Just had an unmwelome thought. If as DWP predict large numbers will lose their ICB what of those that are carers. I've done masses of claims for CA over the years where its been overlapped by ICB. How many on ICB have underlying entitlement to CA which will kick in and cause loss of the SDP for the person looked after?

Also will coming off ICB allow qualification for the cont based ESA. I haven't seen any contribution conditions for ESA other than you must have paid contributions in the relevant tax years which is so vague to be of no use. If the cont based ESA kicked in then that presumably would overlap like ICB but it worries me that a carer losing his ICB(+dis. premium) will prefer to go for IS as a carer instead of ESA with all of its hoops to jump through.

Happy Christmas

At present the government has absolutley no idea when they might start to transfer existing IB claimants over onto ESA. I have the impression we can expect it to be something around the same sort of time-scale as getting lone parents who are still getting child allowances as part of their income support over onto child tax credit. For the foreseeable future, ESA will apply only to new claimants.

Even so, ESA seems likely to have a detrimental effect on carers' benefit position, even if only new carers initially. And the point is wider than that noted by semitone above - contributory ESA blocking payment of CA and therefore allowing both CP for the carer and SDP for the disabled person.

The question is how do carers with low level health problems or disabilities satisfy the requirements for 'work related activity' in ESA? I haven't seen any mention of this in the government's (or anyone else's) discussions on ESA. Although I understand that an equivalent of the carer premium will be available in means tested ESA, without some other sympathetic special provision for carers in ESA the risk is that carers will only be able to get any recognition for their own health problems or disabilities if they qualify for DLA and hence DP in IS.

Richard Atkinson

And another thing while I'm on ESA (doing a report at the moment)...

Disabled young people will only receive the U-25 JSA rate for the initial assessment period on ESA, and of course no DP. This seems to mean that all disabled young people will have to undergo a three month period of sharply reduced income on leaving education - assuming they are still able to claim IS with DP while in education, which seems likely. Just what you need in that transition.

Richard Atkinson

Went to a JSA overview on ESA just before Xmas hoping for some detail and answers but nothing. Being of a very suspicious nature wondered wether ESA (cont) could be time limited in same way as JSA. We've already had enquiries from worried client on ICB and its frustrating not to be able to give more detail. Doesnt help that the regs will only be out a few months before ESA goes active.