ESA or IS?

Hi,

Just want to know if i have calculated these applicable amounts correctly:-

Client, 28, has just been awarded DLA - HRC and HRM. Her partner, 29, is going to claim CA. She lives with partner and has 4 children - the youngest a few months old. She currently gets ESA couple amount at assessment phase rate - £112.55 and is trying to get WCA held at her home.

I have worked out that if she were placed in support group (you never know!) after WCA couple would get:-
Couple personal allowance -  £112.55
Support group component -    £34.80
Carers premium           -    £33.30
Enhanced disability premium - £15.15
Total -                      £195.80

whereas if they claimed Income Support they would get:-
Couple personal allowance -  £112.55
Carer premium -              £33.30
Disability premium -          £44.20
Enhanced disability premium - £15.15
Total -                      £205.20

Are my calculations roughly correct and would she need to wait until after her WCA to claim the IS (in order to get the ESA WRAG/support group component backdated)?

Thanks for reading…

I haven’t checked your figures (superficially they look okay) but you should be clear she can claim ESA but not IS - he must make that claim.  If the DLA is already in payment he can make the claim for IS as a carer now, no need to wait for the Carers Allowance claim to be made and I would advise against doing so as it is difficult to get the IS to be backdated if they wait until the CA claim is sorted.

No need to wait for the WCA.

Julie

Thanks for pointing that out to me Julie. I will explain all this to my client.

You have quoted the single rate for Enhanced dis prem, it should be the couple rate = £21.75. This applies to both IS and ESA, so the difference is the same. I.e. they will be better off under IS than under ir-ESA even if she gets in the Support Group (and should probably register an IS claim right now)

Thanks for your reply - much appreciated.

Doesn’t affect the comparative amounts but the EDP should be £21.75.  Apart from the extra money gained by claiming IS it would also mean that they both get credited NI cons.