IR ESA & PARTNER STUDENT INCOME

Annie_wilson

Looking for advice for a friend's disabled son. 

Disabled man receives IR ESA, has NO capital or income. Receives higher rate pip for daily living & mobility. He receives SDP as a top up on his IR ESA.

His partner wants to study fulltime at university later in the year. They will be living together as of August. She is also currently disabled but works part time. She will be stopping work to study fulltime.  She will receive a student loan in Scotland of approx £7000, she receives standard rate daily living PIP but will be coming off of this to claim Disabled Students Allowance. She also receives a small occupational pension of £250 per month. 

1. Will her student loan affect his IR ESA under capital/income? 
2. I understand her occ pension will count as income and his ESA will be deducted to reflect this. Is this correct?
3. Am I correct that Disabled Students Allowance for her will be disregarded as income? 
4. Could he lose his ESA altogether? 

Any advice on any of this?

poppy123456

When they move in together he will need to report the changes to ESA. His ESA will then include an amount for his partner. As she also receives PIP daily living they will be entitled to the couples SDP.

She doesn't need to end her PIP claim because she'll be receiving a Disabled Student Allowance, this can be claimed as well the PIP.

Annie_wilson said:

1. Will her student loan affect his IR ESA under capital/income? 
2. I understand her occ pension will count as income and his ESA will be deducted to reflect this. Is this correct?
3. Am I correct that Disabled Students Allowance for her will be disregarded as income? 
4. Could he lose his ESA altogether? 

1/ It's classed as Income and will reduce it.

2/ Yes her pension will reduce the Income Related ESA £1 for £1.

3/ The DSA will be ignored for ESA.

4/ Yes, if it's all Income Related. It will depend on what deductions there are for the student maintenance loan and i do not know what that will be. Students and benefits are very complex.

He will need to make sure he reports her pension and maintenace loan to ESA. If any part of his ESA is contributions based then this won't be affected.

Annie_wilson

poppy123456 said:

When they move in together he will need to report the changes to ESA. His ESA will then include an amount for his partner. As she also receives PIP daily living they will be entitled to the couples SDP.

She doesn't need to end her PIP claim because she'll be receiving a Disabled Student Allowance, this can be claimed as well the PIP.

Annie_wilson said:

1. Will her student loan affect his IR ESA under capital/income? 
2. I understand her occ pension will count as income and his ESA will be deducted to reflect this. Is this correct?
3. Am I correct that Disabled Students Allowance for her will be disregarded as income? 
4. Could he lose his ESA altogether? 

1/ It's classed as Income and will reduce it.

2/ Yes her pension will reduce the Income Related ESA £1 for £1.

3/ The DSA will be ignored for ESA.

4/ Yes, if it's all Income Related. It will depend on what deductions there are for the student maintenance loan and i do not know what that will be. Students and benefits are very complex.

He will need to make sure he reports her pension and maintenace loan to ESA. If any part of his ESA is contributions based then this won't be affected.

Thank you for this. She has said she wants to come off PIP due to knowing there will be another assessment due to change of circumstances - her becoming a student and she said she can't face another. She would rather be off PIP and claim I'm DSA only. 

poppy123456

If her PIP ends then her partner will not be entitled to SDP unless she's registered blind. If she no longer wants to claim PIP then she may as well continue with the claim until her review. Moving in with a partner is not a change of circumstances that will prompt another assessment. It will just be a change of address (if she's moving house)

As they're also living in Scotland PIP is changing to Adult Disability Payment sometime in the near future anyway. https://www.mygov.scot/personal-independence-payment-is-moving

an assessment may not be needed but there's not much feedback on the claims process at the moment because it's still fairly new.

Annie_wilson

Thank you, I had a feeling he'd lose his SDP, but I'm sure he could maybe still receive enhanced disability premium as he receives PIP? 

poppy123456

Enhanced disability premium is automatically paid when claiming Income Related ESA in the Support Group. It has nothing to do with PIP.

However, with the deductions for the pension and student maintenance loan there maybe no entitlement to Income Related ESA.