Employment/support allowance, contribution based or income related?

eddy75 · 25 June 2012 at 4:45AM

Hi how do you you know which kind of ESA you are on, contribution or income related?

thanks

SandJ · 25 June 2012 at 10:28AM

Have a look in the letter they sent you when you first were awarded ESA, it should tell you in there.

pmlindyloo · 25 June 2012 at 10:47AM

Just be aware that you may be awarded contribution based ESA but may also meet the conditions for income based ESA.

Not sure if there is something in the letter that will make you aware of this.

if you give us more details of your situation then we will probably be able to help more.

Horseunderwater · 25 June 2012 at 12:42PM

Income based is for people on low incomes or no money coming in at all and where contributions have not been accredited/paid for. Often not time limited. Can be quite hard to get it, due to all the rules and income limitations etc.
Contributions based ESA is time limited to 1 year now and is dependent on last 2 years NIC stamps paid /credited up.
Everyone is put onto the weekly ESA rate of £71 (currently)/week in the assessment phase, but this award letter should tell you what sort you are applying for and what one they have decided to put you in. I did my application by phone call and got asked which one I wanted to go in for. We (OH/me) have too high an income for Income related one, so I went for the contributions one. Still waiting for 2nd new medical appointment date. So far 2 have been cancelled.

Torry_Quine · 25 June 2012 at 3:13PM

Horseunderwater wrote: »

Income based is for people on low incomes or no money coming in at all and where contributions have not been accredited/paid for. Often not time limited. Can be quite hard to get it, due to all the rules and income limitations etc.
Contributions based ESA is time limited to 1 year now and is dependent on last 2 years NIC stamps paid /credited up.
Everyone is put onto the weekly ESA rate of £71 (currently)/week in the assessment phase, but this award letter should tell you what sort you are applying for and what one they have decided to put you in. I did my application by phone call and got asked which one I wanted to go in for. We (OH/me) have too high an income for Income related one, so I went for the contributions one. Still waiting for 2nd new medical appointment date. So far 2 have been cancelled.

Contributions based ESA is only limited to one year in the WRAG. In the support group there is no time limit presently.

eddy75 · 25 June 2012 at 3:18PM

I have been on ESA for a while, i find all the paperwork very confusing.

I have had a lot of letters, the older ones I can't find. The most recent ones I can find say different things that I find confusing,

one of the older letters say's:

"The Employment and Support Allowance Award
The payment of Employment and support allowance is based on your national insurance contribution records and and additional amount the law says you need to live on. We call this Contributory based and Income Related Employment and support allowance"

I find this confusing as it say's both kindsof ESA, it then say's some amounts of benefit but doesn't say which is which.

The latest letter I can find, (I don't know if it is the very latest one but it is for this year) it say's this:

"The Employment and Support Allowance Award
The payment of Employment and support allowance is based on your national insurance contribution records and and additional amount the law says you need to live on."

so here it says contribution but in the breakdown beneath it says my living expenses plus extra money because... which gives a total "income-related" amount

then it says "no income will come off my ESA and then says"

"so your income-related entitlement is ..."

I find it confusing but it seems to be income related that i get even though they mention contribution in the letter for some reason do you think?

thank you very much for reading this I hope it's less confusing for you than it is of me

SandJ · 25 June 2012 at 3:34PM

I believe it is possible to receive both. From what I understand from what you posted, it sounds like you are receiving both. I could be wrong though.

eddy75 · 25 June 2012 at 5:09PM

On the paperwork i was given at my ESA appeal that I had to do a few years ago it says that I am entitled to Income Related ESA but I have had to re-apply a few times since that appeal I think (i have been on ESA for the whole time but I have had to do the forms again sometimes is what I mean), could it have changed?

SandJ · 25 June 2012 at 9:30PM

I'm sorry, I really don't know that answer to this. Have you tried to contact the people who deal with your ESA and ask them which benefit you are on? Perhaps they could give you a clearer picture and help you to understand.

Good luck.

Muttleythefrog · 26 June 2012 at 12:09AM

Yeah I found the DWP letters extremely confusing on this matter. I struck lucky in getting a call back fro mthe DWP when I queried the amount of taxable benefits I'd received in the financial year... upon which I was told the exact breakdown of Contrib based versus IR... I was getting a bit of both.

Horseunderwater · 26 June 2012 at 4:12AM

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Contributions based ESA is only limited to one year in the WRAG. In the support group there is no time limit presently.

Interesting. Not what I was told by ESA call centre op. Hence what I posted. So do you think that is why they are sending me for a medical as I have a long term incurable illness and may need longer than the year on contributions based ESA? Seems to be so many of these odd wrong info's floating around. Mind you I had heard from others that it was possible to be in the support group - do permitted work - and get ESA contr for longer time frame. So thanks for the info.

Employment/support allowance, contribution based or income related?

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