two clients previosuly claiming as single people.

1st is over 25, on high care and in assessment phase for esa. 2nd is 17 and also in assessment phase for esa and on high care. Both getting income based esa.

they have decided to move in as a couple but have unfortunately decided to do this when the 1st client has failed his wca medical.

my problem is where they should go from here.

my thinking is that they could claim income support and both claim carers but this would result in the loss of their sdp's. they may though decided to do this as no medicals etc

the other option is for him or her to go as the main claimant and this is where i am having the problem. would i be better to advise him to be the main claimant given he has already been cut off and is under appeal (which he should win) or her given that she may herself be cut off in future.

in additon to this given that the 2nd client is 17 if i could get her a backdated sick line would i be able to then get her cont based esa in youth? this would then of course mean that she could claim a carers premium as her carers allowance would not be actually paid.

hopefully this makes some kind of sense and would appreciate any comments or if there is anything i have not considered.

Just a thought...one possibility would be for only one of the couple to claim carers allowance and then claim IS. This would lead to an IS applicable amount of £245.95: one SDP, one carers premium, couple rate enhanced DP and couple rate DP. Would be better than both claiming CA as one SDP would still be in payment.

This compares with an applicable amount for ESA of £255.65 (work related component) or £261.10 (support component) with both SDPs intact.

So you are talking ten or fifteen quid difference per week for the sake of medical examinations.

On the ESA in youth stuff and who should claim the ESA (if pursued), I'm not sure.

Hope this helps.

Whilst the 17 year old is still in the assessment phase of ESA claiming carers allowance won't help, (carers allowance would actually be paid) though assuming her current single persons claim is only an (ir)ESA claim i would suggest revisiting it to convert it to a claim for both versions of the benefit so that when the 17 year old enters the main phase a claim for carers allowance can be made.

The big issue must be about whether, if they claimed IS rather than claim ESA, they would be assessed as entitled to the higher couple rate of £102.75 or the lower couple rate of £65.45. From what you say i would expect they would qualify for the higher couple rate of ESA.

If they qualified for the higher couple rate of IS then they are probably better off on IS, if not they are better off on ESA.

Hope the above helps a little.

thanks to you both for your help you have raised a couple of points i hadnt considered in this case.

the income support option does now look more appealing than previous whent aking into account one sdp, i dont know why i didnt consider that before.

I think the thing that is worrying me most in this is the administrative nightmare i know this will probably become whatever option they choose.

i.e. if they go down the carers route the dwp will no doubt (wrongly in my opinion) make them wait until a carers claim has been processed before allowing their claim.

I can also see massive complications tying to revisit the younger clients esa claim which given both are on high rate care they could certainly do without.

I am now longing for the pca and its high care exemption.

also on this point, if a young person claims esa and then later gets a sick line to meet the 196 day condition for esa in youth would they have to make a new claim or could the current one be revised?

also is there a chance of it happening automatically when they have served the 196 days under a current claim?

Since a claim can be made for one or other or both of the forms of ESA then it would be wrong to assume that anything will happen automatically. If contribution based ESA was not claimed then an application for review/supersession would be the way to go. Given your service users age even without a bakdated sickline they would, assuming they satisfy everything else, qualify for ESA in youth after the 196 days.

With respect to IS, this only works out best for them if they would qualify for the higher couple rate and that isn't necessarily a foregone conclusion. You need to check the rules very carefully. See the IS general regs, schedule 2