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

ESA income/contribution based and premiums

Shazz
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Welfare Reform Team Northwards Housing Manchester

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Hi

From a conversation with DWP this week I understand that if someone is awarded PIP and on contribution based ESA that do not qualify for the disability premiums in their ESA. They have to be assessed for income based ESA.

I’m dealing with a case where the client has just put in an application for PIP and is likely to be awarded it. Client is on SSP at the moment and it’s due to expire in October. Once his SSP comes to an end he will need to apply for ESA. However as he has worked, he’ll likely qualify for ESA contribution based.

My question is, I’d like to help him get the disability premiums…would he be able to apply for income based? I’m not sure how this would work. Any info would be appreciated, thanks

Edmund Shepherd
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Tenancy Income, Royal Borough of Greenwich, London

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ESA is a single benefit. A claim for ESA is a claim for both parts. There is an internal document and some case law to back this up (and a RN thread I think).

I recomment your client claims Income Support now, as although his applicable amount is under his income now, if he gets the various disability premia, he could be entitled in retrospect, but it may not be possible to backdate the claim for IS late.

So, in short, yes. Encourage your client to claim IS and then claim ESA. Also, you can get cESA and irESA at the same time, for example where you are entitled to the enhanced disability premium, which raises your applicable amount to higher than the cESA award.

Makes sense? I hope so!

Shazz
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Welfare Reform Team Northwards Housing Manchester

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Hi Edmund,

Thanks for your reply. I’m still a bit confused as I haven’t got experience of case law. I wasn’t aware that if somebody is on SSP they can also claim income support. He hasn’t yet been awarded PIP but once this has been awarded I want to try and make sure he can get the disability related premiums.

When it comes to him putting in a claim for ESA would he need to ask to put in a claim for both cESA and irESA? I was under the impression that you could only put in a claim for one or the other.

I will advise my client to put in a claim for income support. He is on the basic rate of SSP would income support top this up? I’m not sure how this works? Apologies for all my questions, it’s not something I come across every day. Thanks for your advice, it’s much appreciated.

Sharon

Edmund Shepherd
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Tenancy Income, Royal Borough of Greenwich, London

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Right, let’s break it down:

Someone on SSP is eligible to claim Income Support and will be awarded it provided their applicable amount is greater than their income.  The current rate of SSP is £88.45 per week. The standard single person’s Personal Allowance for Income Support is £73.10 per week, so no entitlement.

However, if your client is awarded PIP, which is backdated to cover a period he was in receipt of SSP, his applicable amount may now be £73.10 + £32.35 (disability premium) + £61.85 (SDP) + £15.75 (EDP) = £183.05pw. A great deal higher than his income, which is just SSP at £88.45pw.

So, if your client claims IS, DWP will likely refuse the claim as his income is too high. He can then challenge the decision and, hopefully, by the time that gets to a hearing, PIP is awarded and it’s quite clear that all the various premia (or even just one) apply and his income is topped up to his applicable amount. Alternatively, you can ask DWP to “stockpile” his claim - to wait for the outcome of the PIP decision before making a decision; I haven’t had much luck with this in the past though.

Re: ESA, you can be awarded just cESA, if you don’t want to provide the extra information (savings, partner’s income) to allow an irESA claim to be processed. However, there is no legal distinction between claiming irESA and cESA - they’re both just elements of ESA, which can be paid together/separately. Jobcentreplus does seem to think there are two benefits, but there really aren’t. This was different in the days of Incapacity Benefit/Income Support, as these were distinct from each other. When it comes to claiming ESA, just claim it and provide all the info needed. If he only qualifies for cESA, but would qualify for irESA too when PIP is awarded, he may be asked to complete an ESA3 review form to confirm details of his savings etc.

I hope this makes sense.

Daphne
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Just to add when your client does the ESA claim they would be well advised to cover themselves by ticking the box (or answering the question over the phone) saying they want to claim both income-related and contributory ESA - see discussion thread here - http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/7199/

Shazz
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Welfare Reform Team Northwards Housing Manchester

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Many thanks Daphne, this is most useful