Income or Contribution ESA

$izzle$ · 11 August 2018 at 1:32PM

Hi, hope someone can help.
I received a letter from DWP to say they are going to call me to see if I should have been on Income Related ESA rather than Contriburion based ESA for the last 5 years!
Whilst I know I will be entitled to free prescriptions/dentist etc by changing over, I am more concerned that IR is means-tested , and as I receive a monthly private pension my income from ESA will be reduced by this change.
I also have a carer, so do not believe I would be entitled to any back pay from missed premiums from being on CB rather than IR after all these years, but if they decide I should have been on IB, then I would surely owe the DWP money instead?
It’s a worrying time as I have just transitioned from DLA to PIP and been refused the high rate mobility component, so am having to go to tribunal over that, so all this DWP business is stressing me out.

Can anyone give me advice on this please?

Many thanks

pmlindyloo · 11 August 2018 at 1:51PM

Please stop worrying. Just wait for the phone call and tell them all your circumstances during the last 5 years. They will want to see your bank statements/savings accounts for this time at some point.

Your private pension would be counted as income (£1 for £1) for the income based part of ESA but even if this means you would not be entitled to the income based 'top up' you wouldn't owe them any money because you always retain the contribution based part.

I am presuming they know you have a private pension? If it is over £85 a week then half the amount above that sum should be deducted from the contribution based part of your ESA. So how much is your private pension?

Although you aren't entitled to the Severe Disability Premium because someone is receiving Carer's Allowance for you I am presuming you are in the Support Group so would be eligible for the Enhanced Disability Premium.

I realise this seems very complicated but people are already receiving phone calls about this and from what they have said it is relatively straightforward. And remember they will look at the 5 year period. So have you always received your private pension during those years (look on your bank statements) and did you meet the SDP eligibility at any time during those 5 years?

The basic thing to remember is if you have informed the DWP about your private pension then you will not have to pay back any money and they may owe you money!

$izzle$ · 11 August 2018 at 2:08PM

Hi and thanks for your quick reply.
I receive £600 a month for my late husbands company pension.
Of course the DWP have been aware of this income since he passed away 8 years ago.
In fact they told me at the time that I would be better off staying with Incapacity Benefit than going onto the Widows benefit for 2 years, so they kept me on IB.
I also received the £2000 Widows Allowance.
They couldn!!!8217;t have been more helpful during that awful time.
They also know that I received a lump sum payment at that time too, I have always been totally honest with them, as I stick to the rules lol.
I worked until 2005 when I became ill, so assumed that was why I was on Contribution based and yes, support group.
I am not sure about the £1 for £1 ..I receive the £110.65 a week and I pay tax on the pension, but as CB is not means-tested I assume my income doesn!!!8217;t affect it ( ? )
I read a while ago that someone was advised that as they would be better off on CB than switching to IR they allowed them to keep the status quo.

Thanks again

Alice_Holt · 11 August 2018 at 2:55PM

I hope that pmlindyloo will forgive me quoting one of previous posts:

"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 .... ESA (hope I've read it correctly)"

I rather think you may be entitled to the c£15 pw Enhanced Disability Premium. This may be payable from when you switched from IB to ESA, as the DWP failed to access everyone correctly. The DWP have been forced to re-assess cases following a recent court ruling. See - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5869969/some-good-news-for-ib-claimants-migrated-onto-esa

Re your PIP appeal:
https://www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/how-win-pip-appeal

Are you clear on the criteria for an Enhanced Mob award?
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-points-system

This different to DLA (20m rather than 50m).

TELLIT01 · 11 August 2018 at 3:18PM

The reason for the letter is that when transitioned from IB to ESA everybody should have been assessed to see if they had any additional entitlement to Income Related benefits. In many cases this didn't happen, why this situation arose is open to debate, but isn't relevant to your situation. You will certainly not be any worse off after the check is done so there is nothing to worry about.
What I don't know is the situation regarding entitlement to free prescriptions etc during that period if you do have an Income Related entitlement. Can those payments be recovered? Others may have the answer to that.

calcotti · 11 August 2018 at 6:07PM

$izzle$ wrote: »

. . they are going to call me to see if I should have been on Income Related ESA rather than Contriburion based ESA for the last 5 years!

I think you may have misunderstood slightly. This is not to see if you have been entitled to income based ESA INSTEAD of contribution based ESA. It is to see if you were entitled to some income based ESA AS WELL AS your contribution based ESA.

Just wanted to emphasise that point to reduce your worry.

I agree with Alice that although pension income is normally taken into account if it is an inherited pension it is ignored (I do not know what the logic behind that is but it does appear to be what the rules say).

If you get an income based top up the DWP will describe the award as income based ESA but you will retain the contribution based entitlement so that even if your circumstances change in the future in such a way that you are no longer entitled to the income based part you will keep the contribution based part.

$izzle$ · 13 August 2018 at 1:25AM

Thank you all VERY much for your help and advice.

Calcotti:
I hadn!!!8217;t realised that I could have been entitled to both CB and some premiums of IR.
I will not worry about the phone call now, just answer their questions and see what happens.
I am assuming that they will be filling out the form for me, during this phone call and then I will have to wait to hear what they have concluded from my answers.
Thank you for clarifying this for me.

Alice:
Thank you also for the information regarding my late husbands pension, this is indeed the company pension that he was paying into, when he died, which as his surviving spouse I am entitled to receive.
As for the mobility component of PIP, I cannot even manage to walk 10m let alone 20m, I have to be pushed in my wheelchair to enable me to leave home.
I cannot use a manual wheelchair due the extensive arthritis throughout my body, as this would cause severe pain specifically in my shoulders and neck.
At the f2f assessment, I sat in my wheelchair throughout and was not asked to walk at all.
I also sent them a recent OT housing assessment which stated I need a wheelchair accessible property.
I am also a member of the B&W site and followed their guidelines when completing the PIP form.

TELLIT01
Thanks for putting my mind at rest regarding not being worse off after they have assessed me for this.
Thank you also for your input regarding prescription costs etc.
I am not intending on asking them to refund all my costs for the last 5 years lol, I am ok to carry on with my pre-paid card @£10.40 per month, which is a bargain when the amount of medication I have to take is taken into account.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to my post and put me at ease as to what this phone call will actually be about.

XX

Income or Contribution ESA

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