ESA and private pension

The full section:

Disregarded payments

44716 Certain payments may be received by the claimant but do not fall to be deducted from ESA(Cont)

Pension payments

44717 Payments may be payable to the claimant under
1. a personal pension scheme or
2. an occupational pension scheme or
3. a public service pension scheme and

because a person who was a member of the scheme has died.

44718 Any payments in DMG 44717 are known as survivors' benefits and should be disregarded in full

Example: Guy's wife Jane is a member of an occupational pension scheme. Following Jane’s death a reduced pension payment is paid by the scheme to Guy. This pension is not taken into account when working out the amount of ESA(Cont) payable to Guy.

Pension protection fund periodic payments

44719 Any PPF periodic payment made to the claimant as a beneficiary on the death of a person who was entitled to this type of payment is disregarded

Shortfalls in pension schemes

44720 Where a full pension cannot be paid to a claimant because of a deficit or because of insufficient resources in the pension scheme then the shortfall is not taken into account

War pensions

44721 Any pension payment under a pensions scheme in respect of death due to military or war service is not to be deducted from ESA(Cont)

Guaranteed income payments

44722 Any guaranteed income payment1 under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is not to be deducted from ESA(Cont)

Permanent health insurance

44723 Where the claimant
1. receives a payment under a permanent health insurance scheme and
2. had contributed over 50% of the premium

then the payment is not deducted from ESA(Cont)

Payment in arrears

44731 Pension payments are often made in arrears, and can be
1. weekly or
2. monthly or
3. quarterly or
4. any other period.

Subject to DMG 44711 -44718 any pension payments deducted from ESA(Cont) should start from the first day of the benefit week in which the payment is made to the claimant.

44732 A pension payment must actually be made before the DM deducts an amount from ESA(Cont).

Example: William claims ESA and is entitled to ESA(Cont) from Thursday 8 November. His benefit week ends on a Thursday. He is entitled to a pension payment of £95 a week from Monday 5 November of which he receives his first payment (£380) on Monday 26 November. Only half of the excess of the weekly pension amount above £85 can be deducted from ESA(Cont). ESA(Cont) is awarded at the full rate from 8 November but from the benefit week 23 November to 28 November and thereafter £5 [(£95 -£85) ÷ 2] is deducted from his ESA(Cont).

OP - when you get advice from the CAB take your pension / policy details with you so that they can check if it is a pension or an insurance payment. You can contact them by phone or email -
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-we-provide-advice/advice/

If it's insurance then epitome is very likely to be correct (he usually is), and I'm sure he will be able to confirm this to you when he gets more info. (Edit: as he has indeed done at post 13). From your post above it seems it may be insurance rather than a pension.
Can you contact the company paying you to confirm exactly what it is, post you clarification which you then could pass onto the DWP?
If it's a pension then the £85 rules apply (per Tellit01), and I think there is no distinction between the type of pension.

Does the payment come from your ex employee's pension scheme or from an insurance company?
If it is a payment of Permanent Health Insurance (see epitome's post above), then your ESA should not be reduced.

If you do need to repay any monies, then the CAB should be able to help you complete an Income & Expenditure sheet. You repay at an affordable monthly amount. This can be agreed with the DWP debt management centre.

Are you in receipt of PIP?
Was the disability a result of an accident at work?

I think the first step for you today is to look at your
"Pension on grounds of ill health" Policy statement
And tell us what it says.

Does it say anything like "Permanent Health Insurance"

If not, phone up the providor and ask them before phoning the DWP.

Also find out what were the total premiums that were paid each month, and how much of each premium was paid by you / paid by your employer.

OP needs to find out what is Pension and what is Insurance, and the portion of the premium he paid.

The fact that the dramatic increase was due to deterioration in health implies the increase is the Insurance.


If the OP is getting ESA(C) at £108.15 it could be due to
A Gross Occ Pen figure of
£88.00 per week
£4,576 a year
£381.33 a month

And what does your pension policy statement say?

And have you got records like payslips, that tell you the % of premium paid by you.