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Transitional protection. How long??
I have had a client who was on long term IB, and in receipt of £117 per week.
She was migrated to ESA and they kept her money the same, due to transitional protection.
After her 365 days her ESA claim became income related and her ESA has been reduced to £99.85
JC+ are adamant that Transitional protection only lasts for 1 year however i contend transitional protection lasts as long as the amount is above her applicable amount.
Is there any truth that Transitional protection only lasts 1 year? Sounds odd to me.
Replying to my own question here! Just found out on DWP website that transitional protection should remain on IR + CB based until applicable exceeds protected amount.
Replying to my own question here! Just found out on DWP website that transitional protection should remain on IR + CB based until applicable exceeds protected amount.
Thanks for that, I have also found the actual legislation;
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/875/schedule/2/made
Neither seem to say that the Transitional amounts should stop just because someone transfers from (C)ESA to (IR)ESA
I guess this might be an isolated case at this particular office but I wonder how many other people have been incorrectly advised by JCP on this issue. They should be made to trawl back through all similar cases. The majority of claimants interacting with JCP are unrepresented and would mostly just accept this response at face value.
Discussed here also. Transitional protection only ceases to apply once the new ESA rates catch up.
I disagree. The claimant did not have an existing award of IS at the date of conversion. Consequently a TA (ir) never arose under Reg 11(1) Conversion Regs. Instead, her converted ESA was £117 comprising a TA(c) of £17.85 p/w and converted main phase CESA of £99.15 (ie, £71 basic + £28.15 WRAG). Both the CESA and its TA(c) are time limited because they both fall under the definition of contributory allowance.
In order to get the TA(c) back she’d need to re-apply for ESA within 12 weeks of the time-limiting decision AND get into the support group re that new award - see Case 1A of Reg 21 of the Conversion Regs.
At present it’s a non-starter because her old ESA award never ended: it was merely superseded so as to award IRESA when her CESA was time-limited. It follows she hasn’t made a new claim for ESA as required by Reg 21 above. And she only has 12 weeks to make that new claim.
She could end her current IRESA voluntarily and re-claim, say in a week’s time, but unless she could get into the support group she’d be no better off.
If she got into the support group and her new ESA was IRESA she’d receive 119.85 p/w comprising £11.95 TA(c) + 107.90 IRESA. The TA(c) was previously 17.85 but has been reduced by £5.90 representing the difference between the support component and the WRAG. The applicable amount for IRESA would now be £119.85 (ie £71 + 34.05 support component + 14.80 EDP) and the 11.95 is subtracted from that under section 6 WRA 07 to leave IRESA of £107.90.
If her new award was CESA (eg, because she satisfied new contribution years or the deterioration route of section 1B WRA 2007) the total amount would still be £119.85 p/w comprising a TA(c) of £11.95 (reduced as above) + main phase CESA of £105.05 (71 + 34.05) + £2.85 IRESA (her applicable amount would remain £119.85 above).
The DWP appear to be right in ending the TA in your client’s case. From the above, there doesn’t appear to be any point in ending the old IRESA and re-claiming. The client could achieve the same financial result by applying for supersession (based on qualifying for the support group) of her existing IRESA at any point, ie not having to restrict herself to applying within 12 weeks of the time-limited award.
[ Edited: 15 Nov 2012 at 02:00 pm by Tom H ]So what you are basically saying Tom is that transitional protection only stays if there is not a relevant change of circumstances regarding the claim in question.
As her ESA (CB) claim has ended following the 365 day rule, and has been changed to ESA(IR) as she is in WRAG, then this change of benefit status is enough to change her entitlement, as the transitional protection is a contribution based top up (which she obviously no longer qualifies for).
I did not know that the transitional allowance was dependent on a contributory element, and therefore is removed when changed to a means tested/income related benefit.
Am i interpreting this right??
I think Tom is right. Regs 10 and 11 of the Conversion Regs appear to calculate the TA for ICB and IS separately as a contribution based allowance and an income based one and the ICB award becomes converted to an award of contribution based ESA only. So, unless one is also entitled to IS at the date of conversion the 12 month time limit appears to apply.
I have customer who moved from IB to ESA (CB) which has just ended. His wife works 20hrs and ESA (IR) has been awarded and the applicable amount is £111.45 plus £28.15 WRAG component. This is around £20 less than the applicable amount with a disability premium. Is this correct?