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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Work capability issues and ESA  →  Thread

Transferring housing costs from couple to single claim.

SPAC
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Somali Advice Project at St Pauls Advice Centre

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Total Posts: 1

Joined: 23 August 2010

hi, I just wondered whether anybody else experienced this situation and could get any legal clarity.

My client was a stay at home dad. His partner had made a claim for ESA (contributions based). She has also claimed housing costs and they were about to kick in after 13 weeks. Apparently her claim was about to be converted into a couple claim and my client would be added to the claim.

She then leaves him taking the kids.

The question is whether he can claim housing costs on his ESA single claim straightaway - rather than waiting 13 weeks, because he has been added to her claim converting it into a couple claim.

Hope someone can help:

Richard St Paul’s Advice Centre

Paul_Treloar_CPAG
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Advice and Rights Team, Child Poverty Action Group

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Total Posts: 550

Joined: 30 June 2014

I think this is possible.

See p.467 Welfare Benefits Handbook 2015/16 “Income or capital is too high” which sets out the position of a person who is entitled to c-ESA being treated as in receipt of ir-ESA for the purposes of waiting days in relation to housing costs i.e. if the reason someone isn’t entitled to ir-ESA is simply that their c-ESA payments are the same as or higher than their ir-ESA entitlement, then they are treated throughout that period as if they were also entitled to ir-ESA for the same period.

Note the footnote 142 which flags up Sch.6 paras 15(8) and (9) ESA Regs as applying in this situation.

Then go to p.468 WBH and “Couples and former couples” which states that you are treated as entitled to and receiving ir-ESA during the time when your former partner was receiving, or was treated as receiving ir-ESA for you both, provided you claim ir-ESA (or IS or JSA) within 12 weeks of separating. Note reference to footnote 147 which flags up Sch.6 para 15(1)(c) ESA Regs as being the authority for this approach.

So I think that provided the previous ESA claim was made on the basis of them being a couple, the argument above should apply.