 2020 makes sense now.