Death of spouse and ESA
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poety
Posts: 10 Forumite
Hello
I receive ESA (Support group) & have a small pension which slightly reduces my award as I have cancer. My wife has also struggled with cancer for many years. She has recently died. We are both well under state retirement age.
My wife's occupational pension leaves me with 'survivor benefits' in the form of a reduced pension for life. This is separate from my own ill-health pension.
I did find something online which states that survivor benefits in terms of a spouse's reduced pension isn't taken into account in the same way that a pension in my own name would have been.. As such, my wife's reduced pension would not further erode my ESA award.
There is a link on the government site which appears to support that my pension will be unchanged, although I can't post this here & there's very little other reference to such.
As there can be conflicting advice from DWP I wonder whether anyone can tell me whether this award will further reduce my ESA payment.
Thanks for any help.
I receive ESA (Support group) & have a small pension which slightly reduces my award as I have cancer. My wife has also struggled with cancer for many years. She has recently died. We are both well under state retirement age.
My wife's occupational pension leaves me with 'survivor benefits' in the form of a reduced pension for life. This is separate from my own ill-health pension.
I did find something online which states that survivor benefits in terms of a spouse's reduced pension isn't taken into account in the same way that a pension in my own name would have been.. As such, my wife's reduced pension would not further erode my ESA award.
There is a link on the government site which appears to support that my pension will be unchanged, although I can't post this here & there's very little other reference to such.
As there can be conflicting advice from DWP I wonder whether anyone can tell me whether this award will further reduce my ESA payment.
Thanks for any help.
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Comments
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Hello
I receive ESA (Support group) & have a small pension which slightly reduces my award as I have cancer. My wife has also struggled with cancer for many years. She has recently died. We are both well under state retirement age.
My wife's occupational pension leaves me with 'survivor benefits' in the form of a reduced pension for life. This is separate from my own ill-health pension.
I did find something online which states that survivor benefits in terms of a spouse's reduced pension isn't taken into account in the same way that a pension in my own name would have been.. As such, my wife's reduced pension would not further erode my ESA award.
There is a link on the government site which appears to support that my pension will be unchanged, although I can't post this here & there's very little other reference to such.
As there can be conflicting advice from DWP I wonder whether anyone can tell me whether this award will further reduce my ESA payment.
Thanks for any help.
Sorry for your loss.
I have found this:
According to this link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473430/admv1.pdf
Scroll down to V1127
this is known as a survivors pension and should be disregarded in full for income related ESA (hope I've read it correctly)
Are you receiving PIP?0 -
Hi there
No, I haven't ever applied for PIP. I've been on ESA for eight years.
Thanks for your help. I have spoken to DWP who seemed to think that I would lose much of the ESA award as this is a new pension (only very small). Hopefully I can get DWP to draw a distinction between 'survivor benefits pension' and the ill-health pension when it comes to reducing ESA.
Thanks. Really appreciated your reply.0 -
Go to see CAB or any local employment charity - they will write a letter to DWP quoting the relevant rule which will help you.0
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Take a look at these PIP descriptors and see if any apply to you.Hi there
No, I haven't ever applied for PIP. I've been on ESA for eight years.
Thanks for your help. I have spoken to DWP who seemed to think that I would lose much of the ESA award as this is a new pension (only very small). Hopefully I can get DWP to draw a distinction between 'survivor benefits pension' and the ill-health pension when it comes to reducing ESA.
Thanks. Really appreciated your reply.
http://www.focusondisability.org.uk/personal-independence-payment-PIP-assessment-points.html0 -
Thanks for your replies.
(There used to be a 'thanks' button to push?)
Appreciate your time with this. I know, from my conversations, that if I describe this new income as a 'pension' it will reduce my ESA. So, it's good to be in a position of knowing what to say.0 -
Thanks for your replies.
(There used to be a 'thanks' button to push?)
Appreciate your time with this. I know, from my conversations, that if I describe this new income as a 'pension' it will reduce my ESA. So, it's good to be in a position of knowing what to say.
It doesn't matter how you describe it, it is how the DWP interpret it. When you report the change in circumstances you'll need to send copies of any paperwork, and from this information they'll make a decision.
On the information given, the payment will be disregarded for ESA purposes.0 -
It may be worth seeing if you have access to a Macmillan Welfare Adviser:
http://finance.macmillan.org.uk/benefits/checker
Best wishes.Alice Holt Forest situated some 4 miles south of Farnham forms the most northerly gateway to the South Downs National Park.0 -
If you just spoke to the ESA enquiry line, such a question as this would be outside of their general knowledge.
What you should have done (if you didn't already do this) is to ask the ESA enquiry line to get a you a call back from the ESA claims Maintenance team, who would then call you back within 24 hours and give you a better reply.
It's not something I know anything about, I did not read pmlindyloo's(PMLL) link, but I assume what she says to be correct. There is one caveat, in that PMLL said "ESA IR is not affected"... we don't therefore yet know how it would affect ESA Conts.
Can you tell me what is your rate of ESA Conts ? and your rate of ESA IR?
Unadjusted Total and Adjusted Totals if possible.
Your ESA Conts unadjusted total would be about 109.65 (if you have it)
I will try to find out how it might affect an ESA Conts claim.0 -
Hi there
That's very good of you. Thank you. I appreciate your time with this.
My ESA is contribution-based and not income related. I have been in the support group for five years. I have an ill-health pension which reduces my weekly ESA down from £109 to £86. I have no further income. My late wife's pension/death benefit is around £3000 annually which potentially could remove £1500. I don't claim any other form of benefit. I do appreciate your time with this. Thank you.0 -
Thank you.0
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