ESA STOPPED - PLEASE HELP!

mousey

My ESA has been 'zeroed' because I will be getting a student loan (postgrad, online course, part time). They count this as income even though it is all going to tuition fees - I'm not keeping a penny. I don't know what to do, how can I pay my rent / bills / afford food? I'm screwed! I don't know what to do, please can someone help me? I'm waiting for citizens advice to answer the phone.

Alex_Alumni

Have you managed to speak to anyone from CA @mousey?

If you receive student support in the form of a grant or a loan, this will probably reduce the amount of income-related ESA you can get. Turn2Us have information on full-time students and benefits, which you might find helpful.

If you'd like to go through everything with one of Scope's adviser's then I'd encourage you to contact the Scope Helpline by phone or email. 

Let us know if we can help further, and we'll do what we can.

poppy123456

I seen the update on your other thread here https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/105724/esa-stopped-postgraduate-studies-please-help#latest and you mentioned that a decision maker was looking at your claim again. I don't know the answer to your question about how student finance will reduce your ESA, which is why i didn't reply.

Although all your student loan is going to pay for the cost of your course, you said that some of it is a maintenance loan, which doesn't reduce your Income Related ESA.

Student income and benefits are quite complex and not something i would like to advise on to this extent. You will need to wait for a decision maker to look at your claim again.

poppy123456

poppy123456 said:

 you said that some of it is a maintenance loan, which doesn't reduce your Income Related ESA.

Just coming back to this because i see a typo here. This should read "does" reduce your ESA, rather than doesn't.

surfygoose

That makes sense because ESA always asks about what money you have coming in and so money from a loan would be like that, like they call it income don’t they so what isn’t for paying for the lessons would be money left over they would expect someone to use towards costs of living I think, so reducing the ESA. That’s a good idea to wait for decision maker or other professional advice because it is all very complicated and confusing for people to know all the ins and outs.

poppy123456

surfygoose said:

That makes sense because ESA always asks about what money you have coming in and so money from a loan would be like that, like they call it income don’t they so what isn’t for paying for the lessons would be money left over they would expect someone to use towards costs of living I think, so reducing the ESA. That’s a good idea to wait for decision maker or other professional advice because it is all very complicated and confusing for people to know all the ins and outs.

Only student maintenance loans are treated as income, for Income Related ESA. Student loans to pay for fees do not affect your ESA. Any other loans are treated as capital.

mousey

I have received the letter - it doesn't specify if I'm getting ESA or not but the person on the phone yesterday when I rang told me my claim was 'zeroed' so I have now applied for UC under guidance from CAB. I really don't understand the letter at all - it ends up with "£12 disregarded" from their calculation of my loan, and shows how it was worked out (30% of the loan, minus book costs and travel expenses) but doesn't say if I'm getting ESA or not but I'm presuming not due to the person on the phone, hence I applied for UC. It makes no sense to me, I really don't know what's going on...

Since it looks like I'll have to claim UC, is there a way to avoid any face to face meetings or phone assessments as they would cause me significant mental distress? I have a letter from my CPN explaining this to PIP, is there a way to upload that or should I get a new letter from them? I still haven't heard back from PIP and that was 5 months ago.

(((I'm honestly struggling with all of this, my hallucinations are up, I'm dissociating more, I'm having panic attacks. I don't know how to manage all of this change. I am safe at the moment, just struggling immensely.)))

poppy123456

UC have the same rules for student maintenance loans as Income Related ESA does so there may not be any entitlement to that either. Also is the course classed as full time or part time? If it's full time and your ESA ended then there could potentially be problems with your claim, unless you have dependant children.

Full time students are unable to claim UC unless they've been assessed as having limited capability for work and they're claiming either PIP/DLA or ADP. If you were in the Support Group for ESA and your claim ended then you won't be entitled to the LCWRA element from the start of your claim, which could mean there's no entitlement to UC either.

Did you declare being a student when you claimed?

mousey

It’s part time, I don’t really understand what they’re saying in the letter as it doesn’t give a decision, just a sum which at the end says:

 “therefore the weekly amount to be considered in the assessment is £5918 x 30% - £693 = £1082.40 / 49 weeks =£22.08 less £10 disregard is £12.08 weekly. “

im in the support group of esa as well as getting higher rate pip care an mobility. 

mousey

And yes I wrote to them to tell them I’m going to be a student.

thanks for your help so far!

poppy123456

I can’t help with the calculation because I have no idea how student maintenance loans are worked out. 

Did citizens advice give you any advice on that part? 

mousey

I am just wondering if the “disregard” part means they’ll take that off my esa - which is what I was initially told by disability rights uk. I spoke to someone at esa yesterday and he said I wouldn’t be getting esa but he was just looking at the system and couldn’t give me a reason why.

 Citizens advice told me esa is worked out differently and they take the whole loan into account but that isn’t correct because the letter I’ve got from esa shows the 30 percent in their calculation. They advised me to apply for uc which I did. Wondering if I should cancel my uc claim until I know for sure. 

poppy123456

If you’ve submitted your UC claim you can no longer go back. There’s a warning before you submit telling you this. 

mousey

Ah damn. I didn't realise that. Oh well, UC it is then. I think it's like £400 less per month.

poppy123456

What elements of UC you’re entitled to will depend on whether your ESA claim was still active when you claimed UC. 

L_Volunteer

I was just about to say, as someone who works in a university's student finance department, students can certainly receive Student Finance and UC! I have seen proof of this.

I would not like to say how much you will be awarded though or anything about ESA. I am not confident in these areas but I am here to listen if you would like to talk about it further or need any support 

poppy123456

L_Volunteer said:

students can certainly receive Student Finance and UC! I have seen proof of this.

Of course they can. It's exactly the same for Income Related ESA and students. Although UC and students don't really mix.

Camellia

Disability Rights UK have a disabled student helpline which I think is manned by legal professionals. I have had help from them before which was extremely helpful. The help line is operated only a couple of times a week for a couple of hours and it pays to ring up as soon as the line opens to improve your chances of getting through. 

mousey

Thanks for the help and advice so far.

I spoke to ESA today and they said they didn't understand my letter either. She told me someone will ring me back in the next few days (the decision maker) to explain.

I've started my UC claim and they want me to come in for an appointment. I explained this would be difficult for me but they said I still had to come in.

I'm hoping ESA get back to me soon and say they've made a mistake but I'm losing hope. I still do not understand what's happening with ESA.

poppy123456

mousey said:

Thanks for the help and advice so far.

I spoke to ESA today and they said they didn't understand my letter either. She told me someone will ring me back in the next few days (the decision maker) to explain.

I wouldn't expect them to know because they are just call centre staff with very little knowledge.

mousey

Yeah I was hoping they could have put me through to someone higher up, seems they have but it'll take days. I'm still so confused about it because the letter said nothing about a decision - just explained that £12 per week would be disregarded but my ESA claim is still frozen, presumably from when they first got my call saying I'm getting a postgraduate loan...